New Concorde plane to ‘fly in 2020’ with one big change

Artist impression of a Low Boom Flight Demonstration Quiet Supersonic Transport (QueSST) X-plane design (credit: Lockheed Martin)

New Concorde plane to ‘fly in 2020’ with one big change

March 1, 2016

RETURN OF SUPERSONIC PASSENGER SERVICE WITH WHAT IS BEING CALLED A “HEARTBEAT” PLANNED BY NASA. The space agency has unveiled plans for the new aircraft to fly from 2020, with the design having one major difference to the much-loved Concorde that was retired in 2003. A supersonic heartbeat It might have been an engineering marvel and icon, but Concorde was also well known for loud sonic booms as it passed through the sound barrier. And for some people, that was always a source…

Playstation processor guides space probe to Pluto (composite photo. Pluto - Nasa. Playstation - Evan-Amos own work – public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Surely, the BEST video ‘game’ ever….PlutoFlyBy

July 16, 2015

jon

Pluto

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Pluto space probe guided by processing unit found in original Playstation games console. The New Horizons spacecraft has travelled 3 BILLION miles to take spectacular photos of the distant dwarf planet having left Earth in 2006. And all the time, it’s been guided by a MIPS R3000 CPU – the same processing unit used in the original Sony Playstation, albeit it radition-hardened To be honest, that’s pretty awesome – especially when you realise the spacecraft is the size of a grand piano. But according…

The “flying fungus” drone aircraft

November 14, 2014

jon

7dayshop, Aircraft, Aviation, Christmas 2014, drone, helicopter, Nasa, planes, quadcopter, technology, toys

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The drone “melts” in water – ideal for spying and helping destroy the evidence. Scientists at NASA have led the development of the new aircraft, which is made from fungus and recently made its maiden flight. One use of the technology could be to fly covert spying missions and then once complete to crash the drone into water to avoid detection. The drone’s body is made from mycelium (the vegetative part of a fungus) covered by protective sticky cellulose “leather” sheets…

“Meteorite strike”: may have been part of house-sized asteroid predicted to pass “close” to Earth

September 4, 2014

jon

science

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Officials think part of a house sized asteroid that was predicted to skirt past our planet could be behind a mysterious explosion in central America. At the time of closest approach, the asteroid was predicted to be about one-tenth the distance from the centre of our planet to the moon – that’s about 25,000 miles (40,000 kilometres). Experts at US space agency Nasa said that the 60ft (20 metre) asteroid – designated 2014 RC – would safely pass us by during the weekend just passed. Meteorite hits…