This sort of thing will wake you right the hell up.
Florida pilot has quite the story to tell, and the video to prove it.
Paul Appleton was flying a helicopter, snapping photos during the Super Bowl, when a turkey vulture suddenly flew into his aircraft.
Appleton says the bird hitched a 20 mile ride on this lap.
The safest thing to do was to keep the bird in the aircraft until he landed.
There’s a video at the link.
Meteorite falls Ahuazotepec bridge collapses; Army cordoned off the area
Ahuazotepec .- Huauchinango Municipal Police confirmed the fall of a meteorite that collapsed a bridge between the municipalities and Cuautepec Ahuazotepec.
Preliminary reports indicate that no injuries and that the fall caused a roar that was heard up Zacatlan and Tulancingo, Hidalgo.
The incident took place Wednesday at 18:30 between the two populations, as far as the Mexican army arrived to cordon off the area.
The radio station Tulancingo XENQ was who gave the scoop a few hours ago.
It must be said that authorities in the region assumed at first that an aircraft had fallen, however, to get where they realized that the extraterrestrial object left a hole 30 meters in diameter.
Huh. That’d be a hell of a thing…
OK, as may be surmised, Valentine’s Day is not and never has been a particular favorite of mine. But this is just stupid.
UK school bans Valentine cards: report
Ashcombe Primary School – which teaches students aged four to 11 – has threatened to confiscate any cards found on the premises in Somerset, southwest England, the Times reported on Thursday.
“Some children and parents encourage a lot of talk about boyfriends and girlfriends,” wrote head teacher Peter Turner in a monthly newsletter.
“We believe that such ideas should wait until children are mature enough emotionally and socially to understand the commitment involved in having or being a boyfriend and girlfriend,” he said in the letter to parents.
Oy vey. Children have historically been exposed to the whole gamut of human experiences, from conception, to birth, to a whole lot of death. Hell, read the original “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.” I dare Disney to pick one at random and do a faithful adaptation. The idea that grade school kids aren’t ready to begin the process of socializing with the opposite sex, getting into the whole “puppy love’ thing, and then getting their hearts ripped out of their chests and stomped on, or being perpetually shut down by the opposite sex, is just damnably ridiculous. It’s not like they’re being trained to do the horizontal monster mash; children’s V-Day cards are merely a way to express childish affection for others, and of course are a fabulous way to indicate social outcast status by the lack of ’em. The earlier kids get these experiences under their belts, the sooner they can get going on learning to deal with such things.
I suspect that a good deal of the motivation for this is due to the fact that, if the practice today is anything like it was when I was in grade school more than thirty years ago (ye gods that’s unpleasant to write), kids in class hand out V-Day cards not just to their chosen targets of affection, but to pretty much the whole class… and there are always some kids who end up being forgotten or outright avoided due to being ugly, weird, nerdy, smelly, whatever. Thus, “losers.” And as we’ve seen all to much of, there is a PC movement to make sure that nobody loses. Well, sorry, but some people *are* losers… and if they don’t figure it out as kids, it’s gonna hit ’em like a ton of bricks when they finally enter the Real World. And they’ll either shut down, kill themselves, kill someone else, or become socialists. And society really doesn’t need any of that.
I’ve been digging out the old files for the book project previously described HERE. By far the largest part of the book was/is going to be on propulsion systems. Now, this may be due to the fact that propulsion systems for spacecraft were my schtick, professionally; but I like to think that it’s actually because compared to the propulsion system, everything else (navigation, life support, power, etc.) is pretty secondary. Think of it this way… if tomorrow Microsoft announced that they had developed a perfect closed-system ecology perfect for long duration spaceflight, the general response would be a collective yawn. But if someone tomorrow announced that they figured out how to make a practical and affordable warp drive that could send you to the stars at ten times the speed of light, people around the world would start slapping together starships the day after. To hell with closed ecologies… just pack an assload of canned Spam.
<> Anyway, one of the files I’ve got is the outline of the propulsion system section. My idea was to break all technologies into several technological “eras,” as described in the book’s Introduction:
This book will show how to design and use your Spaceship to a level of detail adequate to avoid the usual pitfalls of most science fiction. To do this, the technology levels are divided into the following types:
1) Now
2) Real Soon
3) On the Horizon
4) Beyond The Horizon
5) Magic
The “Now” class of spaceship is what can actually be built today, with equipment more or less off the shelf, or new designs that make no noticeable advancements on existing equipment. This would include such things as conventional staged, expendable launch vehicles (from small to very large), to space capsules, small spaceplanes, Shuttle-type vehicles, basic inter-orbit tugs, lunar landers and the like. All would be powered by such propulsion systems as chemically fueled rockets – liquid, solid and hybrid; some use of low thrust systems like ion engines and resistojets. These technologies, used wisely, allow for the early commercialization of near-Earth space and the limited manned exploration of the Moon, Mars and some nearby asteroids.
The “Real Soon” class of spaceship would include the use of technologies that have received considerable ground testing, but have not been used. These are devices and technologies that the engineers behind them are virtually certain will work, but will require development. Such spaceships would include fully reusable two stage to orbit launchers, early single stage to orbit vehicles, solar sails, Mars landers, and nuclear thermal rockets such as the NERVA. There are a few materials of note in the “Real Soon” category that would be of interest, such as high temperature ceramics and aerogels. The “Real Soon” designs would, somewhat arbitrarily, encompass those available beginning around 2010-2030, and are the sort of technologies that would allow for true commercialization of near-Earth space (including the Moon and, possibly, near-Earth asteroids) and the manned reconnaissance of the inner solar system.
The “On The Horizon” designs would include the use of technologies that have received only very preliminary testing, and are largely “vaporware.” This class would include such things as airbreathing single stage to orbit vehicles, nuclear pulse vehicles, gas-core nuclear vehicles, laser-propelled launchers, early fusion and antimatter drives. These technologies, which may become available around 2030-2060, would allow for the low-cost commercialization of near-Earth space (including the Moon), tourism to Mars, and the manned exploration and exploitation of the entire solar system, with early missions to the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt.
The “Beyond The Horizon” vehicles would be where things start to get really interesting. These would include the use of technologies that scientists have only the barest preliminary theories of, and engineers are currently very uncertain as to how to even contemplate their use. However, it is in this area where the first interstellar propulsion systems become available. Pure antimatter “photon” drives, Bussard ramjets, advanced pure fusion drives and the like. “Beyond the horizon” technologies have the potential of making the entire solar system accessible as the steam engine made the world accessible. These technologies may become available in the second half of the 21st Century and beyond.
“Magic” technologies are those for which even a theoretical basis is almost totally lacking, or which current theory does not support. Warp drive, hyperdrive, jump drives, wormholes, time travel, gravity generators, zero-point energy generators all fall into this category. They have the potential of making the entire universe accessible. However, with the highly hypothetical nature of these technologies, putting even a vague handwavy date on them is not reasonable. They may be impossible; they may equally be demonstrated within a few years.
———————-
So, here’s the general outline of what the propulsion system was expected to look like:
———————-
Basics:
Spaceship Physics 101
The rocket equation – Read it, Learn it, Live it
Rocket engine design basics
Basic Rocketry
Thrust Vectoring
Jetevator
Jet tabs
Jet Steering
Secondary Liquid Injectant
Rotating Asymmetric Nozzle Extension
Supersonic Splitline
Differential Throttling
Relativistic Travel & Effects
Types of propulsion:
Available Now:
Siege Engines
Steam Rockets
Compressed Gas
Guns
Chemical Rockets
Solid rockets
Liquid rockets
Monopropellant
Bipropellant
Bimodal
Liquid engine design features
Shock diamonds
Hybrid Rockets
Hypersolids
Pressurant vs. pumps
Electrical Propulsion Systems
Ion engines
Hall Effect Thrusters
Resistojets
Arcjets
Turbojets
Ramjets
Balloons
Available Real Soon:
Advanced Chemical Rockets
Expansion-deflection nozzles
Aerospike nozzles
Plug cluster
Dual bell
Hypersolids
Goddard’s Turbo-Prop Rocket
Rotationally Augmented Thrusters
Nuclear Thermal Rockets
Nuclear ramjet
Solar Sails
Solar Photon Thruster
Laser /Microwave Sails
Solar Thermal engines
VASIMR
Rotary Slings
Rotavators
Slingatron
Pulley Drives
On The Horizon systems:
Scramjets
Ducted Rockets and Ejector Ramjets
Liquid Air Cycle Engines
Pulse detonation engines
Gas core nuclear
Nuclear/MHD “Torch”
LANTR
Nuclear lightbulb
Nuclear pulse (Orion)
Nuclear Pulse (Medusa)
Nuclear Pulse (Helios)
Laser Launch
M2P2
MagSail
Railguns
Mass Drivers
Antimatter: Fuel of the Future.
An Antimatter Primer
Antimatter Steam Rocket
Antimatter ramjets
Antimatter turbojets
Anti-Proton Initiated Fusion
Muon Catalyzed Fusion
Pellet Stream Propulsion
Sail Beam
Light Gas Balloon Tunnels
Hydrogen Balloon Ramjet Tunnels
Advanced Artillery
Scramjet Guns
Light Gas Guns
Compressed Gas
Combustion Driven Piston
Falling piston
Underwater gun
Thermal Bed Gun
Nuclear Reactor Gun
Nuclear Bomb Gun
Electric Discharge Gun
Beyond The Horizon:
Launch Loop
Matter/Antimatter Photon Rocket
Bussard Ramjet
Catalytic Ramjet
Ram Augmented Interstellar Rocket
Exotic Chemicals
Metastable Helium
Monatomic Hydrogen
N20 (Nitrogen-Twenty Buckysphere)
Magic:
Alcubierre Warp Drive
Krasnikov Tunnel
Quantum Teleportation
Vacuum Point Energy systems
Wormholes
Artificial Gravity
Inertialess Drives: General
Inertialess Drive: Negative Matter
Inertialess Drives: Dean Drive and others (i.e. BS)
Forwards’ Spin Drive
If I’ve missed anything, and I almost certainly have, feel free to drop a note.
I don’t know if there’s some sort of symbolism here that I’m not getting, but it sure is odd and funny.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/glance/1011027/scuba-pair-ambush-google-van
Two men in Norway have made a splash on Google Streetview by chasing down the internet giant’s camera van dressed in full scuba gear and brandishing pronged forks.
Photos show the pair of pranksters in Bergen, south western Norway, patiently waiting on deck chairs for the Google van to pass by.
When the van finally comes along, the men jump up and chase it all the way down the street waving their forks.
More photos at the link.
The DoD does, and seems to want to see the US retain some of that capability.
DOD Studying Rocket Motor Sustainment
The Pentagon is participating in an interagency integrated team convened to explore how best to sustain the rocket motor industrial base — a mandate made all the more urgent given NASA’s planned cancellation of the Constellation program, according to Brett Lambert, the Defense Dept.’s industrial policy director.
Each of NASA’s Ares V launchers would have required six RS-68 engines, which are common to the U.S. Air Force’s Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). Already, Air Force officials are seeing an uptick in the per-unit price of each EELV because procurement has slowed to keep pace with delayed satellite programs.
This trend is only getting worse with the NASA decision, according to Gary Payton, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space. “We share an industrial base with NASA — on solids, liquids, range infrastructure and a workforce. So, with the cancellation of the Constellation program… we have got a lot of work to do with NASA to figure out how to maintain a minimum industrial base on liquid rocket engines and solid rocket motors,” Payton told reporters Feb. 4 during a luncheon roundtable.
The end of Constellation/Ares sees the end of ATK-Thiokol as a going concern. Say waht you will about ATK (and I can say rather a lot, little of it complementary), but it’s not like the US is stacked to the rafters with companies that can build large, ICBM-sized solid rocket motors. United Tech/CSD folded half a decade ago. ATK may fold within a year (for all intents, anyway… it’ll probably retain some smaller contracts, and play rocket-hobby-shop).
On the liquid rocket front, things are a bit more confusing. With the dropoff in need for Delta IV’s, far fewer RS-68’sa re being built. With the end of the Shuttle, SSME’s day will be done. On the other hand, the SpaceX Merlin will, hopefully, continue to loft the Falcon rockets, and Xcor will hopefully continue to crank out reliable small rocket engines for the commercial market.
The commercial spacecraft and propulsion industries are America’s great hope. And Obama’s proposed budget theoretically helps cater to them. But for entepreneurs to thrive ina market commanded by Marxists… I dunno. I got a bad feeling about this, Chewie…
Now that it is abundantly clear (see comments HERE) that this series of Boeing artwork was cribbed from artwork for children’s books, I’m much less impressed and interested. But what the hell, here’s another one, showing some sort of largish spacecraft being serviced by two astronauts in suits and a third in a “space taxi.”
A commercial for a Dutch insurance company with surprisingly high production value.
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Slightly different (English language) version.
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If you’re familiar with “Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy,” the end won’t come as a complete surprise.
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Making Of.
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Another commercial for the same company.
Iran Successfully Tests 1st Radar-Evading Aircraft
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran has successfully tested the research model of its first home-made radar-evading aircraft named ‘Sofreh Mahi'(flatfish), a senior Iranian army commander announced on Sunday
“The research model of this plane which staged a successful flight passed all radar-evading tests that we desired,” Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Army Air Force General Aziz Nasirzadeh told FNA.
The General said that the flatfish-inspired shape of the aircraft as well as the materials used in its structure have provided the aircraft with the radar-evading capability.
Couldn’t find any pics.
