Aerospace
Engineering Explorer Post
Sponsored by Lockheed Martin
Updated Tuesday, 3/10/2020
CANCELLED: Design Night - Strongest Column (Part II of II)
CANCELLED: Tuesday, March 10, 2020
6:00PM-8:15PM
Teams are invited to bring in their completed balsa wood columns and put them to the ultimate test to see how much weight their column can hold. Columns will be judged based on their ability to support an applied load in compression and points will be awarded for teams who identify their weakest member accurately before testing begins. Teams must complete all column construction prior to the March 10th meeting!
Updated Monday, 3/2/2020
School of Mines Tour!
Monday, March 2nd, 2020
5:30pm-8:15pm
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CSM Tours are tonight and we are a GO (rain/snow or shine)! Please read through this email for information about tonight’s tours.
You’re receiving this email as you’ve RSVP’d for the tours tonight. I’ve already gotten some cancellations from folks; apologies if you’ve already told me you’re not attending.
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*Please dress appropriately as it will be a bit cold tonight and we’ll be walking between buildings to various tour locations.
Location
1500 Illinois St.
Golden, CO 80401
The location above is the general campus address. Everyone should plan to park in Lot D and make their way to the northwest corner of Brown Hall. We will have advisors stationed to help guide you. Additional parking can be found at the CTLM lot if needed (a bit longer of a walk). All lots are free after 5PM and additional parking can be found along some streets also. Please plan accordingly to ensure you can find a parking spot in time. Click here for Google directions!
Plan to arrive by 5:30pm to find parking and make your way to our starting location, get pizza and grab a tour agenda. We will be splitting up into 4 groups this evening to control group sizes. At the conclusion of our last tour, you are free to head home. Please refer to the map below as well as the attached agenda with an additional map included.
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Updated Thursday, 2/20/2020
Design Night - Strongest Column (Part I of II)
Tuesday, February 25, 2020
6:00PM-8:15PM
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In an effort to change up our curriculum, we have introduced a brand new design night challenge spanning two nights! This year, rather than balsa wood bridges, we will challenge the students to build balsa wood columns. Column construction will start February 25th, and students will have until March 10th to complete their designs. During the first design night, students will learn about the fundamentals of column design and engineering so they can begin to brainstorm their designs! Teams are encouraged to work during the meeting on February 25th and may use their time leading up to March 10th to test and upgrade their designs.
Updated Tuesday, 2/18/2020
School of Mines Tour Registration!
Monday, March 2nd, 2020
RSVP is Open, Please Use the Link Below
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Our School of Mines campus tours are right around the corner! Tours are open to students in the Post and their immediate family members. Be on the lookout for an email with logistics (times, locations, etc). The deadline to RSVP is February 26th!
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NOTE: The information in the sign up link is subject to change as our tours are changing a bit this year. Please wait for a logistics email from me for the final timing and location for this tour.
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RSVP Link - Deadline February 26th
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PLEASE create an RSVP for EACH person attending (this includes family members).
Updated Monday, 2/17/2020
CU Boulder Tours!
Monday, February 17th, 2020
5:30pm - 8:30pm
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There’ve been talks of snow coming later in the evening, but we are proceeding with everything whether we start getting snow or not. Please keep your eye on things and use your best judgement. If you feel you need to, you may leave at any time during the evening.
PLEASE NOTE!! Our meeting location is NOT what was posted on the Google Form. When you registered for the tours, the form had said to meet at the Discover Learning Center. We were not able book the auditorium within the DLC and have had to change our meeting location. Please refer to the map below.
Location:
Engineering Center
1111 Engineering Dr.
Boulder, CO 80309
Plan to arrive at the CU campus by 5:30 to find our classroom (ECCR 265), get pizza and grab a tour agenda. Parking is available in lot 436 specified below for free after 5PM. We will be meeting in the Engineering Center Lobby (starred in the image below). Once at the lobby, a tour guide will show you to the classroom we will be gathering in to eat and divide into groups. We will be splitting up into 3 groups this evening to limit group sizes. At the conclusion of our last tour, you are free to head home.
Updated Wednesday, 2/12/2020
CU Boulder Tour Registration!
Monday, February 17th, 2020
RSVP is Open, Please Use the Link Below
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Our CU Boulder Campus tours are right around the corner! Tours are open to students in the Post and their immediate family members. Be on the lookout for an email with logistics (times, locations, etc).
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NOTE: The information in the sign up link is subject to change as our tours are changing a bit this year. Please wait for a logistics email from me for the final timing and location for this tour.
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CU Boulder Tours - February 17th - RSVP Link
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PLEASE create an RSVP for EACH person attending (this includes family members).
Updated Monday, 2/10/2020
POSTPONED - Guest Speaker
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
6:00PM-8:15PM
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Due to scheduling conflicts, the Astronaut Guest Speaker is postponed until further notice. We apologize for the short notice!
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In place of our usual meeting, we invite any students taking part in the Final Project to join us February 11th in order to use the time to work on their proposals and ask any remaining questions they may have. Please bring any supplies you may need to work on proposals and other project deliverables, but note there is NOT public WiFi on our campus.
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NO PIZZA OR DRINKS WILL BE PROVIDED FEBRUARY 11TH, AS THIS WILL SIMPLY BE A FINAL PROJECT WORK NIGHT!
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Updated Friday, 1/24/2020
Design Night - Rube Goldberg
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
6:00PM-8:15PM
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For the first time in Post history, students will get the chance to build their very own Rube Goldberg machine segment! All students will be split into two large teams, and each large team will then be broken into smaller sub-teams. Each sub-team will be given the challenge of building a segment of a Rube Goldberg machine which then must feed into the next sub-teams' segment. Once all sub-team segments are connected, both large teams will demonstrate their independent systems and ultimately trigger an exciting finale!
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Updated Friday, 1/10/2020
Design Night - Kinetic Coaster
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
6:00PM-8:15PM
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Welcome back, everyone! To kick-off 2020 we will be starting with a design night. Students will be given a marble, six feet of tubing, and miscellaneous other supplies in order to build a kinetic coaster. Teams will be asked to think creatively to make interesting and innovative coasters, all while applying the theory of the conservation of energy. Upon completion, coaster performance will be demonstrated and the coasters will be evaluated on various criteria.
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NOTE: Explorer Post meetings will be held on Tuesday nights through May 2020. Please see the Schedule tab for a detailed list of dates.
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Updated Wednesday, 11/20/2019
Final Project Announcement
Wednesday , November 20, 2019
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We will be reviewing the Final Project RFP in detail as well as have you all begin to form teams. You can do this in person tonight and can get a head start if you already know all of your team’s info (Members names, email addresses and an overall team name). Either way, I will need everyone to fill out the following form to register your team for the final project this year.
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NOTE: If you do not have a team in mind for the final project but still wish to participate, please fill out the form and let us know if you’d like to be on the same team as another person in the explorer post or if you’d like to be placed on a team based on your location.
Updated Monday, 12/9/2019
Design Night - Duct Tape Challenge (Part II of II)
Wednesday , December 11, 2019
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Students will get the chance to finish their duct tape challenges with the teams that they formed at last week's meeting. With only 30 minutes of work-time on the clock, teams will have to be efficient in completing their designs prior to final judging. Once all teams are finished, the advisors will begin judging the performance of the boats and rovers by putting them through rigorous testing. Duct tape clothing will also be modeled and judged in categories like ambition, functionality, and style. May the best duct tape engineers WIN!
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Updated Tuesday, 12/3/2019
Design Night - Duct Tape Challenge (Part I of II)
Wednesday , December 4, 2019
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Students will break up into teams and will be tasked with three separate duct tape challenges. For each challenge, teams will only receive a set amount of duct tape; so teams must be creative! Challenges include building an electric-powered rover, a boat that can float, and lastly some fashionable clothing. Students will continue these challenges during Part II scheduled for December 11th where the teams' duct tape creations will be judged!
Updated Tuesday, 11/19/2019
Former Student Special Activity
Wednesday , November 20, 2019
6 PM-8:15 PM
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Tonight a former LM Explorer Post student will talk to students about the importance of space resources followed by a short activity. Students will form groups and come up to the front where they will have to peer into boxes to determine the approximate albedo of various asteroids within.
Final Project Announcement: We will be reviewing the RFP in detail this evening and students will begin to form teams either in person or via the online form that they can access during the evening or later at home. Plan for an early departure this evening.
Updated Tuesday, 11/4/2019
Guest Speaker - Josh Ehrlich
Wednesday , November 6, 2019
6 PM-8:15 PM
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Josh Ehrlich, former Explorer Post advisor at LM, will be speaking about his experience as a NASA HI-SEAS participant where he and a handful of others were sent to an isolated island in Hawaii as a Martian analogue experiment. Communications with the outside world were limited so as to simulate what the delay and transmission rates would be if they were on Mars. The entire experiment lasted serval months and there is much more to hear about it directly from Josh! He will have a presentation with some videos and will also be taking questions afterward.
Updated Monday, 10/28/2019
LM Facility Tour Registration!
RSVP is Open, Please Use the Link Below
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Our LM Facility tours are right around the corner! Tours are open to students in the Post and their immediate family members.
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We have two tours dates (the tours are identical for both nights to control group size):
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Monday, November 11th (Student's Last Name Starting A - L) AN EMAIL WILL BE SENT WHEN RSVP IS OPEN FOR NOV 11TH
Monday, November 4th (Student's Last Name Starting M - Z)
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The timing will follow our normal evening. Arrive by 5:30 pm; we will have pizza and drinks in the visitor center and will leave by 6 pm to start the tours.
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Please sign up for the night that corresponds with your last name above. Granted, we realize there are scheduling issues and if you have a conflict, you have the option to switch evenings.
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IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!
If you were RSVP'd for October 28th, please re-RSVP for November 4th or the 11th.
RSVPs for the November 4th tours are due by October 30th.
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PLEASE create an RSVP for EACH person attending (this includes family members)
Posted on Thursday, 9/26/2019
Special Announcement
Help Name NASA's Next Mar Rover!
Explorers! NASA is a competition to name their next Mars Rover (the Mars 2020 mission). Lockheed Martin is actually working on parts of this new rover right now! NASA is making the call for K-12 students across the US to write an essay explaining why their rover name should be the one that NASA chooses to name the next vehicle to roam around on the surface of Mars.
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Additionally, there has been a local push from our own local STEM School to have the new Martin Rover named after Kendrick Castillo. For those unfamiliar with Kendrick's story, please take a look at the article from Fox31 here.
Regardless of what you may choose to submit for NASA's next Martian Rover mission, I encourage all of you to engage in this amazing opportunity!
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A judging period will occur after the submission process is closed and the public will be polled to choose out of the top choices in January. We should expect to know the name of NASA's next Martian Rover in February of next year and we will keep you updated along the way!
Deadline for submissions is November 1st!
Posted on Monday, 10/28/2019
WEATHER UPDATE
October 28th Facility Tours Rescheduled to November 11th!
After receiving a lot of feedback to postpone the tours we are officially going to cancel the October 28th tours and reschedule to Monday, November 11th.
We realize that this new date might not work for everyone that would have been able to attend tonight so we will send out a separate email with information on how to change your RSVP for either the 4th or update to the 11th.
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Posted on Wednesday, 10/23/2019
10/23 WEATHER UPDATE
In light of the upcoming weather we’re expected to get tonight I just wanted to send out a notification to everyone that we are STILL HOLDING OUR MEETING THIS EVENING as planned with the only change being that we will be dismissing everyone early.
We’re expecting to start getting some precipitation this afternoon with snow later in the evening. It’s unsure how much accumulation we will actually get in the timeframe that students are on campus. It is expected to pick up more towards the evening. As a result, we’re going to have an early dismal tonight of 7:45.
PARENTS! Please be prepared to pick up your student from the visitor center at (or close to) this time if you plan to drop them off tonight. Please let me know if this presents any issues and I will try and work it as best I can.
Ultimately the decision rests with you all as to whether or not you feel comfortable driving tonight (I know some of you are coming from a ways away) so please use your best judgement.
Posted on Friday, 10/18/2019
Design Night - Lego Drop Challenge
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
6 PM-8:15 PM
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Students will be tasked with designing a structure using only Lego bricks that must protect a lightbulb from a fall. This lightbulb is analogous to the payloads we work with at LM Space (ie. cameras, sensors, or even astronauts) , and our job is design the correct protection to avoid damaging that precious cargo. Students will begin the night testing their payload (the lightbulb) and ensuring that is operational. They will then be given a set amount of time to brainstorm and build a structure designed to support the payload. When the time is up, all payloads and Lego structures will be dropped from a ladder and points will be awarded to teams with functional lightbulbs post-drop.
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NOTE: REGISTRATION FOR THE LM FACILITY TOUR SCHEDULED MONDAY, OCTOBER 28TH (FOR STUDENT'S WITH LAST NAMES STARTING WITH A-L) IS DUE BY OCTOBER 23RD! PLEASE CAREFULLY READ THE DETAILS BELOW, AND BE SURE TO REGISTER EACH ATTENDING INDIVIDUAL SEPARATELY USING THE LINK BELOW.
Posted on Wednesday, 10/3/2019
Design Night - Homemade Rover (Part II of II)
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
6 PM-8:15 PM
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Students will have the opportunity to repeat the rover challenge again, but this time they can use the lessons learned from Part I. Students will once again have to rely on objects such as balloons, mouse-traps, and other potential energy-storing devices in order to propel their rover. The goal of the evening is to improve upon their previous rover designs using their insight from Part I. Teams are encouraged to test their design frequently throughout the night in order to produce a final product that successfully maneuvers the course!
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NOTE: All previous Homepage updates will be archived and can be found by simply hovering the cursor over the Home tab and selecting 2020 Season Updates from the dropdown menu!
Posted on Tuesday, 9/24/2019
Design Night - Homemade Rover (Part I of II)
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
6 PM-8:15 PM
We are starting off our 2020 season with a back-to-back Rover activities. For Part I, students will not get any motorized/electrified components when creating their rovers. They will have to rely on objects such as balloons, mouse-traps, and other potential energy-storing devices in order to propel their rover. The goal of the evening is to brainstorm and prototype rover designs, while placing emphasis on testing and iteration! Any lessons learned from Part I can then be used for Part II of the Homemade Rover Design Night which will occur at a future date.
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NOTE: All previous Homepage updates will be archived and can be found by simply hovering the cursor over the Home tab and selecting 2020 Season Updates from the dropdown menu!
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Posted on Saturday, 9/14/2019
Program Registration is Open!
Our 2020 season is officially under way! Many apologies for the registration not being available until today; we've had a lot of updates that we've needed to make before officially opening everything up to our new participants for the year.
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Please read through the registration page carefully to ensure that you're completing everything properly that you need to for program registration.
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PLEASE ENSURE you are registered if you intend to come to the next meet on September 25th!
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Our schedule will be posted shortly, but the next meeting dates design nights for September 25th and October 9th. We will meet every other Wednesday until our last meeting in December, at which point we will be on Winter Break. We'll reconvene in January on Tuesday nights.
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Posted on Friday, 8/16/2019
IMPORTANT!
Every PERSON attending the open house needs their own RSVP for this evening! We need EVERY person coming to RSVP with the information requested so that we can have our security team allow you access onto the Lockheed campus and get a badge created for you
2020 Season Starting Soon!
Now Accepting Open House RSVPs
Wednesday, September 11th
5:30PM - 8:30PM
We're ready to kick off another season of the Lockheed Martin Engineering Explorer Post and that means signing up to attend our open house! Please read through the details below.
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WHEN
Wednesday, September 11th
5:30PM - 8:30PM
*Please plan to arrive no later than 5:30 in order to get your badge from our security team. We expect a lot of people and this could take some time. The Open House activities will not start until 6PM or shortly thereafter depending on everyone's arrival.
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WHERE
Lockheed Martin Waterton Campus - Visitor Center
12257 S Wadsworth Blvd.
Littleton, CO 80127
NOTE: There will be a large number of people coming to the open house this evening, parking will be very tight. Please plan to carpool if feasible. You will be taking your own vehicles past the security gates and up to the meeting location when (and ONLY WHEN) a Lockheed Martin advisor leads up the first caravan.
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WHAT TO BRING
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A form of ID
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Anyone attending the open house that is 16 years of age or older will need to bring a valid form of ID. This includes Driver's Licenses, Birth Certificates (or copies thereof) and Passports (expired passports are acceptable). If you do not have one of these forms of ID, please bring your Student ID and send us an email in ADVANCE of your arrival.
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Pen/Paper
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This is not entirely necessary as all Open House material will be made available on this website, but if you want to take any notes from the evening please come prepared
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Your appetite!
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We will have plenty of pizza and drinks (soda/lemonade/iced tea/water...) available for everyone that RSVPs for the evening
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RSVP NOW!
Our RSVP form is open now. Please RSVP as soon as you can as this will make processing your security requests much easier. The deadline to RSVP is THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH. We will be closing our RSVP form at this time in order to give us enough time to create badges and process everyone's security requests in our system.
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NOTE! Due to capacity constraints, we can only accept the first 250 participants for the open house. The open house is not required to register for the program!
DEADLINE TO RSVP: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH