Spacecraft Design – Balancing the Needs of Different Systems

Designing a spacecraft involves balancing the needs of various systems, such as structural integrity, communication and life support systems. Furthermore, its design should accommodate different environmental conditions. Spacecraft designers must consider several environmental variables when creating spacecraft designs: steady acceleration; acoustic, random and sinusoidal vibrations; mechanical shock; and pressure profiles. This requires extensive analysis and…

How Long Were Apollo Missions?

NASA’s Apollo Program represented their attempt to place astronauts on the Moon. This massive undertaking involved numerous people – astronauts, mission controllers, engineers and scientists among them. On their journey to and from the Moon, astronauts used a Command Module. When landing, they took shelter in an inflatable lunar module which could accommodate two astronauts…

What Does a Cheetah Eat?

Cheetahs, like other African big cats, are carnivorous predators that prey upon smaller- to medium-size mammals such as gazelles, impalas, hares and wildebeest calves. These hunters rely solely on sight and are diurnal hunters who tend to prefer early morning or evening hunting sessions. They frequently scan termite mounds and kopjes (small rocky hills) in…

Grow a Frog Kit

Grow a Frog: With this kit, you can witness an unforgettable life-cycle metamorphosis right before your very eyes! From jelly-like eggs to wriggling tadpoles and ultimately into an independent creature with arms and legs. Watch as its long tail disappears while its horny teeth fade away and its lungs develop. Feeding Frogs require regular food…

Life on Earth Would Go Terribly Awry Without Clouds

Clouds play an essential part in Earth’s climate by reflecting some of the sunlight back into space and keeping Earth cooler than otherwise. From sky-filling stratus to popcorn-puff cumulus and wispy cirrus all the way through to anvil-shaped nimbus clouds are essential in keeping its temperatures at an acceptable level. Clouds form in areas with…

Fun Honey Bee Facts

Honey bees possess five eyes: two large compound eyes and three smaller ocelli (eyes at the center of their heads). Furthermore, they possess jointed legs. A worker bee identifies food sources by dancing. This dance indicates their direction and proximity for other bees within its hive. 1. They have five eyes Honey bees might seem…

How Does the Sky Color Blue?

The sky’s vibrant blue hue results from scattering of sunlight by Earth’s atmosphere, mostly composed of nitrogen and oxygen molecules smaller than wavelengths of light; they scatter blue light more effectively. Violet and red wavelengths tend to scatter less, thus leaving blue wavelengths for our eyes. Rayleigh Scattering Lord Rayleigh discovered in the 1800s that…