PODCAST

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science & engineering podcast

info@omegataupodcast.net

science and engineering in your headphones - the first 250 Episodes

science & medicine

All Episodes

2:11:48

276 – Linguistics, Conlangers and Game Of Thrones’...

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2018/01/17

Conlangers are people who design human languages, either just for fun or for use in works of fiction, often TV series or movies. My guest, David Peterson, has designed several languages, including the the Dothraki language featured prominently in Game Of Thrones. In this episode we use Dothraki (and English, and a bit of German) to introduce the basics of linguistics, i.e., the science behind natural (and in this case, designed) languages. We also discuss a few specific of Dothraki, and how it gets

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2:19:46

274 – The Shuttle’s Achievements for Space Exploration

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/12/25

This episode is a continuation of the two previous episodes (132, 133) with Davide on the Space Shuttle. Based on his new, second book we talk about the contributions the Space Shuttle made to space exploration in general. These include advances in space suits, the construction of the ISS, satellite servicing, its use as a science platform as well as military operations.

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2:31:06

270 – Nuclear Weapons

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/11/26

In this episode we chat about the science and engineering involved in nuclear weapons. Our guest is Alex Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute of Technology. We talk about atomic bombs as well as hydrogen bombs, how to refine the necessary fuels as well as a little bit of history.

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1:50:33

267 – The Quantum Tron UAV

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/10/22

Quantum Systems designs, builds and sells unmanned air vehicles for professional use. Their particular specialty is VTOL designs, i.e., UAVs that take off and land vertically, but then switch to airplane mode for airplane-like speed and range. In this episode we chat with Quantum's CEO Florian Seibel about their primary drone, the Tron. We focus on the motivation for developing the aircraft, the use cases, as well as design decisions and technical aspects.

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2:14:47

266 – Secondary Surveillance Radar

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/10/13

Secondary surveillance radar (SSR) is the radar technology used in aviation to query transponders; it forms the backbone of today's air traffic control infrastructure. Our guest in this episode is Mike Sharples who has been part of the development of the technology and is intimately familiar with the details. We discuss the importance of SSR today, the details of the protocol, the difference between and evolution from Mode A/C to S as well as the relationship to ADS-B.

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2:05:54

258 – The History and Technology of Spy Satellites

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/07/28

In this episode we speak with David Baker, who wrote a fascinating book about spy satellites. We cover the political and military context that drove their development, their (known and suspected) capabilities, methods of recovering the images, as well as typical orbits and the sartellites' ability to change that orbit for quick repositioning.

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2:56:48

257 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 2:...

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/07/21

As part of my trip to the US earlier this year I visited NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. I conducted six interviews over two days, those concerning full scale ("real") aircraft are in this episode. We start out with Kevin Weinert, with whom we talk about the Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge project, essentially a flap made of flexible materials to save fuel and reduce noise. Next up is Jim Less, one of NASA's F-15 and F-18 pilots; we chat about his flying and

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1:59:50

256 – Flight Research at NASA Armstrong, Part 1:...

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/07/16

As part of my trip to the US earlier this year I visited NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. I conducted six interviews over two days, the ones concerning subscale research (i.e., on model airplanes) are in this episode. We start with a conversation about flying wings in general and Prandtl-D in particular with Armstrong's Chief Scientist Al Bowers. Next, we chat about flutter research and the X-56 with project lead Cheng Moua. Finally, we talk to Matt Moholt about his

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1:09:23

255 – Aerial Refueling with the KDC-10

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/07/08

In late March 2017 I was participating in the media day of the European Air Refuelling Training Exercise, organized by the European Air Transport Command headquartered in Eindhoven. While the planned flight on the Dutch KDC-10 did not work our for technical reasons, I recorded a follow-up interview with tanker captain Martin and boom operator Louis. We discussed a number of details around air-to-air refuelling in general and the KDC-10 in particular. The episode begins with an overview of

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3:09:49

252 – Red Flag

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/06/17

On the second day of my visit to Nellis AFB we covered the Red Flag, an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at multiple times per year at Nellis. We started out with a general overview with Jan Stahl; we also covered the role of the aggressors. I then talked with John Traylor who works as a ground intercept controller for the aggressors. Next is a conversation with Graham Johnson about Red Flag from the perspective of a blue force participant; he flies an F-15C out of Lakenheath. We

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3:31:50

251 – Flying the F-16 Viper

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/06/09

As part of my US trip 2017 I visited Nellis AFB, where LtCol Jan Stahl flies the F-16 for the 64th Aggressor Squadron. We spent a day around, in and under the F-16. The episode contains five parts. A brief introduction to the F-16 and its development, a discussion about flying it, a walkaround, a look at all the knobs, switches and displays in the cockpit as well as a detailed discussion on the HOTAS system that forms the backbone of the pilot's interaction with the avionics.

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2:27:55

249 – Plasma Physics

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/05/20

During my trip to the US I also visited the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the UCLA in Los Angeles. I talked with the two professors who run the facility, Walter Gekelman and Troy Carter. We discuss the basics of plasma, the research questions of plasma physics and some of the experimental challenges. I also get (and report on) a tour through the facility, which was very impressive, mainly because the whole system was built by the team around Walter and Troy!

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3:52:57

248 – Distant Early Warning, SAGE and the F-106 Delta...

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/05/13

In this episode we look back at (aspects of) the North American Air Defense system in the cold war. In particular, we look at the distant early warning line(s), the F-106 interceptor and the SAGE computer system. For DEW, we talk with Mike Milinkovich and Brian Jeffrey who have both worked on the DEW line; Brian also maintains a great website on DEW. For the F-106, we talk with Richard Embry who has flown the interceptor. And for SAGE, we speak with Bernd Ulmann, who has written a very detailed

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1:46:29

247 – Bulk Metallic Glass

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/05/07

Dr. Douglas Hofmann works as a scientist in the Metallurgy Lab at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I visited Doug during my US trip earlier this year, and we chatted about metallic glass. In particular, we discussed its properties, how to create it in bulk, how to test its properties, as well as how and why it is interesting for use in space.

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1:21:56

245 – Glaciology Research at the Darwin Glacier

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/04/22

During my visit to DLR's Earth Observation Center earlier this year I also talked to Dana Floricioiu about her work in glaciology. We discuss a couple of her recent publications, and then focus on her trip to the Darwin Glacier in Antarctica. Together with a team of fellow scientists, she camped on the glacier for three weeks to conduct various in-situ experiments. We discussed the work, but also life on the glacier.

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2:02:51

243 – Formal Specification and Proof

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/04/10

The increasing complexity of software requires increasingly sophisticated means of ensuring its correctness -- "just" testing is not necessarily good enough, depending on the domain in which the software is used. Formal specification, verification and proof is a field with a long tradition in computer science that is gaining more (practical) relevance these days; and in this episode, we cover the basics. Our guest is Benjamin Pierce, professor of computer science at UPenn. We discuss the nature of

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1:24:13

242 – Satellite Testing at ESTEC

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/03/31

This is the last episode recorded during my visit to ESA's ESTEC last fall. I get a tour of the Test Centre with the head of the section, Mark Wagner. We discuss the various test stands and facilities, including the thermal vacuum facility, the large space simulator, the thermal vacuum chamber, the vibration facilities, electromagnetic testing and acoustic testing.

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1:38:42

241 – Electric Propulsion of Spacecraft

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/03/25

During my visit to ESA's ESTEC last fall, I talked to Jose Gonzalez del Amo, who is the head of the Electric Propulsion Lab. We discussed the basics of electric propulsion, the pros and cons compared to chemical engines, different engine styles and their use cases, as well as the work ESA performs in the lab.

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2:27:52

239 – The Saturn V Launch Vehicle

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/03/11

David Woods has a new book out, so of course he has to talk about it on omega tau :-) His recent book is about the Saturn V launch vehicle, i.e., this time it is about the rocket, not about the spaceship. In this episode we dive into lots of details that we did not cover in the two Apollo episodes (episodes 83 and 97) -- make sure you have listened to those before you listen to this one.

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1:11:37

238 – Societal Complexity, Part II: Today’s Perspective

podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science &... ·

2017/03/05

In October 2015, Joseph Tainter was my guest in omega tau 184 to discuss his concept of increasing complexity and eventual collapse of societies. In this episode, our guest Paul Arbair discusses these concepts in the light of today's rising populism in several countries. The episode is based on two articles Paul wrote on his blog: one on Brexit and one on Trump.

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podcast (en) Archive 250 EN – omega tau science & engineering podcast

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