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