So, on Friday I wizzed up to Manchester to go to the Big Bang Fair.  It was in the Manchester central, which is huge!

I joined the NOISE team doing some science demonstrations, so 'hi' to anyone who came along.  I also looked at all the projects students were displaying.  These were very impressive and a big 'well done' to everyone.  What was really interesting was how different all the projects were and how far they had been able to take them - some even with patents.

Most people had done their projects through the Nuffield Bursary scheme or EESE, so look at these if you are interested in taking part in a project that would be very well supported and really help you for the future.

My question to you is, what sort of demonstrations would you like to see at these sort of events?  What makes you go 'wow'?  Melanie had a really cool experiment showing how magnets moving through a metal pipe are subject to an  interaction with the resulting magnetic field which I thought was really cool as you saw the floating magnet, but what do you like?

Thanks!

Jess

Hi,

So, I had a great Christmas and am now working very hard.  I was very lucky and spent some time in Vietnam (which is an amazing country) and Hong Kong.  Did some kitesurfing too which was good, although very choppy waves which really tested me.

I have now finished the graduate scheme here at Astrium and am working full time as a systems engineer on the EarthCARE mission.  The project is still in an early design phase and due for launch in 2013.  This is great for becuase it means I will get to see it all the way through! 

At the moment, we are looking at deciding on a fairly final design.  This inclues thinking about what sort of propulsion (rockets!) system to use, how big the solar array will be and how the mechanical design will be cheap, light and robust.

As systems engineer it means I have to make sure it will all work together, so I need to understand all of it.  I also have to perform lots of analysis to prove that it will all work.  A lot of this is using spreadsheets.

Coming up in the future; well, we will have to prove to ESA (the European Space Angency) that this design is good, so that is a very big milestone for us.  I also have lots of school visits planned which I enjoy doing.

Jess

Hi,

So, I've been here for just over 2 months now, and have got a few more weeks left!  My French is a little better, my taste buds have tasted lots of new and tasty things and I've been able to explore a new area of the world.

Last weekend, I went to some caves where prehistoric people lived, 15 000 years ago and painted on the walls.  They painted pictures of bison, horses and deer, which shows what they hunted to eat.  So, that was pretty cool.  I also went white water rafting (in the rain) which was good fun.

The weekend before, I went to Biarritz, on the Atlantic coast.  Apparently it is surf capital in France, so I had a go!  It's not that easy, and pretty hard work but I really enjoyed it and would definately try it again.

Work wise, I am just finishing up here.  Have a meeting on Thursday with people from across Europe, so am putting together a presentation for that.  Although I get a little nervous before doing a presentation, it is all good practise.  I think the trick will be to not bombard them with too many words.  I've nearly written all the requirements for my simulator, am putting together lots of diagrams to explain which computation happens where.  It looks a bit like a flow chart with yes and no options.  It will be exciting when it is all coded into a proper program that simulates the instrument.  Then, you can give it any set of data that it might see (for example dry snow) from space, and see what the output is.

Toulouse airport is really interesting; that is where all the Airbus factories are and you can see the A380's.  The also have the 'Beluga' planes, which carry bits of aeroplanes from across Europe and also carry the satellites we have built to French Guiana in South America ready to be launched.  I saw one landing yesterday, it really does look like a huge Beluga whale in the sky!

Talking of launches, my housemate was flown to South America to watch the Skynet 5 launch at the weekend.  This is a satellite that was built in the UK for the UK MOD.  Unfortunately though, he didn't see it as it was postponed a few hours before lift off due to a fault somewhere.  I guess that is the nature of rocket launches.

It was really good to see that the Mars Phoenix Lander touched down successfully.  It looks promising to make some great discoveries.  Hopefully, we can learn from their technology for future missions.  Look at the Univeristy of Arizonas website for more details.

Right, best go!

So, I'm three weeks into my work here in Toulouse!

Why am I here?  Well, the company I work for has lots of sites around Europe so they've sent me out here (no not in exile) to do some work for a different department and to get to know some of the people here (as well as eating lots of French food!)

My job is to decide how a simulator for an optical instrument will work.  The instrument fires laser beams down into the Earth's atmosphere and so I need to work out what we would expect to see when the beam is bounced back fom different parts of the atmosphere.  It's pretty cool, as this instrument will be able to analyse clouds and rainfall like we've never been able to before, and so ultimately give us better weather predictions.

Luckily, everything at work is in English, although I am trying to improve my French too when I can - and there is a lot of room for improvement!  I am living in an apartment bang in the centre of the city, which is great for having a couple of drinks after work etc!  I'm sharing with another guy also from the UK so there's always someone to chat to.

Toulouse is a really pretty city, loads of tiny streets that you wander round like you're in a maze.  On Saturday I headed to the Pyrenees and went snowboarding for the first time!  It was really good, I managed a blue run twice (which I'm very proud of, it was my first time ever after all!).  But, I am still in agony!  Not sure whether the bruises or aching is worse!  Oh well, it was a lot of fun at the time.

Well, I'm off now to go and eat some French bread!