Side Projects (attempted)

1.) I came here because of my interest in the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) spacecraft. The original plan was to use learning the HESSI data analysis software as a side project. However, shortly after I arrived the launch was cancelled because of the failure of a Pegasus rocket, the same kind that was to take HESSI into orbit.

The Pegasus, with HESSI inside, at Vandenberg AFB in California. Photo: UCB/NASA (from spaceflightnow.com)

2.) The second attempt was to read, understand, and map the IDL program that I used to make the movies for my study. The intention of this was that I understand the process more completely, and learn something about the IDL programming language, even though I didn't do any programming. However, I soon realized that with all the subroutines, there were 4353 lines of code, and that project would not be completed either.

3.) Probably my greatest side project accomplishment was my greatly increased knowledge of the UNIX and Linux operating systems. While nowhere near guru status, I certainly am much more knowledgable and comfortable with using these systems.

4.) Another area of unexpected knowledge gain was in writing HTML. I designed and maintain a "fun" webpage for the 2001 MSU REU Physics Group.

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