It’s time again for me to report and write about what has happened since my last post!

The activity week contained a lot of, yes you guessed it, activities. The week was not only all about visits to various companies, long travels by car and sleepover at various hotels and hostels, but also a second visit to the conference and spa resort at Bokenäs.

The visit this time around was spent discussing and doing various exercises surrounding personal development and group dynamics. I was probably not the only one both physically and mentally tired upon coming home on Friday afternoon. The resort delivered, as usual, food and accommodation of highest quality and we also got an hour or so to spend in the jacuzzi and sauna, which was highly appreciated!

What ever happens at Bokenäs is, of course, classified and is not allowed to be neither spoken of or told by written text, so enough of this!

What is Christian doing now?!

Well, this is how it is. I have already spent about two weeks at the department for fatigue and strength (solid mechanics), exactly the same department where Martin spent his last placement (I’m actually sitting in his chair!). And I’m supposed to be here for another two weeks until Christmas.

I felt that this would be an interesting department to visit as I have previously studied some solid mechanics but not worked any extended time with it. What I have done so far is via some methods calculated the margin of safety for some of our products when it comes to mechanical loads. Meaning, what margins does the product have before if breaks.

I have also compared the margin of safety of various materials for the same product in order to see how the results vary, and I can tell you that they really do vary. A lot.

Last but not least, Space!

As a space engineer I might have a larger interest for the space industry and space in general than many others. Thus I feel we should bring a few really interesting pieces of recent news into the light!

What has happened?

• The eEuropeanprogram Rosetta arrived and managed to land its lander, Philae, on the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This is the first time in history we have gathered data from the surface of a comet!
• The European space agency (ESA) have decided to fund the successor to the successful Arianne 5 rocket program, Arianne 6. GKN has therefore contracts within the space industry for another 15-20 years!
• The american space organization NASA tested their new generation space program Orion, by launching it into space and completing two orbits around earth before “landing” in the ocean just outside of the coast of California. Orion is expected to bring humanity to Mars within 15 years!

There are lots of really interesting things going on in the Space industry now!

/Christian out