Subject:
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Re: JPL engineer needs help with space instr. model
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.build, lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Fri, 5 Nov 1999 07:01:08 GMT
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Viewed:
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890 times
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Hello Mark;
Building a LEGO model of this satellite sounds like an excellent
project.
Some thoughts on the ongoing discussion:
> Actually, I would not know. JPL is one of many NASA centers, and there
> are 6000 employees at JPL with hundreds of projects and no chat rooms
> like this, to be sure. Legos have been used to build rovers and stuff
> for kids as part of outreach efforts, but to my knowlege, no project
> has made an "official" Lego model. What other projects have done is
> contract out to a model maker - we did that too and got a $10K estimate!
My brother-in-law happens to own Alberta Industrial Models. A $10K
estimate would not be out of line, depending on the scale of the
model.
Most people just don't think about the time involved in custom models.
A few hundred hours multiplied by a $40/hour shop rate adds up real
quick. Materials on top of that.
OTOH, AIM wants to do more film work. If a LEGO model isn't feasible
for some reason, they might do it for considerably less so they can
say they're worked for JPL. A feather in anyone's cap.
> Our instrument is rather arcane, and the ideas we need to demo is
> something we have been puzzling over for a while on the back-burner.
> Nothing fancy, and we kind of like the aww-cute reaction to using Lagos.
> The down-side is not being taken seriously or seen as playing too much.
> Ya, I know, really square, but the media blows the strangest things all
> out of proportion.
That's a good point. OTOH, if the model is being used as a public
demonstration model, especially for kids (at any level), LEGO would
make it more interesting to that audience.
> > For most of us this is a vary expensive and time-consuming effort.
> Right. I would never volunteer my own collection (or my daughters).
> I can fiddle with it during lunch or something. Expense-wise, well,
> I imagine if I spend a lot less than 10K everyone will be happy, and
> a lot less could be as much as $300 or so.
Yes, acquiring the parts you need could be far more difficult than
actually designing and building it.
So how big will the LEGO model of the MISR be?
Will you model the entire spacecraft including the solar panel? or
just the instrument package.?
If you have the option, I would model everything. Using an RCX and
motors to extend the solar panel would be very interesting.
From the spacecraft image I can't tell how the solar panels unfold. I
have seen several different approaches taken by NASA and JPL. Which
deployment will this utilize?
You could have removable panels that show the guts of the spacecraft.
Breaking down further till you get to the pieces you'd like to show.
The level of detail needed here will determine how big the model will
be I guess. Or you could build a spacecraft model at one scale, and
one of the cameras at another.
> > very few elements are made in chrome and particularly gold.
> Humph. I wonder if I could get some parts chromed at another shop . . .
I know this is an expensive process. Paint will be cheaper. If
airbrushed by someone who knows what they're doing it will look fine
painted.
Good luck Mark. I look forward to hearing about your progress on
this, and seeing some pictures.
This job could mean you become Master LEGO Builder for JPL & NASA.
What a career move. :-)
<ICS>
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: JPL engineer needs help with space instr. model
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| Wow! that's quick! (...) Actually, I would not know. JPL is one of many NASA centers, and there are 6000 employees at JPL with hundreds of projects and no chat rooms like this, to be sure. Legos have been used to build rovers and stuff for kids as (...) (25 years ago, 5-Nov-99, to lugnet.build)
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