Summary Draft 1 of Helicopter Ingenuity

The article by Gohd (2021), 'Mars helicopter Ingenuity: First aircraft to fly on Red Planet.', introduces features and functions of helicopter Ingenuity that took off successfully on April 19—hovering briefly up to 10 feet above the Martian surface, it lasted for 40 seconds before landing back down. 

Tucked in NASA’s Perseverance Rover’s belly, NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity is the first aircraft to be launched to the Red Planet on February 18, 2021, as part of the agency’s Mars 2020 mission. Preparing for its flight, Ingenuity underwent multiple tests, including warming up its rotor blades. An issue surfaced during its first full-speed blade test, causing a delay from its initial planned flight. On April 22, Ingenuity took off again, higher and longer this time, with the height of 16.5 feet and lasting 52 seconds. The craft was able to lift off and turn its color camera in multiple directions during its flight. Despite its tiny build, the Ingenuity has large blades that stretch to 4 feet across its body while standing about 19 inches tall. Ingenuity has blades with 2,500 revolutions per minute, while helicopters on earth that carry human passengers have an average of 450 revolutions per minute. Due to the distance between Mars and Earth, the mission team members cannot control Ingenuity in real-time. Therefore, a function was designed for Ingenuity to move in directions beamed out to mars autonomously. 

Formal Introduction Letter

Dear Professor Brad

This is Harshini Senthilarasu from Robotics Systems. I am writing to you to introduce myself. I finished my A ‘Levels last year and was able to clinch a spot at SIT Robotics Systems. Since young, I find myself to be a hands-on person. However, it was only after A ‘Levels that I truly figured out my interests. I am interested in programming as it feels like learning a whole new language. I also picked up an interest in Artificial Intelligence during the long break I had between junior college and university. Robotics Systems combines my interests of programming, engineering machines and Artificial Intelligence, leading me to join this course. Moreover, I believe that my interest in all the aspects of this degree programme is what make me unique. Although I am relatively new to this engineering course, I believe that with hard work and determination I will become an engineer.

One strength I have in communication would be that I can converse easily with people having learnt English since young as one of my main languages of communication. I experience this daily when I communicate with my friends. However, one weakness that I have after living in Singapore for many years is that I have picked up the lingo and am not able to have a proper conversation without using colloquial words. Nonetheless, I can identify the situations that require a proper conversation. Thus, I practice doing so in the case that when required I am able to have a proper conversation in important events such as a work interview for example. Therefore, through this Critical Thinking and Communication module, I aim to practice having more proper conversations and develop my skills in English, so I can communicate with others more fluently.

With regards

Harshini Senthilarasu

Unit 01 Task 5.2

 How do I see communication and critical thinking impacting my future role as a leader in the workplace?

Critical thinking fuels effective communication. Without proper communication, as a leader, I don’t believe I would be able to convey my thoughts to employees. Critical thinking would help me to think carefully and ensure I present logical explanations. As a leader in the future, I would also ensure my employees are provided with proper education on critical thinking and communication. This would help to improve the employer-employee relationship. By doing so, it would significantly reduce the misunderstandings between workers that might turn up. This would also help to ensure that project management is effective which would result in the company gaining good reviews that would eventually help the company to grow. At the same time, money spent to develop employee’s communication and critical thinking would also be of good use. This would definitely lead to better work experience and connection between workers. Hence, these steps would modify the environment of the company making it more like a second home to workers.

Unit 01 Task 3 Reflection

Explain what the following quote means to you  

“Without clear lines of communication, our ideas would stay within our own
small development teams instead of becoming mature products. While this is
obvious to those of us who have become experienced engineers, the real
question is: Why is it lost to us when we are engineering students?”

           Dr. Akbar R Khan, Software Systems Engineer, USA,

“Good Communication Is Essential...” (2014)

It describes that without communication, our innovations would stay within a small circle rather than being nurtured into finished products. With experience in their specific fields, engineers  develop the necessary communication skills to portray their thoughts as they understand communication is a necessity. However, during their schooling years, communication is not given emphasis and hence engineers are forced to pick it up on their own.