Cargo, Chords and Cats

TRAILER: We've had several International Space Station flyovers this week, including two last night. The first one was at 9:06. We went up to our roofdeck at the appointed time and when we finally spotted the ISS, we noticed it had a dim little dot of light following it.

We knew there was going to be a second fly over at 10:45, so we went back outside for that and lo and behold, the dim 'trailer' was still there - and closer this time. It seemed clear, at that point, that something was bound for the ISS, and in pretty short order.

This morning we learned it was a Japanese vehicle on a resupply mission to the ISS. Specifically, it was the HTV 4 mission, launched Aug. 3 from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex, Tanegashima, Japan. Here's the mission patch (image courtesy of JAXA).

                                   

The HTV 4 carried 35,000 pounds of cargo, including fresh food, experiments, spare parts and more, to the ISS.  It was launched atop a 186-foot-tall H-2B rocket, built and operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,35,000-pound payload into orbit.

HV-4 is Japan's fourth cargo delivery flight to the ISS. The cargo supply missions are the way the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) pays its share of the station's operating costs by reimbursing NASA through cargo deliveries. There's a neat brochure about the HTV : H-II Transfer Vehicle”KOUNOTORI” cargo vehicle here: http://www.jaxa.jp/pr/brochure/pdf/01/rocket03.pdf , and one about the H-ⅡB Launch Vehicle, the rocket used to launch it, here: http://www.jaxa.jp/pr/brochure/pdf/01/rocket05.pdf

And here's a link to the Japanese Space Agency page about the mission: http://iss.jaxa.jp/htv/mission/htv-4/

One of the most intriguing items on board HTV 4 was a talking robot named Kirobo. It's an interesting robot, in that it wasn't designed to 'serve' humans in the traditional sense, say performing tedious manual tasks, like Robonaut, which is already on board the ISS. Rather, Kirobo's primary function is to converse with astronauts.  It's a companion robot, if you will.  Its name is a hybrid of the Japanese word "kibo," which means "hope," and "robot."

The 13-inch tall robot was developed by Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, Toyota, the University of Tokyo and Robo Garage.  JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata is set to arrive to the ISS in December.  He will have a conversation with Kirobo. We're looking forward to hearing what the two have to say to one another. 

The cargo ship was successfully snared early this morning. In this photo from NASA, astronaut Karen Nyberg, Expedition 36 flight engineer, is at the robotcs workstation inside the ISS's cupola, training for the grapple.  Nyberg and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy used Canadarm2, to reach out and capture the cargo ship.

 Now, HV 4 is installed on the Earth-facing port of the ISS's Harmony node.

CHORDIFIED:  Yesterday, much to the kids' delight, we picked up a copy of "Equestria Girls" on DVD. After they watched it, during their guitar practice they were inspired to try to figure out "The Cafeteria Song" from the movie.

They plucked out and transcribed invidual notes.  This morning, I suggested we might be able to find the chords for the song online.  In our search, we came across a new-to-us Web site called Chordify. It's pretty amazing. It lets you upload a song file, or just plug in a link to a song on YouTube or Soundcloud and it quickly spits out a graphic of the chords the software detects in the song.

We plugged "The Cafeteria Song" in and here's what it came up with:  

http://chordify.net/chords/equestria-girls-equestria-girls-cafeteria-song-hd-equestria-videos

To see how accurate the chording was, I asked the kids to suggest a song they already knew how to play, so we could plug that in and see if the chords they play matched chordify's charts.  CJ suggested "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2."  Here's what Chordify suggested: 

http://chordify.net/chords/pink-floyd-another-brick-in-the-wall-2-lyrics-1998ddisturbed

CJ played along and it sounded like a pretty good match to us.  What an amazing program!

FROM SCRATCH:  Annabelle posted a drawing tutorial on Scratch today.  Here's what it looks like ...

 

Often, it won't launch from Blogger, so you might want to try the direct link to it here: http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/11753685/

In either case, click on the green flag to launch it.

    

BIG CATS:  This afternoon the kids spent some time playing one of the new games Annabelle acquired as a thank you for participating in a Microsoft Playtest on Tuesday, "Nat Geo TV America the Wild." 

The game is a clever blend of a National Geographic documentary and physical game play.  Here, CJ and Annabelle transform themselves into mountain lions and go hunting.  It was so funny seeing them on TV, standing in our living room, wearing their clothing but sporting big ol' cat heads and arms! They pounced after prey and posed for photos. Funny, fun stuff.