Blog Post 5: Recap and Reflectionm

I published this before I typed anything in it, sorry if this confuses anyone.

For my (possibly? I think, technically) last blog post, I have been tasked with a recap and reflection; this is good, because I probably would not have given this project as much reflection as it deserved otherwise.

My goal, which I succeeded in (partially), was to reach the Mun in a simulation. I feel like, however, I did not actually do the best I could. Seeing Dani's animation earlier today made that abundantly clear, I think. Although rocket science is by no means easy, once you understand the concepts and have the formulas down it becomes a lot easier than one might expect.
If I wanted to, and put in more hours, I definitely could have made it further. Doing some quick research from the cheat sheet I talked about earlier today in my presentation, and my final product's chart I had made (below), I can see mathematically that to make it to Eeloo it requires 9590 m/s of delta-v (about), and that my rocket had 15957 m/s of delta-v.

My final rocket's charts and notes. I killed many astronauts making my final rocket, design phase included.

 Now Kenny, you say, is it not true that you are a terrible pilot (proof from presentation below or here, for all those morning-blockers that missed it)? Is it not also true that making it to the Mun was difficult itself?

To both questions, I would answer yes. I would also say, however, that I could have done what I did earlier if I tried, and I could have practiced my piloting skills more. Additionally, where this simulation really shines is in its orbital mechanics which I wasn't really able to use so much with my goal (it's drag mechanics are especially horrible, but they are supposedly improving it in the next update.) Having the rocket go to Eeloo would have added more challenge, added more research, added more fun, and also would have added a tad more realism.

Thinking about my presentation today, which I think went surprisingly well (did I go two minutes under?), I would like to further address the delta-v and specific impulse related stuff; first of all, if I had more time I would have explained it more in depth because I feel like it didn't make enough sense in my presentation. Researching these too concepts made up the majority of my research because they were so crucial.
 Delta-v would be the rocket slowing down or speeding up in measurements. Since rockets in space have no friction and would technically go forever at the same speed in the same direction assuming there is no gravity, this is pretty much the most important number to know.
Specific impulse was luckily calculated by the simulation I used, but it is essentially the thrust produced over the weight of the propellants, and is used to measure efficiency. Usually rockets with low specific impulse have a high thrust, and vica versa, which made this trip difficult without ASPARAGUS STAGING, which ultimately saved this project. I explained it in blog post 4, I think?

Moving forward, just like Jason Smith is doing with his language, I do think I will continue this in my free time. I don't think I'll do as much as I'm sure he will be, but I also think that this was something fun and interesting, and now that I know for sure that this rocket can also make it to Eeloo (and mathematically speaking Moho), not to mention the other moon around Kerbin, Minmus, I don't see why I shouldn't practice more complex orbital maneuvers like the Hohmann Transferral Orbit and learn about launch windows.

Before I link to my comments for this post, did you know that the videos I've been recording are in 720p? That's a lot higher than I thought.
Additionally, if I end up going to other places I will post videos and the like on this blog simply because of how much fun I had doing it; especially if I set the concrete goal of having enough to write 250 words on this blog each cycle, that should allow me to actually continue with something I had I found very interesting. (I don't actually know if I'll follow through with this though!)

For this week I blogposted on the following people's blogs:
Jason Shu's (Stop-Motion Animation, Blog Post 4)
Nathan Leung's (Web App Development, Vlog)
Sam Klugherz's (Longboarding, Blog Post 4)