tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458Thu, 07 Mar 2024 23:15:07 +0000Elizabeth's journal about her experience at International Space University in Strasbourg, France. Read on to find out what she did...http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/noreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)Blogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-7570974965315638688Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:02:00 +00002010-03-18T19:45:55.273-05:00 This blog is now located at http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/feeds/posts/default. http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2010/03/this-blog-has-moved.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115739912223921008Mon, 04 Sep 2006 19:44:00 +00002006-09-04T20:05:11.473-05:00I am officially back in Houston. It took 21 hours to get here, but I'm here! The last few days in Strasbourg were very emotional for everyone. Friday we spent the morning "deregistering", returning keys to ISU, and collecting our reports, etc. That afternoon was when the first of my good friends, Andi (from Germany), left. I wasn't really expecting it because I had not had time to think http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/09/im-home.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115697466963895398Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:50:00 +00002006-08-30T16:51:09.650-05:00The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur. The weekend after I last wrote, we had our final culture night. The Chinese crew stole the show that evening. Everyone had been working really hard after the rough few days. It was amazing to see how quickly the team pulled together, but after a long, stressful week, everyone was ready to have some fun.Our team put together a very nice 150 page http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/08/home-stretch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115588503765414169Fri, 18 Aug 2006 04:09:00 +00002006-08-18T02:10:37.670-05:00Another week has gone by since I've found time to write. It's been a roller coaster ride of a week. We presented the letter of intent for our project to some folks from industry last Saturday. The people giving the presentation did a great job. People have been encouraged to take on roles that they don't normally do. A couple of our presenters are not native English speakers and do not give http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/08/chaos.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115532789843392375Fri, 11 Aug 2006 20:19:00 +00002006-08-11T15:24:58.450-05:00Things have been busy but a little more relaxed this week. We've been working on our team project, which requires a lot of research at this stage. We had to provide a letter of intent about the project today, which was about 15 pages, and we will give a presentation on the status of our project tomorrow where we will get feedback from the staff and people in industry. The report will be aroundhttp://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/08/moment-of-silence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115504563308357364Tue, 08 Aug 2006 13:58:00 +00002006-08-11T10:20:12.613-05:00Ross and I had a great time hanging out together. This morning Ross left to go back home. It was hard to say goodbye, but that means I'm more than halfway through the program. One more month and I'll get to see everyone!Friday was the Alumni Conference here at ISU. I spent the morning in meetings while Ross hung out with people. Then we listened to presentations by some of my classmates and http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/08/colmar-schwarzwald.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115458906792694950Thu, 03 Aug 2006 07:02:00 +00002006-08-03T02:11:07.940-05:00Just thought I'd let everyone know that we won the contract for the business department yesterday! They actually decided to award it to two groups...not sure that would happen in the real world, but they said both of the proposals were above expectations and deserved the contract. :)I forgot to mention yesterday that we went on a field trip on Monday to EADS Astrium in Friedrichshafen, Germany.http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/08/new-contract.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115453031955906085Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:51:00 +00002006-08-02T09:51:59.596-05:00It's been a while since I had a chance to update everyone, so I'll try to summarize what I've been up to. If I get a chance, I'll try to go back and add details. Since the beginning of the program, we have completed ~60 lectures and taken an essay test on the information presented. We get the results of the test later this week. We also had a department project to do. The business and http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/08/summary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115392070326470854Wed, 26 Jul 2006 13:30:00 +00002006-07-26T08:31:43.283-05:00Sorry for not posting lately. I had a big project due yesterday and have a big test on Saturday, so you probably won't hear much from me until after that. I hope all is going well.http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/studying_26.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115355379263164159Sat, 22 Jul 2006 04:36:00 +00002006-07-22T02:36:32.633-05:00The lectures for today were about institutional organization: space in Europe, space policy in different parts of the world, and astrobiology. We had workshops in the afternoon again, and I participated in the sustainability workshop. It was about the sustainability of environments and species, etc. After the workshop, there was a robotic competition that was open to the public. It was a lot http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/robot-competition.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115355375947507554Fri, 21 Jul 2006 04:35:00 +00002006-07-22T02:35:59.490-05:00Today was busy with more lectures, but the highlight of the day was the ride to and from campus. James from Australia showed me a different way that runs along the canal. It's beautiful, you don't have to fight traffic, and you get a really good workout. It's about the same amount of time. Although it's probably a little bit longer in distance, but not having to deal with traffic and lights http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/space-monkey.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115337816199166592Thu, 20 Jul 2006 04:48:00 +00002006-07-20T01:49:21.993-05:00My day started with a nice 30 minute bike ride to the campus by myself. I got up really early this morning to take care of some work before the lectures started. Today the lectures covered the topics of the life cycle of stars, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), and policy and legal issues of GNSS. I spent the afternoon listening to BM department lectures on satellite business http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/lectures-and-more-lectures.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115337808270654995Wed, 19 Jul 2006 04:47:00 +00002006-07-20T01:48:02.723-05:00Not much to say today. I spent the entire day in lectures and studying. We learned about space biology, launch regulations & export/import controls, and bone & muscle in space. Then we saw a space art video, which didn't really seem like art, but I guess art is in the eye of the creator in this case. The afternoon was spent with our team project groups. I led the meeting today, and overall http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/extra-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115320229719253725Tue, 18 Jul 2006 04:57:00 +00002006-07-18T00:58:17.206-05:00We're back to the grindstone. We had lectures on space medicine, space mission informatics, and the brain in space today. I met with my business and management (BM) team over lunch before we were supposed to have our BM department activity this afternoon. We were supposed to visit an incubator of enterprises today, but the company was not ready, which meant we had free time to work on our http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/city-life.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115311879228247455Mon, 17 Jul 2006 04:46:00 +00002006-07-17T04:37:51.786-05:00After the late night last night, we were a little slower getting started today. We spend some time just walking around the area near our hotel, had lunch at the same sushi place (Rachel and Ashley really like sushi), and headed to Sacre Coeur. It was a gorgeous day! Rachel is actually staying one more night, so we helped her find her youth hostel before we went to sit in the park behind the http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/back-to-strasbourg.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115311874641935862Sun, 16 Jul 2006 04:44:00 +00002006-07-17T01:45:46.420-05:00Happy birthday to me! I have to start by saying THANK YOU to everyone for the calls, emails, comments, and cards. I have the best friends and family in the world!My day started with a phone call from Ross and a card from my life group at church, which was the perfect way to start the day. We took our time getting up and getting ready since we are normally so rushed in Strasbourg. We found ourhttp://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/birthday-in-paris.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115311867929785474Sat, 15 Jul 2006 04:43:00 +00002006-07-17T04:16:19.280-05:00Happy Bastille Day to France, and Happy Birthday to my Papaw!I had lectures about the solar system, planets and small bodies, satellite communications applications and services, and space transportation systems. I went with Shanece and Ashley straight to the train station after our lectures where we had a 4 hour trip to Paris! We got there around 5 and met Ashley's friend from college, Rachel.http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/bastille-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115311863341388991Fri, 14 Jul 2006 04:43:00 +00002006-07-17T01:43:53.423-05:00Today was a non-stop whirlwind. We started with lectures as usual. Today's topics were financial issues and techniques, space architecture, and life support and environmental control. I was supposed to meet with one of my groups during lunch, but half of them didn't make it. Instead I got to talk to astronaut Jeff Hoffman about his current research on EVA suits at MIT among other things. http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/tarte-flambe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115277261916420186Thu, 13 Jul 2006 04:35:00 +00002006-07-13T01:36:59.166-05:00Nothing exciting to report today unless you count doing laundry as exciting. It was for me because we have so little free time. I was happy to finally get it done! J The lectures continue to get more technical. Today we learned about the sun and heliosphere, space propulsion, and the space environment. We spent the afternoon with our departments. In business and management we had two more http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/studying.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115277254399866436Wed, 12 Jul 2006 04:35:00 +00002006-07-13T01:37:19.320-05:00Today we learned more about space telecommunications and satellite communication systems, as well as satellite telecommunication regulations. Our afternoon was spent working on our team projects, which for me is micro- and nano-technology. We broke into sub-teams to divide up the research that needs to be done, and we defined a mission statement. Ed and Dustin, our TAs, ended up leading the http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/astronaut-panel.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115259914854924683Tue, 11 Jul 2006 04:24:00 +00002006-07-11T01:25:48.556-05:00Today's lectures were about satellite applications, remote sensors, and the heart in space. In the afternoon we met with our departments. The business and management department had two guest lecturers, Philippe Clerc who is head of the legal office for Arianespace and Stefano Fiorilli who is head of the procurement division for space infrastructure at the European Space Agency (ESA). At the http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/rocket-launch.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115251263781197650Mon, 10 Jul 2006 04:21:00 +00002006-07-10T01:23:57.813-05:00Today has been great! I slept until 11:00 this morning, which means I got 9 hours of sleep. Considering that I haven't gotten more than 4 hours any night this week, it felt really good. I missed brunch, but I didn't care at that point. After getting ready I hung out with people in the courtyard of our dorm for a couple of hours. Then we had lunch at a local restaurant. It was nice not to http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/world-cup-title-goes-to-italy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115251240644120450Sun, 09 Jul 2006 04:46:00 +00002006-07-17T04:06:39.440-05:00Today's lectures were about the origin and fate of the universe, astrodynamics, and space robotics. We also had a workshop on using STK (Satellite Tracking Kit) software. The last workshop I had of the day was about telescopes. I actually only got about 3.5 hours of sleep last night, so I took a short nap during the day, which was a huge help because the US culture night was tonight, which http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/us-culture-night.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115236429304038363Sat, 08 Jul 2006 04:00:00 +00002006-07-08T08:11:33.050-05:00The lectures were interesting this morning. We had economic rationales for space activities, principles of international space law, and business structures and planning. In the afternoon I had another team skills workshop where I was elected along with a girl named Theres to lead the first team project meeting next week. It's going to be some additional work, but I think I will enjoy it. The http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/long-night-so-few-words.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28963458.post-115225468900666483Fri, 07 Jul 2006 04:44:00 +00002006-07-08T08:16:26.653-05:00Today was another good day. The lectures in the morning were really good again. Today we talked about management of space projects, the international dimensions of space exploration (mostly about the policies in place for ISS), and space mission design. In the space mission design class John Connolly used the lunar lander that he is working on for NASA as an example. It is so cool to know http://isu.tayloredtruth.com/2006/07/experiencing-strasbourg.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Elizabeth Taylor)2