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Last Post 3/19/2012 8:13 AM by  Kris Sigsbee
Programming
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Anonymous





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3/19/2012 7:50 AM
    I wanted to know if any of you guys do a little bit of programming or anything... I am an 8th grader and I am developing a video game by myself. Its in Java. Coding is a useful tool, and can definitely help any scientist.
    Tags: Sounding Rockets, hobbies, programming, Fortran, Java, LabVIEW, Python, C

    Irina Marinova



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    3/19/2012 8:06 AM
    You are definitely correct! Coding is a huge part of being a scientist, and especially an Astronomer! In fact, we spend the vast majority of our time at a computer writing code. These computer programs are used to control the telescopes and instruments while we are taking astronomical observations. We also write programs with which we analyze large amounts of data. In addition, some astronomers use computer models to study astronomical phenomena instead of taking observations, so their whole job is based on programming! Knowing a lot about computers and programming languages would definitely give you an advantage in becoming a scientist.

    Kris Sigsbee



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    3/19/2012 8:13 AM

    Hello,

    Computer programming is a huge part of what I do. Today I am planning to work on a program I wrote in IDL (Interactive Data Language) to analyze Langmuir Probe data from a sounding rocket mission called TRICE, which is an acronym that stands for Twin Rockets to Investigate Cusp Electrodynamics. TRICE actually consisted of two sound rockets that were launched from Andoya, Norway in 2007. The Langmuir probe data that I am working on will help us determine the electron density in the ionosphere.

    I definitely agree with you that coding is useful for any scientist! When I was a student, I learned Fortran, and a little bit of C and assembly language. I am now trying to learn Java, as it is useful for making web-based data plotting tools. Java had not been invented yet when I was a student. Python is another useful language for scientists to know. We also use LabVIEW here to help collect data when we test electron detectors for sounding rockets in our vacuum chamber.

    You can read more about the TRICE sounding rocket mission here

    http://sites.wff.nasa.gov...news/kletzing07.html

    Here is a video showing the launch

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELO3aU7os0U

    Kris

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