The personal and professional website of Douglas Van Bossuyt
What is this I see? Is that an X-29 replica on the back of a flatbed trailer on the National Mall?
YES IT IS!
The two real ones are in other museums. This is the Air and Space Museum’s replica freshly out of storage. The wings are removed.
A sweet plaque showing a Saturn 5 rocket outside the Air and Space Museum.
As you may or may not know, there is a critical threat to the funding of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). I feel strongly enough about it to write to my representative in the US House of Representatives where a bill to defund the JWST has made it out of committee. Below is the letter I sent Representative Wu of Oregon’s 1st Congressional District.
Dear Representative Wu, I am writing to implore you to protect funding for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is imperative to our national interest that we continue to push the bounds of science and imagination. Even Senator Mikulski who initiated the study that found modest cost overruns in the JWST program believes that it is imperative funding remain intact. For too many years, I have watched our great nation slowly slash its own scientific wrists as program after program has been cut or reduced. The JWST is too important for our country to lose to short-sighted budget reduction efforts. Bleeding NASA's budget dry will not fix the federal budget deficit. Protecting and continuing to fund the JWST will however reap great benefits, in the form of scientific discovery, technological breakthroughs and spin-offs, and by inspiring another generation of youth as the Hubble Space Telescope did for my generation. Please do not allow the end of the Space Shuttle program also be the death knell of the JWST. As your constituent, I respectfully urge you to protect JWST's funding. Sincerely, Douglas Van Bossuyt
If you feel strongly about scientific progress and the exploration of the unknown, you should write your congressperson about the JWST. Unless our congresspeople hear our voices on such important matters, our great nation will continue its scientific and engineering decline and fall. I don’t know about you, but I’m not too keen on the USA becoming the next Rome, France, or United Kingdom.
UPDATE: It looks like some people on Reddit have found my letter useful and have used it as a template. I’m impressed with some of the letters that Redditors have written and posted on the thread. Please feel free to use my letter and modify it as you see fit. The more people that inform our elected representatives of our opinion on this matter, the better.
I finally remembered to bring my camera to work today to grab a couple of snaps. Up at the Mars Yard they had the Athlete vehicle out for testing. Down at the Space Flight Operations Facility there were a bunch of satellites being tracked and talked to. Elsewhere on lab, people were working on a plan to get the Spirit MSL rover unstuck from the sand. In the afternoon some friends from NASA Ames came down for a short tour. These are the photos and videos of a typical day at JPL.
The Mars Science Laboratory happened to be sitting out by the front entrance in the morning.
One of the alleyways between buildings. Note the gaseous liquid nitrogen torpedo tanks on the left. (thanks Jim for correcting me!)
ROBO-DOME! Two bots enter! Only one bot will leave!
Mars Yard with Athlete going through its paces.
Where we manufacture analog material for Mars and Moon testing.
Aerial view of the Mars Yard with Athlete doing some tests.
Athlete’s driving abilities through loose sand were being characterized.
The guy by Athlete was moving the power tether around to make sure Athlete didn’t cut its own power.
A Mars Exploration Rover prototype sitting in the Mars Yard garage.
A Sojourner prototype waiting for the day that it might be useful again.
Some other rover analogue with a joystick.
Another rover in the garage.
Such awesome machining and attention to detail!
Thumbs up for the Athlete!
It’s rather large. And this is only about a 1/4th scale model of the final version!
The robot tried to kill me. I made a miraculous recovery.
Another building at JPL. I think this is the Spacecraft Assembly Facility. Notice the liquid nitrogen tank and evaporators. (Thanks Jim for correcting me!)
The A-Team interns from NASA Ames showed up in the afternoon.
We went to the Spacecraft Flight Operations Facility, otherwise known as Mission Control.
On the way to the next stop we walked through our Jurassic Park compound.
In the Solar System Simulation group.
Just another day at JPL.
Looking down toward the Vehicle Assembly Building.
Highbay #1 where the Mars Science Laboratory is being assembled.
At the Mars Exploration Rover testbed. They are still trying to figure out how to Free Spirit.
Inside the Von Karmen Auditorium looking at some of the spacecraft mock-ups.
