Capitalism is *awesome*

 awesomeness, Hmm..., news  2 Responses »
Jun 282014
 

Back in February a giant sinkhole opened up underneath the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It swallowed up a number of the museums cars, doing a million dollars in damage. This was, of course, a Bad Thing. But fortunately, the people running the museum had some sense…

Corvette museum likely to keep part of sinkhole

In short: they’ve made bank on their disaster. Attendance is up 60% and they’re selling sinkhole t-shirts and the like. Their plan is to keep about half of the 40-foot-wide, 60-foot-deep hole as part of the permanent display. Which begs the question: how do you keep *half* of a hole?

Anyway, good for them. Nature dealt them a blow, and they figured out how to capitalize on it.

 Posted by at 5:08 pm

Support The Cause via Patreon

 aircraft, APR, blather, drawings, Hmm..., new products, news, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Bomber Projects, wisdom  1 Response »
Jun 282014
 

EDIT: I should note that Patreon contributions will likely be the sole source for most if not all of the diagrams and documents I release from here on. A few might wind up being sold individually as with prior Air & Space Dwgs & Docs, but most if not all won’t. I will shortly post information on some of what I have coming up. Some of it will, I trust, be of considerable interest to many…

I’ve launched the Patreon funding campaign:

http://www.patreon.com/user?u=197906

If you appreciate the aerospace research I do and the stuff I dig up, please consider contributing. As a bonus, you will get goodies if you do! High rez large format diagram scans, brochures, reports, proposals, etc.

 

Pledge $0.75 or more per month

You get my thanks and a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that you are contributing to saving the history of aerospace engineering!

 

Pledge $1.50 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 125 dpi

 

Pledge $3.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 200 dpi

 

Pledge $4.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi

 

Pledge $5.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi, sized for 8.5X11

 

Pledge $6.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 11X17

 

Pledge $8.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 18X24 or larger AND the diagram in the native vector format

 

Pledge $10.00 or more per month

You will receive all the prior rewards, plus have the opportunity to vote on what will be released next.

Tell all your friends.

 Posted by at 9:26 am

Shipboard C-130

 aircraft, awesomeness, history, ships, youtube  6 Responses »
Jun 272014
 

In 1963, the supercarrier USS Forrestal hosted a KC-130F. The cargo plane made numerous touch-and-goes, full-stop landings and unassisted takeoffs, proving that it could be used for carrier on-board delivery of supplies and personnel and such. Sadly, this concept never saw service. While it did work, the deck had to be kept pretty clear.

[youtube uM5AI3YSV3M]

 Posted by at 8:29 pm

Helicopters Are Racist

 aircraft, blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., history, Meh., politics, ಠ_ಠ  11 Responses »
Jun 272014
 

For those who might’ve been under the impression that the PC brigade couldn’t possibly get any sillier, may I present:

The U.S. military’s ongoing slur of Native Americans

Where we are informed that naming helicopters “Apache,” “Black Hawk,” “Kiowa,” “Comanche” and so on is not only racist, it’s racist propaganda on the scale the the Luftwaffe naming a plane the “Jew” or “Gypsy.”

Some people have *way* too much time on their hands, and not enough brain cells to rub together to spark actual critical thinking.

 Posted by at 7:23 pm

Manned Atlas V/ Delta IVs

 art, projects, rockets, spacecraft  16 Responses »
Jun 272014
 

Found on eBay, a set of fridge magnets printed with three manned United Launch Alliance launch options: the Boeing CST-100, the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser and the Orion capsule in the Exploration Flight Test 1 (first unmanned flight) configuration. I’ve not found better versions of these illustrations elsewhere, sadly. This image was processed a bit to straighten and brighten the photo posted on eBay.

delta4capsules

 Posted by at 3:10 pm

Not *quite* a replicator

 awesomeness, Hmm..., rockets, science, youtube  3 Responses »
Jun 262014
 

The “Lasertec 65:”

[youtube aUX_Hm01KMc]

A machine that combines a five-axis CNC mill with laser sintering additive manufacturing. In short: wow.

Given the power on display here, I imagine that the sintered metal is pretty completely melted and with minimal (though probably not zero) porosity. Depending upon what metals this system can work with and how porous and strong the resulting structures are, this looks like it might be a dandy way to make small rocket engines. If it can change metals on the fly, imagine the possibilities for solid components made from multiple metals… aluminum or copper or silver or gold for high thermal conductivity “welded” to steel or titanium for strength. If it can sinter and machine tungsten or moly alloys… yow.

A longer silent version with more detailed explanation (in some weird moon-man language) of just what’s going on:

[youtube s9IdZ2pI5dA]

I have no idea how much this costs. I suspect if I sold my house I still couldn’t afford one.

And because hideously expensive robots that can make damn near anything are intrinsically cool, here:

 

[youtube HfnEIi3PJgg]

 Posted by at 6:50 am

“the decay of sterile neutrinos”

 Hmm..., news, science  4 Responses »
Jun 252014
 

That there is a headline I never expected to write. No, really. Even just “sterile neutrinos” had escaped all my prior prognostications. Anyway:

Mysterious X-ray Signal Intrigues Astronomers

A spike in X-Rays from the Perseus cluster of galaxies (240 million light years away, containing thousands of galaxies, one of the most massive structures in the known universe) has been interpreted by at least a few scientists as *possibly* being due to the decay of “sterile neutrinos” which only interact with regular matter via gravity. These would potentially be part of the mysterious realm of dark matter.

Additionally: the Perseus cluster was the source of the deepest tone ever detected. Most wavelengths people ever hear about, whether the wavelengths of light or sound, have oscillation periods measured in thousandths or millionths of a second. But radio waves emitted as the result of the relativistic expansion of plasma bubbles in the core of one of the clusters galaxies have an oscillation period of 9.6 million *years.*

The universe is a durned nifty place.

 Posted by at 5:32 pm

Forrest Gump

 AARRRGH, art, humor, youtube  2 Responses »
Jun 252014
 

The Honest Trailer for “Forrest Gump.” It hits on the reason why that movie has always bugged me, and why I’ve never liked it… it is a romantic tragedy of *epic* proportions. Forrest is portrayed as being friendzoned to a massive degree, over a span of decades; the woman he desperately loves really has no use for him except for when she has nowhere else to turn. Gah.

 

[youtube jvcex-loSJ4]

 Posted by at 5:14 pm
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