astronomy

MacCready Gossamer Penguin

MacCready Gossamer Penguin is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand MacCready Gossamer Penguin rather than just read about it. In short: The Gossamer Penguin was a solar-powered experimental aircraft created by Paul MacCready's AeroVironment. MacCready had built the Gossamer Condor in 1977 which won the Kremer prize for the first human-powered flight, and the Gossamer Albatross, a similar but larger aircraft.

Key takeaways

MacCready Gossamer Penguin belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect MacCready Gossamer Penguin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of MacCready Gossamer Penguin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Gossamer Penguin was a solar-powered experimental aircraft created by Paul MacCready's AeroVironment. MacCready had built the Gossamer Condor in 1977 which won the Kremer prize for the first human-powered flight, and the Gossamer Albatross, a similar but larger aircraft. The Gossamer Penguin was developed from the Albatross and used that ultralight design to demonstrate solar flight at testing ground at Minter Field, outside of Shafter, California. The Gossamer Penguin was the third solar-powered aircraft to fly, and the second crewed solar-powered aircraft. The Penguin was a three-quarter scale version of the Gossamer Albatross II; it had a 71-foot (22 m) wingspan and a weight, without pilot, of 68 pounds (31 kg). The propeller was driven by an AstroFlight Astro-40 electric motor, powered by a 541 watt solar panel, consisting of 3920 solar cells. Initial test flights were performed using a 28–cell, NiCad battery pack instead of a solar panel. The test pilot for these flights was MacCready's 13-year-old son Marshall, who weighed 80 lb (36 kg). The official pilot for the project was Janice Brown, a charter pilot with commercial, instrument, and glider ratings who weighed slightly less than 100 lb (45 kg). She flew the Penguin approximately 40 times before a 1.95-mile (3.14 km) public demonstration flight at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on August 7, 1980.

Specifications Data from MacCready, Lissaman, Morgan, and Burke 1983General characteristics Crew: 1 Wingspan: 71 ft 0 in (21.64 m) Wing area: 297 sq ft (27.6 m2) Empty weight: 68 lb (30.8 kg) Fuel capacity: 28 x D type Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) cells or 3920 solar cells Powerplant: 1 × Astro-Flight Astro-40 double brush DC electric motor with 133:1 reduction

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with MacCready Gossamer Penguin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what MacCready Gossamer Penguin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to MacCready Gossamer Penguin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about MacCready Gossamer Penguin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of MacCready Gossamer Penguin

In research: MacCready Gossamer Penguin appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses MacCready Gossamer Penguin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: MacCready Gossamer Penguin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1980s United States experimental aircraft, AeroVironment aircraft, Aircraft first flown in 1979, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for MacCready Gossamer Penguin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “MacCready Gossamer Penguin” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study MacCready Gossamer Penguin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what MacCready Gossamer Penguin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain MacCready Gossamer Penguin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is MacCready Gossamer Penguin in simple terms?

Why does MacCready Gossamer Penguin matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study MacCready Gossamer Penguin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on MacCready Gossamer Penguin.