As a pilot, I was made aware several years ago about a moratorium placed on the 100LL (Low Lead) fuel for general aviation piston powered aircraft. This moratorium requires that aviation fuels must be lead free by 2010. Unfortunately, many GA engines are built on old tech and the aircraft themselves operate in harsher environments, and thus require leaded fuels for anti-knocking, to decrease it's freezing point, and to a lesser degree, anti-corrosion.
Swift Enterprises they had a similar solution to this issue with synthetic fuels derived from bio-mass, similar to that of this Vertroleum product. Here is the AvWeb announcement on the subject, and an update with an interview of the people involved.
Apparently these guys have a working fuel that can seamlessly transition to the current market. What's more, this tech can also be adapted for jet fuel and mogas as well. Because there are several of these companies working on similar technologies, I have hopes that this isn't just a one off scam. Let's hope these companies can promise what they preach.
I can think of plenty of things that are more motivating and visionary to spend taxpayer money on. Things like AIDS research and cancer research, just to name two off the top of my head.
It's interesting that you mention research in medicine. In fact a lot of NASA's research goes into medicine, most notably osteoporosis. There is a much better understanding of the disease because of studying the effects of bone density loss on long term spaceflights. The ill-fated Columbia mission was mostly dedicated to medical research, cancer included. Just because you don't understand what they are doing with our money and is easily dismissed, doesn't make it useless.
I believe that the people lacking vision are those that want to spend billions of dollars rocketing a team of 8 people to a giant red rock in the sky when we haven't figured out how to fix problems at home first. And spending $475 BILLION on an illegitimate war is visionary? With what NASA is able to accomplish on $16 Billion per year is the ultimate in visionary and resourcefulness. Not only does it create jobs but gives us a better understanding of so many things that have previously been mentioned. And that's my $.02.
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As a pilot, I was made aware several years ago about a moratorium placed on the 100LL (Low Lead) fuel for general aviation piston powered aircraft. This moratorium requires that aviation fuels must be lead free by 2010. Unfortunately, many GA engines are built on old tech and the aircraft themselves operate in harsher environments, and thus require leaded fuels for anti-knocking, to decrease it's freezing point, and to a lesser degree, anti-corrosion.
Swift Enterprises they had a similar solution to this issue with synthetic fuels derived from bio-mass, similar to that of this Vertroleum product. Here is the AvWeb announcement on the subject, and an update with an interview of the people involved.
Apparently these guys have a working fuel that can seamlessly transition to the current market. What's more, this tech can also be adapted for jet fuel and mogas as well. Because there are several of these companies working on similar technologies, I have hopes that this isn't just a one off scam. Let's hope these companies can promise what they preach.
It's interesting that you mention research in medicine. In fact a lot of NASA's research goes into medicine, most notably osteoporosis. There is a much better understanding of the disease because of studying the effects of bone density loss on long term spaceflights. The ill-fated Columbia mission was mostly dedicated to medical research, cancer included. Just because you don't understand what they are doing with our money and is easily dismissed, doesn't make it useless.
More info on NASA's contributions and spin-offs:
A searchable database, and bit technical, http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/
A practical list of contributions, http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html
I believe that the people lacking vision are those that want to spend billions of dollars rocketing a team of 8 people to a giant red rock in the sky when we haven't figured out how to fix problems at home first. And spending $475 BILLION on an illegitimate war is visionary? With what NASA is able to accomplish on $16 Billion per year is the ultimate in visionary and resourcefulness. Not only does it create jobs but gives us a better understanding of so many things that have previously been mentioned. And that's my $.02.