Hoping to see the promised auroral display, I stayed up till 3 AM (spending much of that time creating new cyanotype blueprint “blanks”). And what did the 3AM sky look like? Looked like this:
First real attempt at rain this area has seen in well over a month.
According to spaceweather.com, the CME still hasn’t hit the Earth. So I’m assuming that it will do so during the day, and die off nicely by sundown.
Some other recent photos of the sky & clouds are HERE.
Some disturbing/interesting graphs, but the money quote is this:
Translation: for everyone on Social Security, there are now less than two people working to support them.
Yeah, no. That ain’t gonna work.
Aerographite takes title of world’s lightest material
Less than a year ago, the lightest structural material in the world was announced… a metallic lattice of tiny nickel tubes. Now, it’s been beaten by something half a dense.
Though mostly air, the material can not only be compressed by a factor of 1,000 and still spring back to its original shape, but can also support many times its own weight. Amazingly the material is also electrically conducive and chemically-resistant; with researchers indicating that aerographite could be either used as electrical shielding, help create an ultra-lightweight battery or be used elsewhere in MEMS (micro-electromechancial systems).
Seems fairly structurally soft, though… no building airplane wings out of it.
The AIAA-Houston chapter newsletter “Horizons” has published an article I wrote on a 1963 concept for a variable geometry spaceplane capable of both space station logistics and combat missions. You can download the May/June 2012 here: http://www.aiaahouston.org/
Words fail.
Personally, I’m disturbed. Not by the fact that a 60-year-old man looks quite different from a 25-year-old man… but that, holy carp, Luke Skywalker is sixty friggen’ years old.
Oy.
Via Spaceweather.com:
X-FLARE! Big sunspot AR1520 unleashed an X1.4-class solar flare on July 12th. Because the sunspot is directly facing Earth, everything about the blast was geoeffective. For one thing, it hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) directly toward our planet. According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CME will hit Earth on July 14th around 10:20 UT (+/- 7 hours) and could spark strong geomagnetic storms. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras this weekend.
Translation: I’ll be up at 3 in the morning, camera equipment at the ready… likely cursing about the cloudcover.
So there’s the first 24 of the cyanotype blueprints. I have another dozen or so lined up so far for future releases, depending upon whether or not this turns into another artfail fiasco.
If’n you’ve been wondering why the aerospace blogging has dropped off of late… well, there ya go. Been working this and a few other projects (including the one nobody has guessed yet), and they’ve pretty well chewed up my time and resources.
Weekend after next I’m going to a local art/craft show to attempt to sell my landscape photos and such. This has also chewed up time and resources to procure stock and supplies and whatnot… and I have the sneaking suspicion that it’ll prove to be another boondoggle. Oh, well…
Oh: And I can now state with some certainty that having a doctor jam a needle directly into one’s elbow suuuuuuucks.
Cyanotype print 24: A-4 graphite vane
A Peenemunde layout diagram of the “Druckstuck M” graphite vanes used to direct the thrust of the rocket engine on the A-4 (V-2) ballistic missile.
A hand made cyanotype blueprint on sturdy 12X18 watercolor paper. Each is unique, and likely to feature small imperfections.The blue will fade if left in the sun. If this happens, it can be darkened by placing it somewhere dark with good air flow to re-oxidize the ink. Alternatively. hydrogen peroxide, available from grocery stores, will instantly oxidize the ink and restore it to its full hue.
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Cyanotype print 23: STAR Clipper
A layout drawing of the Lockheed STAR Clipper stage-and-one-half launch vehicle circa 1967.
A hand made cyanotype blueprint on sturdy 12X18 watercolor paper. Each is unique, and likely to feature small imperfections.The blue will fade if left in the sun. If this happens, it can be darkened by placing it somewhere dark with good air flow to re-oxidize the ink. Alternatively. hydrogen peroxide, available from grocery stores, will instantly oxidize the ink and restore it to its full hue.
