Hello to all
Its time to blog again and do some updating of the site.
The good news is we finally have a forum and home site for the Aerospace Club.
Club member Dion Moult has done a great job creating the new sites. They can be found at....
http://www.e2-productions.com/aerospace
http://www.e2-productions.com/aerospacebbs
We welcome new members who would like to discuss topics relevant to our efforts to discuss the many fascinating aspects of aerospace science.

At this time we are busy preparing for some exciting programs for the end of the year and also for next year. I am happy to announce that we will be doing our first live webconference with NASA at the end of this month. On November the 27th we will be taking a group of members and friends to the newly opened Malaysia Space Science Center in Banting to view the facilities and conduct a live conference with NASA engineers who will be presenting on the International Space Station. I am looking forward to starting what I hope will be a ongoing program of live webcasts with NASA conducted a regular intervals during the year.
In addition we will have the opportunity to view the MSSC facilities and learn about the fascinating work being done there.

Details of the trip will be posted on the forum.

We were very profiled to be able to conduct a workshop for the Nestle Neslac group under the National Association of Gifted Children.
130 participants were thrilled by the displays and demonstrations provided on the day. Of particular not was Sazalis new model helicopter that he flew for our participants. It is truly an awesome machine and really wowed the crowd. I included some pics of the day in this blog.

Now that the year is drawing to a close we are able to reflect on the many wonderful events and activities we have provided. Even more importantly is the prospect of next years activities. Of particular note is the upcoming mission to the International Space Station for the Malaysian Astronaut. It is my intention to follow this event at all stages and try to get as many people as possible involved.
Also a major event will be the Malaysian International Aerospace 2007 to be held at Subang between the months of June through to August. The exhibition will feature the Buran Space Shuttle. It will be brought in on the back of worlds largest aircraft the Antonov AN 255 (see picture).

Aerospace Education Services has continued to grow and demand for our services has increased rapidly. At this time we are in the process of negotiating a major deal with a partner company that will see our operation making a BIG change for the better. I will update the blog in a week or so hopefully with news of our new arrangement.
Thats all for now and looking forward to the next post ....see you then.

Sam

Now that the year is drawing to a close

Hello to all
Since last post many things have happened. Of note was our involvement in the recent opening of the first stage of the Malaysian Space Science Center in Banting.
We had some exciting challenges to deal with and a very tight timeline to finish work on our areas of responsibility in relation to the opening.
The event itself took place on the 4th of October and was officiated by the Prime Minister and many government ministers.
Thankfully after many long days and nights working in preparation everything went according to plan. I have posted some pics of the event so you can see what went on. As you can see we had our giant Soyuz rocket model as the centerpiece for the opening.
On of our special tasks for the event was to make a gift for the PM. We designed and created a very unique display stand with a fragment of real meteorite suspended between. (See pic) There are a series of verses from the Holy Quran inscribed on one side with their english translations on the other. Apparently the PM liked it so much that he wants it on display in his own office. It has been a great privilege to be able to make this special gift for the countries leader.
Dr Nafisah the Space Center director has indicated that she would be happy to have groups of students come to the center and participate in activities. On the cards are live webconference sessions with NASA and building a radio telescope.
The center is the first stage of a much larger project that will see a major facility for the construction of satellites finished within the next few years.
I am hoping to run some activities during the coming Hari Raya/Deepavali Holidays and will update by email to all club members in the coming days.
All the best for now
Sam

Hello to all
It has been sometime since I have had the chance to update this site. September has been a very busy month with a large numbers of studens attending our special outreach programs at the National Planetarium and the TUDM Royal Airforce Mudeum at Sungai Besi. In addition i have been working on some special projects with the National Space Agency (Angkasa) That I will tell you more about here.
Our outreach workshops at the planetarium this month were designed to provide an insight into the history of space exploration and space flight. As part of the tour we organised we also took our participants to the IMAX theater where they watched the amazing 3D film Magnificent Desolation Walking on the Moon. The film provides a special overview of just what it took to get man to the moon. Students were thrilled by the amazing 3D effects and scenes from the film. Watching the film was almost like being on the moon with the Astronauts.
In addition I have been working on a special project for the first stage of the Malaysia Space Science Center near Banting. This amazing facility has been built with the future in mind. Already operational are the centers specialised communications antennas that send and receive data from satellites in orbit around earth. Also there is the newly finished satellite calibration facility that I was working in recently installing giant graphics panels (see pics).
Next month we will be putting a whole series of new programs together that will include live web conferencing with NASA engineers and hopefully a long awaited astronomy fild trip.
Check back from time to time to see whats happening...more to follow.
Bye for now
Sam

Hello to all
Finally I have had the chance to update the blogsite after what has been a very busy month.
Since returning from the USA there has been a great deal of activity that included meeting Her Royal Highness Queen Fauziah during the recent University of Science Malaysia's convocation festival (see photo).
It was an honor to be able to show her royal highness some of the activities we have been doing that also included an outline of the International Space Settlement Design Competition.
Her royal Highness was particularly impressed with a demonstration of 3D images of Mars that were demonstrated on my AMD Ferrari Laptop.
The month of August saw a great many Aerospace Workshops at both TUDM Sungai Besi and also a continuation of our successful Planetarium Imax Program featuring the awesome film commentated by Tom Hanks "Magnificent Desolation". These were amongst the first words spoken by Astronaut Edwin Buzz Aldrin as he set foot on the lunar surface soon after the world renown Neil Armstrong.
Since returning from the USA there has been a lot of activity at Aerospace Education Services. We are pleased to announce that we have taken on a new staff member. Mike has just graduated in electrical and electronics engineering and will be helping us to develop our robotics workshops amongst other things. Hope to show some of Mikes new work soon now.
In addition we are beginning to organize a special series of interactive live webcasts with the Johnson Space Center. It is my hope to conduct the webcasts with NASA engineers and astronauts as part of a schools education program nation wide. Students will have the opportunity to watch these live video feeds from places of interest at the Johnson Space Center. The events will be interactive so it will be possible to ask questions and participate directly in the presentations.
I have also posted some pics of the Sokol Falcon Space suit purchased by AES for the Agensi Angkasa Negara. Before the space suit was delivered to its new owners a couple of lucky club members had the chance to try it on and experience wha it is like to try the real thing. The Sokol suit is the standard space suit worn by all astronauts travelling to and from space on the Soyuz rocket. The suit is now on dispaly at the National Planetarium.

I have posted a few pics of some of our recent activities. Will try to update again soon.
Bye for now
Sam

Hello to all
Well now we are all home safely in Kuala Lumpur it is time to reflect on what happened during the past 10 days in the USA.
I think broadly speaking the trip was a huge success. The opportunity to experience working with other school students from the USA, Australia and India was in itself a great opportunity for the Malaysian team. This in conjunction with having the priveledge to meet and work with engineers and scientists from Boeing and NASA was really quite something.

One of the very interesting persons I met was Norman Chafee. Norman started working for NASA before the Apollo days and was involved in just about every major project NASA went through during the last 30+ years. Having now retired he devotes a considerable amout of time to student education programs. Working with Norman was an amazing experience. The day I first met him he bought one of the attitude thruster motors from the Apollo rocket program. In just a few short minutes we were thoroughly absorbed in conversation. Being with Norman is like being with an encyclopedia of Space Science. He is one of the true pioneers of space craft engineering and, despite his relatively humble beginnings as a petrochemical engineer, he worked in many different capacities during his time at NASA. He was even associated with robotics development for missions to Mars.
I believe Norman is a shining example of somebody who always looks beyond the horizon of any engineering challenge laid out before him. His versatility and remarkable capability to apply his skills in such diverse environments such as propulsion, robotics, space craft design and even education are, in my mind, the marks of true human genius.
Norman was kind enough to provide me with some great ideas for class content that I will be trying on my students in the coming weeks and months.
Overall I would say that we all carried away with us special memories of our trip to Houston. I hope that in the coming weeks the students who made the trip will post their stories to this blogsite so you too can read about their individual experiences.
In closing I wanted to mention something about our team.
The 8 student members from Malaysia I think should be proud of their efforts and conduct during our stay in Houston. Many people came to me specially to comment on how delighted they were with having the Malaysian guest members on their teams. I can safely say that we are always welcome back to the Johnson Space Center and it is my hope that those who follow in the footsteps of our "pioneer" team will continue to uphold and develop this tradition of excellence and spirit of adventure. I would like to thank each and every one of the members for their participation and courage during this remarkable event. You are all true leaders in the making.
I will post again soon so I hope that all visitors can remain up to date as to our activities. In the next few days I will be going to Penang to do a series of demonstrations at schools in the region. I will post the results of that here after my return.
All the best
Sam

Hello to all
The last few days have been very hectic and i apologise for not making it to the blog for an update.
The competition was held at the Gulruth Center just up the road from our hotel on Saturday, Sunday. The announce,ent of the finalist team was held at the Johnson Space Center Blast Off theater at 4pm on Monday after team proposals were submitted on Monday morning for judging.
The winning Company Dougledyne Astrosystems and Flechel Constructers consisting of the Apeejay and Whitney highschool students and our team members Daryl Goh and Ming Yi were delighted with their victory. To be honest i am glad i didnt have to be a judge because all the proposals were simply amazing and well reflected the talents and dedication of the respective team members.
I have posted a few extra pics here of the finals presentation ceremony including one of a team Nasa and Boeing Scientists and engineers who acted as CEOs and Judges. In the pic you can see from left to right are Dick Edwards who is one of the competition co founders and an engineer for NASAs Boeing division, Richard who works on the Solid Rocket Boosters for the Space Shuttle, Anita Gale who does Cargo Integration for the Space Shuttle, John Kube who works on the International Space Station and Jack Gafford who is also a Solid Rocket Booster engineer.
Working with these and other highly experienced engineers and scientists during the week has been a fascinating experience. I and the students have spent many hours together with these highly trained professionals learning and listening to their experiences working on the cutting edge of Space exploration
I think everybody was really thrilled to be here and will take home special memories of their visit. For me one of the highlights was touching a peice of rock that came from the moon and standing next to the Saturn V rocket. I know all the other team members have their own story to tell and I hope we can put some of them here on this site in the coming days.
Tomorrow morning we will be heading for the airport to return to Malaysia. The time has passed all to quickly but i am sure all the team is looking forward to going home.
I will post again soon with details of the competition and other activities we were involved with during our stay here.

Howdy do there
Today all the teams finally arrived at the Brentwood Inn in Houston. We now have in total 116 students from 4 different countries working in "Companies" preparing their designs for a colony on Mars.
All the teams conducted their inital planning sessions and divided their members into their respective areas of concern. ie structural engineering, human factors, automation etc.
Tomorrow we will be travelling to the Gulruth Convention Center to begin Day 1 of the competition. Essentially the first day comprises of special presentations given by engineers and scientists who either work for or retired from NASA. Of note are people like Norman Chaffee who throughout his career in NASA worked on the Apollo program, the Space Shuttle and also the Mars Rovers during his extensive career with NASA. I had the pleasure of meeting Norman and discussing many exciting concepts he has developed with regard to special activities for Aerospace Science classes. I will be interviewing Norman tomorrow and will post my discussion with him here on the blog.
Yesterday we all went to Houston city for a visit during the afternoon. It is really a beautiful city with extensive parklands and highly modern city center and an amazing wall of water fountain that was a big hit with everybody.
All the team expressed a keen desire to visit a shopping mall so we went to La Galleria and spent several hours browsing the shops and stores. I found two interesting shops one selling live hermit crabs in brightly painted shells and the other being the Discovery shop with all the gizmos and gadgets that i really love.
Later that evening we went to the Kemah Board walk situated by the sea side in the Gulf of Mexico and took in the sights and sounds of a truly American vista. Their was live music, Juggling with fire sticks and a crazy fountain with lots of kids getting wet. It was nice to see how the locals enjoy their evenings.

The next two days will be highly intensive and the real test of everyones capability. I am looking forward to bringing you all news of how we progress during the competition.
Bye for now
Sam

Hello to all
This is the first blog from our newly established blog spot online.
The idea here is to give all Students and Aerospace club members involved in Aerospace Education Service activities a chance to share in the excitement of our overseas tour to Houston Texas in the United States.
We came to Houston to participate in the International Space Settlement Design Competition (ISSDC). ISSDC is a special competition run by NASA scientists and engineers requiring student teams to design settlements in space and on other planets typically for more than 10,000 people. For more information on the competition you can visit the site at http://www.spaceset.org.
Since arriving in Houston the team members have begun to settle into a daily routine of reasearch, work and sightseeing. I think the highlight of our stay so far has been to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center. To view in person the control rooms where the Apollo lunar landings were conducted, to see the truly enourmous Saturn V rocket that took astronauts to the moon and to observe the extensive simulator facility where astronauts train for upcoming missions aboard the Space Shuttle and International Space Station was and unforgettable experience to say the least.
I will post more pics to this site in the coming days of our visit to JSC.
Now some of our partner teams have arrived from India and other states from the USA. The Malaysian members have beed readily adopted into their host teams and work has commenced on discussion of designs for a colony on the surface of Mars.
During the next few days teams will identify the critical areas of concern with regard to the highly complex and demanding task that lays ahead.
This coming Saturday the teams will be attending seminars conducted by NASA engineers to discuss the many aspects of designing colonies in space and on other planets. We are all looking forward to the opportunity of learning first hand from experts who have been working for NASA for many years and who are willing to impart their knowledge to all the members of the teams present.
More to follow.
Best regards
Sam
Team Adviser