[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 4 - 08:40:02 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] Hello my name is matthias and i live in berlin, germany.
Guten Morgen, matthias

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 5 - 08:44:52 ]
guten morgen.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 7 - 08:46:47 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] i found this chat-date yesterday on the NASA-homepage. And i have a special interest.
Great. The moderator told me I have to wait until 9:00 to start answering questions.

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 8 - 08:47:44 ]
it is ok, i wait until 9:00

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 10 - 08:57:36 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Good Morning Everyone!!
Good Morning.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 12 - 09:01:49 ]
Good Morning! Grant Palmer is here, so let's get started! Send in your questions :-)

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 14 - 09:03:38 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] i am the only one?
That's okay. Do you have a question for me?

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 15 - 09:03:53 ]
good morning to all from berlin, germany

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 16 - 09:04:42 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] good morning to all from berlin, germany
Good Morning Matthias! Welcome to the chat! We're really glad you could join us-- and all the way from Germany :-)

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 19 - 09:08:06 ]
In the past few years a number of small companies have been started to develop low cost space vehicles, mostly to put small satellites into orbit. One company has a concept where the vehicle has helicopter blades and uses them to help it land. There was also a vehicle called the DC-X that landed vertically like a helicopter.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 20 - 09:08:37 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] this question is not a fake, not for fun!!!
Matthias: Don't worry, it's a good question! Grant is working on an answer now...

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 23 - 09:10:02 ]
from outside it would look like the fly with "antigravity"

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 24 - 09:10:26 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] since 15 years i have an idea with me in my head, that can help to build a space-ship-"motor" for the price of a good car-motor.
The idea these days is to do everything more cheaply. Getting things into to space is very expensive, so keep thinking.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 26 - 09:11:14 ]
RE: [IsaiasRamirez-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] How do you enjoy time with your family?
I have two sons. They like to go to the zoo, and there is a park by our house. In a few weeks, my oldest son, who is 4 years old, and I are going to Las Vegas

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 28 - 09:11:34 ]
RE: [Juliet-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] How many years have you been working at Nasa.
I have worked for NASA for 14 years.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 29 - 09:11:56 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] and please excuse me for my bad english, i am german with very small contact to enlish-speaking people. :-(
Your English is a lot better than my German. Don't worry about it.

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 32 - 09:12:37 ]
thank you.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 34 - 09:13:29 ]
RE: [Juan-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Do you enjoy working at NASA what do you like best.
At NASA you get a chance to be creative, to do things that have never been done before. That is what I like best.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 35 - 09:13:52 ]
RE: [Kevin-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] How many languages do you speak.
I speak a very small amount of German and Italian.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 37 - 09:14:46 ]
RE: [DON-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] What can you do if you have a degree in mechanical engineering?
Mechanical Engineering is a nice general degree. You study a little bit of everything, so you can do almost anything with it. I am now a fluid dynamicist/computer programmer.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 38 - 09:16:07 ]
RE: [Juan-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Do you enjoy working at NASA what do you like best
Juan: See #34. Grant responded to your queston there.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 43 - 09:17:12 ]
RE: [FelixLopez-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] How old are you?
35 years old

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 45 - 09:17:40 ]
RE: [Raymundo-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] What~s your favorite movie?
I like a lot of movies. I guess my favorite these days is Braveheart.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 46 - 09:18:14 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] can you help me to find a partner into nasa to take a look on my "Construction"?
Send me an email at gpalmer@mail.arc.nasa.gov and I'll see what I can do.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 47 - 09:18:52 ]
RE: [Mathew-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] What is your favorite food?
I like something called Da Chien chicken at a Chinese restaurant in Mountain View, CA

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 48 - 09:18:54 ]
Hey, does anyone know what a "fluid dynamacist" is? What do you think Grnat really does on his job?!

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 50 - 09:19:18 ]
RE: [osmin-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] what is your favorite sport
I'm a swimmer. My favorite sport to watch is football.

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 51 - 09:20:15 ]
ok, thank you. if it brings "a lot of money", i give you a piece of it ;-))))

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 52 - 09:20:49 ]
RE: [Sandy/NASAChatHost] Hey, does anyone know what a "fluid dynamacist" is? What do you think Grnat really does on his job?!
What a fluid dynamicist does is to figure out how air flows over the outside of a spacecraft. When a spacecraft, like the space shuttle, re-enters the atmosphere, the air bouncing off of it causes the surface of it to heat up. My job is to figure out how hot the surface will get to make sure it doesn't burn up.

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 53 - 09:21:04 ]
oh, the "money-question" is very intersting!

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 55 - 09:21:42 ]
RE: [Paola-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] How much momey do you make.
Well, you make a pretty good salary at NASA

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 58 - 09:22:51 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] but i think, it is not allowed to give this information outside ;-)))
Federal Employees, like people who work at NASA, make anywhere from $30,000 to $120,000 depending on how long you've been there and what job you have.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 59 - 09:23:21 ]
RE: [Erik-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Where are you from?
I was born in Southern California. I have lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for about 30 years.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 61 - 09:23:41 ]
RE: [Jennifer-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] How old is your dog?
Bailey is about 7 years old. He's in my office right now.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 63 - 09:25:02 ]
RE: [Alexandra-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] What have you learned as you work for Nasa?
The thing about NASA is you have a lot of freedom to do what you want to do. You can goof off if you want to, but you won't go very far. Since I came to NASA I have learned a lot about computer programming. Just recently, I learned how to build my own website.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 65 - 09:25:46 ]
RE: [Ruben-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Where is NASA located?
NASA has centers in California, Texas, Virginia, Alabama, Washington DC, Maryland, and Cleveland.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 67 - 09:26:22 ]
RE: [Jocelyn-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Does your dog ever bother you?
Sometimes he barks at the mailman when he comes in. I bring Bailey in about once a week because he gets very lonely at home.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 70 - 09:29:08 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] if you figure out the surface of the front of the spacecraft, you do this only with the computer? last week a have thinked about this and if i has to made this, i would take a model of the face of the vehicle with a material, what is not to hard, and bring it into a tube like a wind-channel but not only with air. i think, i could be helpfull to mix fine sand into the air and then comes the right surface automatically.
What I do is take a drawing or a computer file that defines the outer surface of the spacecraft. With my computer, I surround the surface with little boxes. With my computer program, I can figure out how much air flows into to each little box and what the temperature and pressure are in each little box. Basically, I break the surface of the vehicle into little pieces and calculate the air flow into and out of each piece.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 75 - 09:31:01 ]
RE: [Adriana-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] What do you do at your jod?
What I do is to write computer programs and run them. I'll be assigned a project. Just recently I was asked to compute the flow over an airplane that is going to be sent to Mars. I had to get the geometry of the airplane into my computer model. I made some changes to the fluid dynamics code because the atmosphere of Mars is different than Earth's atmosphere. Then I ran my program and presented my results.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 77 - 09:31:28 ]
RE: [Robert-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] What s your favorite computer?
I like the Cray C-90. It is a really big, fast computer so I can get my computer jobs done quickly.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 78 - 09:31:53 ]
RE: [jennifer-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] what kind of books to you like to read?
I like to read books about ancient cultures like Rome and China.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 79 - 09:32:16 ]
RE: [Susej-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Do you have a computer in your house? How do you use it?
I have a Mac at home. I use it to check my email and work from home.

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 80 - 09:32:21 ]
oh nice, i want to have a cray too ;-)))

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 81 - 09:32:44 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Mr. Palmer.... My students are very excited chatting with you!!! They specially enjoyed that you recently learned to create a website.... they have too and would like me to invite you to view our webpages at http://home.earthlink.net/~larosa5/index.htm :o)))))
my web address is www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Foothills/7032/

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 82 - 09:33:31 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] i understand, thanx. dont work with real models?
There are two types of researchers at NASA, computer people like me and experimentalist. The experimentalist do test actual models of airplanes and spacecraft in wind tunnels.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 83 - 09:33:46 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] My students would like to e-mail you if possible... can we have your e-mail address?
my email address is gpalmer@mail.arc.nasa.gov

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 84 - 09:35:32 ]
i have take a look at your hp, it is very intersting, especially the CPLRG´s it goes to my bookmark-list

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 86 - 09:36:35 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] We are celebrating Space Day '99 Today!!! Thank you for being a very special part of our day!! :o))))
I enjoy chatting with people.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 90 - 09:37:59 ]
RE: [Areviz-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] What kind of songs do you like?
To be honest, I use my computer or watch TV more than I listen to music.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 93 - 09:38:24 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] is this space-day only one time in the year?
I think Space Days happen more than once a year.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 94 - 09:38:36 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] do you have an icq-number?
what is an icq number?

[ MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet - 96 - 09:39:46 ]
So do I Matthias :o)))) This mode is a very interesting... imagine us at Huntington Park, Ca actually talking to an Aeronautics Engineer... IT'S GREAT!!

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 97 - 09:40:38 ]
oh, icq is a worldwide "net" into the internet to meet people directly (over pc)

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 98 - 09:43:43 ]
To Mrs Rosales: do you have icq?

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 101 - 09:46:00 ]
EVERYONE: There are 15 minutes left in today's chat with Grant. Get your questions in!

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 102 - 09:46:47 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Thank You once again for your time and patience with my Fourth Grade Students!!!! We are looking forward to e-mailing you and seeing your webpage... Just in case.. my ICQ # is 6179844 Please write to us!! :o))))
Well, this morning my workstation keeps crashing on me and a Java program I am writing isn't working. The chat has been the best part of my day.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 103 - 09:47:32 ]
EVERYONE: Be sure to let us know what you thought of our chat today and fill out a short survey at-- http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats/qchat-surveys/

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 105 - 09:49:42 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] oh, thats not nice for you. (the crash) yesterday a have crashed a win NT-pc, harddisk empty....
I'm running an application that takes a lot of memory. I think my UNIX workstation runs out of memory and it crashes.

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 110 - 09:54:34 ]
i am working with: win95/98/NT4.0, sun solaris sgi - irix mac-os + novell-netware, because i am the supervisor in our office

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 111 - 09:55:13 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Mr. Palmer, Are you posting this chat on a webpage?.. I couldn't print the entire thing
Yes, I will be posting Grant's entire chat by tomorrow!

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 112 - 09:55:17 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] is it thinkable to work for the nasa from germany?
You probably couldn't work for NASA directly, but NASA has partnerships with the European Space Agency, the Japanese Space Agency, and the Russian Space Agency. Your best bet would be to work with NASA through ESA.

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 114 - 09:55:44 ]
RE: [Matthias-Matthias/Germany] which os runs on your unix-ws?
It's an SGI so it runs IRIX 6.2

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 115 - 09:56:07 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Mr. Palmer, Are you posting this chat on a webpage?.. I couldn't print the entire thing
I'm sure Sandy, the moderator, will post a transcript of the chat on the Quest website.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 117 - 09:57:11 ]
RE: [Sandy/NASAChatHost] Yes, I will be posting Grant's entire chat by tomorrow!
You will be able to find an archive of this chat in two places: first, on Grant's bio page at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/team/palmer.html and at: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/aero/chats and look for Chat Archives.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 119 - 09:58:54 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] These commands are too technical for me... can you please give me more details?
Mrs. Rosales: You don't need to do this complicated procedure. I'm archiving the chat online. See my explanation in #117

[ MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet - 120 - 09:59:30 ]
Thank You!!!!

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 121 - 10:00:19 ]
RE: [MrsRosales-Mrs.Rosales/MilesMagnet] Thank You!!!!
You're welcome. Hope you all have a good Space Day.

[ Sandy/NASAChatHost - 122 - 10:00:20 ]
EVERYONE: We've come to the end of the chat hour and need to let Grant get back to work now. Thank you very much for coming today. You asked some very good questions :-) Be sure to join us again for another chat very soon. To see the Quest Chat schedule go to: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/common/events

[ Matthias-Matthias/Germany - 123 - 10:01:52 ]
hava a nice day

[ GrantPalmer/ARC - 124 - 10:02:08 ]
Goodbye everyone!