[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 1 - 09:33:48 ]
Hello to our early arriving chat participants! Today's Women of NASA chat with Julie Mikula from NASA Ames Research Center will begin in about 30 minutes. Be sure you have read Julie's profile at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/jm.html to prepare your questions.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 2 - 09:35:14 ]
Once the chat begins, Julie will attempt to answer as many of your questions as quickly as she can, but PLEASE be patient. Today's chat may be MODERATED to help Julie keep up with our questions. This means that only a few questions would be posted to the chat room at a time. Don't worry if your questions do not appear on your screen immediately during moderation. They will be held in our chat queue and posted as Julie answers those ahead of you.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 3 - 09:35:40 ]
Remember to enter "Your Handle" in the box provided before posting messages to the chat room. Your handle should include your name and who you are representing, such as: "Jeremy/St.Louis."

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 4 - 09:35:55 ]
At the conclusion of today's chat, we ask that you take a few minutes to let us know what you thought about it. For your convenience, you may use our online feedback forms at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats/qchat-surveys. We look forward to hearing from you!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 14 - 10:15:27 ]
Hello and welcome to today's Women of NASA/Space Day chat with Julie Mikula from NASA Ames Research Center. Julie's background in mechanical engineering serves her well as manager of the world's premier Flight Simulation Laboratories (SimLab) Facility. The SimLab, located at Ames Research Center, includes the world's largest motion base simulator -- the Vertical Motion Simulator. Julie oversees the work of the 120 employees who work in the SimLab, and conduct research for aeronautical aircraft research and space shuttles.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 16 - 10:15:54 ]
And now, here is Julie Mikula to answer your questions.

[ JMikula/ARC - 20 - 10:19:43 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] How are you? and was that decaf?
I'm fine. That was the regular stuff.

[ JMikula/ARC - 22 - 10:22:46 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] I saw tha video clip about simulators. How do you gather the information necessary for a new sim?
The information for new sims are gathered in many ways. The first is a meeting to get an understanding of the research is about and what requirements they will need. From that point a simulation team is assembled for them to begin to put the simulation requirements together and check out each part until the final integration. The team gets info. from documents, teleconferences, etc. A simulation could take 1 year or maybe only 3 months to be put together.

[ JMikula/ARC - 25 - 10:27:28 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] and you managed to sit still with the regular stuff...impressive... tell me about the kind of everyday decisions you have to make. Are they interdisciplinary?
Very interdisciplinary. A simulation consists of many different elements. The hardware meaning building a cockpit for the pilot to fly, means you have to work with the metal fabrication shop. I work with groups who deal with the electronic controls, or hydraulic systems, an instrument group, computer generated imagery group, aerodynamics group, software programming group and numerous others.

[ JMikula/ARC - 27 - 10:30:42 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] What about when you test new theories- How are the numbers translated into movement?
If the aircraft has never been built before, wind tunnel data or computer fluid dynamic data is utilized. The data is put into, or used to generate, a math mathematical model program that represents the dynamics of the aircraft and how it is supposed to fly. This initial math model is generated from expert researchers.

[ JMikula/ARC - 29 - 10:35:15 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] Wow! Do you have advisers or are you required to know a little bit of everything?
One of the main things is utilizing the expertise that each group has and that they are here to do that work, so they are key to rely on. To manage this facility most effectively it is best to know something about each group. This helps in making the many decisions that are needed.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 30 - 10:36:09 ]
Yaitza, thanks so much for your great questions and patience as Julie answers each of your questions. We're glad you could join us today. Be sure to share your thoughts about today's chat with us at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats/qchat-surveys.

[ Yaitza-Yaitza - 31 - 10:38:18 ]
Will do:)

[ JMikula/ARC - 32 - 10:39:25 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] can you tell me a little more about computer fluid dynamic data?
Fluid dynamics is something I am learning more about myself. My main knowledge to date has been more with mechanical engineering, some aeronautical engineering, or electronics, hydraulics and optics, laboratory facilities and simulations. Oran or I can give a name and numbers of the Fluid Dynamic Branch for you to get the best info. from.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 35 - 10:46:41 ]
RE: [JMikula/ARC] Fluid dynamics is something I am learning more about myself. My main knowledge to date has been more with mechanical engineering, some aeronautical engineering, or electronics, hydraulics and optics, laboratory facilities and simulations. Oran or I can give a name and numbers of the Fluid Dynamic Branch for you to get the best info. from.
You can contact the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Branch here at Ames Research Center, at (650) 604-4135. I'm not sure if the branch has its own web site online, but you can find out by visiting the NASA Ames Research Center home page, at http://www.arc.nasa.gov.

[ JMikula/ARC - 36 - 10:47:07 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] Julie, I read that you got your pilot's licence. How does the experiece of flying a plane differ from the simulated version. Are the test pilots able to look past the simulation after a while?
Very good questions. There are so many variables related to this question. How is the task setup? How good of a simulator are you using? How good is the math model? How good are the visuals and simulated hardware? Are you studying pilot work load or aircraft dynamics, handling qualities? All these question will give an answer to how real is it for the pilot which is the key ingredient to answering this question. The VMS is the highest fidelity,( meaning high in realism) . So in many cases the differences are extremely small. In fact I have heard most pilots say the aircraft flies just like the simulator. Duplicating even the most smallest of movements like ground effect. Having a pilots license has been extremely beneficial in understanding this.

[ JMikula/ARC - 37 - 10:50:04 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] oh, thanks! I want to be an electical engineer, but some of this stuff sounds like fun and the info would be great...
Great to hear. Go for it. In every field, there are so many opportunities to keep learning about other fields and how they are related and needed to work together. I am still learning.... One field is essential to all of them that I would encourage anyone to learn as much about and that is communication, writing or speaking. It is such a critical skill that is needed for everything.

[ JMikula/ARC - 40 - 10:55:53 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] Makes me wish I could hop on a plane! Are there any educational materials for this kind of stuff...you've got me thinking of more questions than you could possibly answer...
The VMS and SimLab has a web site you could use. When you log onto the NASA AMES home page look into simulations. There is also a wealth of information in our educational outreach programs.

[ Yaitza-Yaitza - 41 - 10:56:02 ]
ok. when you are trying to put a team together...how do you start.

[ JMikula/ARC - 46 - 11:02:13 ]
After an understanding of the simulation research objectives is obtained, you understand what elements they will needs in the simulation, will they need a programmer experienced with fixed wing aircraft or helicopters. So that helps decide the software type person for the programming for the team. They will need a cab put together so you need the people to install the control systems and instrument panel. You will need an "out the window" scene, what the pilot will see (such as the San Francisco Bay area) so you will optics installers and optic or graphic programmers. The list goes on, but this is how it begins.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 45 - 11:02:03 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] if you have to go- just tell me to go away, ok?
Yaitza, we're very glad you could join us today, and hope you can stay with us for another 15 minutes.

[ JMikula/ARC - 48 - 11:06:10 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] sorry, the phone rang! how do you deal with hand-eye coordination of a pilot when you try something new?
Every pilot has different experience levels. So you work with the coordination level they have at the time. Most of the time, if it's a new aircraft or your trying something new, very experienced test pilots are used. So they have, and are very experienced with the hand-eye coordination.

[ JMikula/ARC - 49 - 11:10:19 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] ok. How do you simluations like the space station where gravity is not an issue and there are so many unknowns?
Here, we do aircraft simulations in the Earth's atmosphere so I haven't been involved in simulations for "no gravity" situations. Usually when you are trying something with so many unknowns you break it down into smaller pieces and deal with the unknowns in each category to experiment with.

[ JMikula/ARC - 53 - 11:14:20 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] Julie, when's your next chat? I would like to participate!
Yaitza, currently there isn't one scheduled, so we'll see what get scheduled in the future. Your questions are excellent, you will have a great career ahead of you..

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 54 - 11:15:23 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] Julie, when's your next chat? I would like to participate!
Yaitza, at this time, the Women of NASA chats are winding down as the end of the school year approaches. But we may feature Julie and other women in our some of our chats during the summer. Be sure to check our schedule of events at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/common/events to keep up with our chats.

[ Yaitza-Yaitza - 55 - 11:16:07 ]
thanks, let me know if you do... I had fun.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 56 - 11:16:11 ]
RE: [Yaitza-Yaitza] Thanks for answering my questions you two :)
My pleasure, Yaitza. I second Julie's comments that you have a wonderful future ahead of you!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 57 - 11:16:55 ]
We will now be ending our chat with Julie. We would like to thank everyone for joining us today. Our very special thanks to Julie for sharing her personal and career experience and expertise with us.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 58 - 11:17:20 ]
Be sure to share your comments about today's chat with us, by using our online surveys at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats/qchat-surveys.

[ Yaitza-Yaitza - 59 - 11:18:01 ]
I'll keep an eye open, bye!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 60 - 11:18:09 ]
On behalf of Tish Krieg, project manager for Women of NASA, I would like to thank everyone for participating in this year's Women of NASA QuestChats. We look forward to hearing from you online in the months to come!

[ JMikula/ARC - 62 - 11:19:48 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] On behalf of Tish Krieg, project manager for Women of NASA, I would like to thank everyone for participating in this year's Women of NASA QuestChats. We look forward to hearing from you online in the months to come!
Good program, keep in touch. See you for now, Julie