It is almost done...

So I have been working non-stop for the past few weeks to get my Space Mission Design class ready for our final presentation tomorrow. It has been an extremely difficult journey and has given me extremely valuable insight into the process of mission design. There have been ups and downs but for the most part we had a great group working on this project. We give our CDR (Critical Design Review) and I am most pleased to announce that as a result of our hard work, an actual member of the SNSB (Swedish National Space Board) will be in attendance. Not only that, but our proposal has raised interest in the eyes of many people and we have submitted it to the SNSB for an actual review of our proposal. This is a great accomplishment and I for one am glad to be a part of it.

In other news, I have almost finished all of my classes for my master's studies and am now preparing to work on my thesis project. I will be doing data analysis of Cassini data on Saturn's moon, Titan. To think, I will be one of the first to explore new information on the edge of research into our own solar system. I am really excited and can't wait to get started. Below is a picture of Titan taken by Cassini in 2005. It is an extremely interesting environment and has lots of mysteries waiting to be explored.

Well, that is all I have time for at the moment. I still have a lot of prep for tomorrow. :)

SSC

The Swedish Space Corporation. A treasure trove of valuable ideas and insight into the inner workings of the space industry. As a group, our space mission class went there yesterday for an expert meeting. We describe what we are doing, they describe what they are doing, and then we collaborate to get a better understanding of our project and how it is moving along. Apparently, the world is shifting to nanosats and we as a group happen to be on the forefront of this trend. We have almost completed the design of our three craft (preliminary design, of course) and can soon begin the age old process of compromising...or locking ourselves in a room and arguing about who is right. :) No it is not as bad as it sounds, but being creative requires a certain amount of confidence in your ideas as well as the ability to compromise your own desires with that of the group.

On the observational side, we completed our observations with the NOT telescope and are now in the process of data reduction, or analyzing the data in a set order to get the most significant results from our work. This will most be fringe patterns that give information about our targets. Also, we have recently been acquainted with ASPRO, or a software that models information from the VLT. Yes, the VLT...that VLT. It is a wonderful program that helps with learning all about the practice of interferometry in the real world. We learned a good bit about the telescope design and its abilities and how to use different configurations depending on the object you wish to observe. There is much more in this than I first imagined, but it all has reasoning that will blow your mind. Guess you will have to be here to see for yourself.

Anyway, work is calling and I have to answer so talk to you later.

Space, space, and ever more space

So there is this thing called space, and apparently its huge. Unbelievably, mind numbingly huge. And the amount of work devoted to understanding just a small part of it is overwhelming. Well, it is kind of what I signed up for. Currently, I finished up a class called theoretical astrophysics, which I definitely recommend for the first year master students. Mostly because everything in that class is the basis for other classes that you will take.

But that is in the past, let's move to the present...SPACE!! As from late last year, I began a project working on NASA's MMS. Well a small part of it. Just a small project doing quality testing for some Langmuir probes built by the university. Now that project is still underway, but due to some newly discovered heating issues, it has lodged onto a small snag and will be continuing shortly.

Also, I have begun two new classes, SMDP and ObsAstro II. SMDP stands for Space Mission Design Project and it is exactly that. You design a space mission from idea all the way through the feasibility study. It is designed to give students a real world perspective on how "insert random description here" it is in reality (the random description can be any word that is synonymous with hard, fun, frustrating, and rewarding...depending on how you look at it). We have decided to build MATE, which is a set of three scientific satellites designed to study Mars. As the details are highly classified, I cannot go into specifics. :) As for Observational Astrophysics II, we are preparing for a assignment where we get to use the NOT (Nordic Optical Telescope) to view stars and then do data reduction to create what should be some interesting bright circles. Circles may not mean much to you, but if you are like me, and you know that the light from this circle is more than likely many times older than I, then it does indeed become something exciting.

On the thesis front, my project has been determined. I will be doing analysis of Cassini Huygens data from the lower ionosphere of Titan. Titan should be a fairly common word to most readers, but I will indulge those that may need a small reminder. Titan is Saturn's largest moon. It just so happens that this moon has a pretty dense atmosphere filled with organic molecules...hmmm? Life, you may ask? Let's not get ahead of ourselves, For now we will just study the properties of the ions and leave the question of life for another point in time.

Well now it is time to get back to work. It has to be done, someone has to do it, and that someone is me. Hopefully now that things have settled I can keep the updates rolling in more regularly because I am almost to the home stretch and this is the time when things start getting really interesting.

A new year, new faces, and a great experience

So classes started not that long ago and with the hectic schedule of getting situated for the year, it seems that the days just fly by. Now that things have settled, I can talk about the things I have done and the things that are ahead.

First, let's start with summer. It ended shortly after it begun because there was work to be done. My project took a good portion of time and though it is technically over, there are even more interesting things to investigate. Apparently, an oven is not as homogenous as once thought. But that remains to be completely determined.

This is my last semester of actual classes and I am in three. Starting with theoretical astrophysics, which by the way I should go ahead and recommend this to all incoming students first. Many of the things you learn after this class are first introduced in this class. I will also take observational astro II and space mission design project. Both wonderful classes. But it is good that my class load is lax this semester. It gives me time to prepare for my masters thesis, which will be investigating organic compounds on Saturn's moon, Titan. It also gives me time to apply for Ph.D. positions for next year.

In any case, the weather is still nice, but I know that "winter is coming".  I hope you had a good summer and welcome back to Uppsala.

Summer...let the fun times begin

So now that classes are officially over, it is time to sit back, relax...no wait. It is time to work. I have been fortunate enough to get a position working with the IRF testing probes for NASA's MMS mission. Being a master's student, having something to do in the summer between years improves your image and makes you more appealing when going for a Ph.D. In any case, I actually get to work with instruments that will go into space in a few years doing quality analysis. It is a wonderful opportunity and I am glad I managed to work my way into it. I actually had to manufacture my own mounting mechanism for the probes which means I got to spend a day in the machine shop. I was literally like a kid in a candy shop. I was excited all day long.

Now let's talk about Sweden...the snow is gone, the grass is green, the sky is full of nitrogen. Granted, it does not get dark at night due to our latitude, the weather is wonderful. Getting sun and spending time outside is a necessity. Biking through town or hiking in the woods, it is an experience next to none. It makes the cold months seem almost worth it because it increases your appreciation for the natural beauty of Uppsala. Also, since it is a small town (and I am a fan of small towns), it just adds to the allure.

I also recently found out that the physics department is one of the largest on the planet given the number of physicists. It made my heart melt when I heard that there are so many people that share my interests (even if they have different profiles, their love for physics is awe inspiring).

Well, time to get to the lab and make sure that I earn my place. Hope to see some of you in the fall.

Swedish Spring

So spring has finally arrived...sort of. You still need a light jacket a few days and most evenings, but the plant life has bounced back faster than I thought it could. It is gorgeous and the sun starts to light the sky at around 3am (don't ask how I know). In any case, I presented a project yesterday for the IRF (Institutet för Rymdfysik), or the Swedish Institute for Space Physics and it went so well I am getting a contract to test space probes for NASA's MMS mission going up in two years. I say that is pretty good. :) I then had a seminar is Galaxy Physics which also went really well.

I also put the finishing touches on an Observational Astrophysics lab. We took pictures of M51 and used a program to edit the pictures to make our own color images. Here is one of my results...

Now I have to make a presentation for my Nuclear Astrophysics class on chemical abundances on the galactic thin and thick disk.

Oh yeah, one thing all prospective master's students should know...actually all students should know about Uppsala housing. It is difficult...and when you find a place, it is tradition to start looking for another one. :) Strange I know, but it can be kind of fun. You learn the town and are constantly meeting new people.

The interconnections of it all

Another week passed and another reason why this path I have chosen is a wonderful experience... In galaxy physics we had a seminar on AGNs (Active Galactic Nuclei for the non-indoctrinated) and galaxy clusters. In NAP, we had another guest lecturer, Prof. Edmunds. Both classes held my attention greatly...unfortunately not so much because of the material covered. The reason that my attention was held captive and I was enthralled and hanging on every single word was due to the interconnections between everything that I am learning here at Uppsala. During both the seminar and lectures, bits of information from other classes came up, which is to be expected, but the connections with things that I personally was studying made the lectures a wonderful experience. Being able to pick other people's brains from different places gives a much more varied image of the universe we live in and helps to be not only more objective, but to have different vantage points from which to draw conclusions. It also helps with memory retention. Having to access the same information in different contexts and at different times greatly improves understanding. I mean really...could it get any better when preparing for a career in research. :)

Friday April 29, 2011

Good morning...Today is a special day, my birthday (yay me). So I did what any good slacker would do, I went to class. Of course this week in NAP (Nucear Astroparticle Physics for those who have not been paying attention) was not typical, at least not for me. We had an experimental nuclear physicist lecturing...keyword: experimental. I like hearing about a good theory now and again, but nothing is as exciting as getting your hands dirty and bringing theory to life (or death). So now in this one class we have had two researchers from across Europe come and talk to us...not bad Uppsala, not bad. Speaking of experiments, I finished my lab report as well. I was doing quality analysis on space probes. That's right, first year student working on space design. IT only took the better part of 6 months, but 65 thousand data points, about a hundred graphs, and hours of error analysis later...it is done (well, almost...stil have to make the presentation :).

Also, lucky us had a guest presenter from GHOSTS yesterday.I am not going to say too much about it because I want to leave just enough suspense so you will visit their site and learn something about all the different places in the universe you can look. Link --> :). You should definitely give that a view as it is a large project that will take time and be round for many years to come.

Oh well, enough talk, time for work...and Happy Valborg!! (look it up...another reason to be in Uppsala)

FAIR by GSI

I had a pretty good week in NAP (Nuclear Astroparticle Physics). We had a guest lecturer from the GSI institute in Germany. He gave us two lectures and a seminar about his work in nuclear physics as well as the new facility being developed at the GSI in Germany. Oh his name is Karlheinz Langanke. He spoke in depth about the FAIR project. FAIR stands for Factility for Antiproton and Ion Research (http://www.gsi.de/fair/overview/research/nuclear-structure_e.html). It was quite enjoyable even if the jokes needed some help (we are physicists, not comedians). It gave me the opportunity to think about particle physics and how certain elements were made in our universe. Closer to my goal of understanding the how of the universe. As for the why, leave that to the philosophers.


Now for next week, classes are for the most part dismissed but the work doesn't end there. Going to spend it working on papers and homework. :)

physics of the nuclear astroparticle variety

three questions, 11 answers, and three hours...fun, right? Well it wasn't too bad. I only messed up one question because I didn't have the book (which has since been remedied). It was more of a knowledge base test to see where everyone in the class stands. There were two different varieties: one for astro students and the other for nuclear students. I am an astro student so I had nuclear questions. The up side is that the test has already been returned to me so that I can correct my errors and get some of the points I lost back. It is more important to have the knowledge than to pass the test with high marks (that's how I see it anyway). --> This is important. Anyway, other than this test I had a seminar on dwarf galaxies in galaxy physics which went extremely well. Now to finish a paper for stellar physics and prepare for more. Yay!

Welcome

Hell and welcome. My name is Omid, if you haven't gathered that information already, and I am a master's student at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. If you are not sure where that is, click here. The university is the oldest in Scandanavia, founded in 1477. It is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world for physics. The Physics department is large, with many divisions. I am following the astronomy and space physics profile.

A little bit about myself. I am originally Iranian though I grew up in Jackson, MS, USA. From there I attended Mississippi State University where I received my bachelor's degree in Physics in 2004. I spent some years working in the construction industry and then came to Uppsala to continue my course work.

The purpose of this blog is to give prospective students and others that are interested a small insight into life as a master's student in the physics department. More specifically, it will entail my experiences in the department and in Uppsala.

I would like to begin by discussing a little bit about how the program is structured. Unlike more master's programs that I am aware of, the program here is structured very independently. A master's student is not led by the hand and told this is what you need to do. You are released into a world of physicist's and you are expected not just to survive, but to succeed. For those that like independent study and relish in the chance to make your path, this is a great university. You are not expected to even follow the same profile while you are here. If for some reason, you find that you fit better in a different set of courses, you are free to follow a different profile (Ok, so maybe I didn't quite explain profiles clearly, scroll down a bit and they will be better explained).

The profiles in the Physics department are just paths for each specialization. As I mentioned before, I am following the astronomy and space physics profile, but other ones include geophysics, material physics, theoretical physics just to name a few.

If you would like to see a video of me talking about the program and a bit about life in Sweden, click here.

So now you know about the program, where we are, and what we do, let's get started...