JP Aerospace has a good track record with dozens of launches to 100,000 feet, so the technology's there.
Given that current gear requires a lot of power and massy equipment to deliver gigabits of data, having one (or more) airships per city is a good idea, although I'm fonder of manned stations such as JP Aerospace proposed (their Dark Sky Stations).
See the Slashdot discussion here
AFAICT, they're simply applying PR spin to prevent people from associating their products with blimp disasters of old. The reality is that most people now consider blimps to be as reliable as goodyear blimps.
What blimp disasters of old? The R101, Hindenberg, Akron, Macon, et al., were all dirigibles, not blimps.
Do you have a blimp disaster to name, or are you full of hot air?
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1607131,00.as p
"Service is to be offered at 512K bps, 786K bps or 1.5M bps, and will bundle local and long-distance VOIP service alongside broadband Internet data access."
Verilan [verilan.com] is offering 802.11b and 802.16, side by side, in Portland for wireless connectivity to those without DSL or cable modems. Price is still a little spendy, but give them volume and they can drop to match McCaw's prices, I'll bet.
Verilan is offering 802.11b and 802.16, side by side, in Portland for wireless connectivity to those without DSL or cable modems. Price is still a little spendy, but give them volume and they can drop to match McCaw's prices, I'll bet.
The NPR story you refer to states clearly "The DOE says it can remove more than 99 percent of the radioactive sludge from the tanks, and seal the remaining traces in concrete or grout."
I know some fen who work at Hanford, and although your typical black-helicopter paranoids, they say the problem is, indeed, political and not technical.
Oh, that's just great. Now it's not just a balloon but also a lifting body?
Nobody said they had to make it out of dry cleaners' bags.. and, in these days of modern times, when you can't tell the ACs from the DCs {/obligatory Firesign Theater reference}, modern materials allow you to make thin, strong stuff that does shape into an airfoil when inflated, even without a rigid skeleton.
Dean Ing wrote about it in the '80s (SYSTEMIC SHOCK - SINGLE COMBAT - WILD COUNTRY). Good trilogy.
73s & best regards
John K7AAY
But, they're starting with that ion-drive blimp at the station, and they float up to equilibrium, _then_ turn on the ions. By the time they get to where they crank up the engines, there ain't much drag to be had.
The paper (on PDF, downloaded) states they rely on buoyancy up to a specific point, and then use the ion drives to push up from that equilibrium point up to LEO.
The best part is that the worlds record for the highest skydive is above that altitude. So theoretically in the case of a catestrophic emergency, people could simply get into their skydiving space suits, and jump.
So to lift 1 kg of mass with a balloon you need something like 1000 cubic meters of volume (actually more since you're using hydrogen and not vacuum, but whatever).
is right here.... (emphasis mine)
That will mean a
balloon with a radius of 6 meters. It will have a frontal area of 120 square meters.
The artist's illo clearly shows not a balloon, but a lifting body, an arrowhead shape.
However, I also was careless in my reading of the source text, as I munged
one dollar per ton per mile
into
one dollar per ton per mile
so, let's just start over from that point in the maths, and call it even?
73s and best regards
John K7AAY
One poster above said he had spoken with industry types who could not see profitability, much less $1/ton to orbit (and is that a short ton, or metric, i.e., a megagram?).
I wonder if you have more detailed numbers that you are ready to show folks?
Also, what could you do with a Oregon-based volunteer with a small talent in media relations and occasional fits of technical literacy (i.e., yrs truly).
Having a small percentage advantage by using H2 rather than He could have a major advantage on the second stage. Besides, there's only so much He in the Texan helium wells, so conserving it until fusion gets going is a good idea.
A story in the Fall 1990 WHOLE EARTH REVIEW #68, pp. 101-104, documents a 1984-1987 USGS study which showed a 70% correlation between radio signals on 200 Hz - 100 KHz. (the signals which BPL, if permitted by the FCC, will largely block).
> What's even more interesting is that I have yet
> to see any reports about this coming from any of
> the California plates, perhaps it hasn't been
> found or tested for or it's just not there..
> Who knows.
California's tectonics are significantly different than the OR-WA-BC situation. The Subduction Zone we have up here in the Silicon Forest puts us at much greater risk of The Big One.
An Oregon Department of Geology scientist gave a Tsunami presentation at my Red Cross Disaster Responder meeting earlier this month. She reviewed the history of Tsunamis and the quakes which cause them, at the Oregon shore.
Layers of sediment show when there's been a big one. She, and the rest of the department, based on the physical evidence and frequency, think there's one due 'soon'.
Seaside would NOT be a good place to be, ditto for Gold Beach and Florence. If your oceanfront community does NOT have evac routes already plotted, and signage posted, right now, then consider moving.
Uhh, sorry too burst your bubble, but
1) Switzerland is still a republic, and
2) Women got the vote here before they did there, so it is very arguable that our form of government advanced far quicker than theirs.
3) Switzerland (as per McPhee and others) still has a racial pecking order:
German Swiss ------------ French Swiss ------------ Italian Swiss ------------ Romansch Swiss ------------ Everybody else
However, a powered repeater is a device which requires a license to install. If you install it, the carrier can have the FCC come down on you like a ton of bricks.
Carriers do *not* like unauthorized picocells, and *do* report them to the FCC. You are intruding on *their* frequencies, for which they pay an obscene amount to the FCC.
The ARRL reports every month on FCC enforcement actions against unlicensed idiots with radio gear. The fines are not cheap.
Go with the passive approach, it's *much* safer, as well as cheaper just for the hardware. If you have problems with it, just ask a ham for help; we love this stuff!
Slashdot Mirror
JP Aerospace has a good track record with dozens of launches to 100,000 feet, so the technology's there.
Given that current gear requires a lot of power and massy equipment to deliver gigabits of data, having one (or more) airships per city is a good idea, although I'm fonder of manned stations such as JP Aerospace proposed (their Dark Sky Stations).
See the Slashdot discussion here
Do you have a blimp disaster to name, or are you full of hot air?
How about high-altitude platforms for broadband, plus other uses?
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1607131,00.as p
"Service is to be offered at 512K bps, 786K bps or 1.5M bps, and will bundle local and long-distance VOIP service alongside broadband Internet data access."
$40/mo for VOIP plus broadband?
Sell your ILEC stock today!
Verilan [verilan.com] is offering 802.11b and 802.16, side by side, in Portland for wireless connectivity to those without DSL or cable modems. Price is still a little spendy, but give them volume and they can drop to match McCaw's prices, I'll bet.
Verilan is offering 802.11b and 802.16, side by side, in Portland for wireless connectivity to those without DSL or cable modems. Price is still a little spendy, but give them volume and they can drop to match McCaw's prices, I'll bet.
When you care enough to send the very best - a Para-Ordinance P12-45, and a toter's card for every state I visit.
If I can't get a card, I don't go there. Why go to a state which criminalizes self-protection?
Every state that's implemented it has seen the rate of violent crime against innocents drop faster than before the legislation was passed, BTW.
The NPR story you refer to states clearly
"The DOE says it can remove more than 99 percent of the radioactive sludge from the tanks, and seal the remaining traces in concrete or grout."
I know some fen who work at Hanford, and although your typical black-helicopter paranoids, they say the problem is, indeed, political and not technical.
Seems like Honda figured out how to do it:
A rt icleID=2002100843527&bhcp=1&BrowserDetected=Tr ue
http://www.hondacars.com/info/news/article.asp?
This post was about Canada, which has hydro and reliable nukes.
But, they're starting with that ion-drive blimp at the station, and they float up to equilibrium, _then_ turn on the ions. By the time they get to where they crank up the engines, there ain't much drag to be had.
The paper (on PDF, downloaded) states they rely on buoyancy up to a specific point, and then use the ion drives to push up from that equilibrium point up to LEO.
John K7AAY
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=108858&cid=925 4503
One poster above said he had spoken with industry types who could not see profitability, much less $1/ton to orbit (and is that a short ton, or metric, i.e., a megagram?).
I wonder if you have more detailed numbers that you are ready to show folks?
Also, what could you do with a Oregon-based volunteer with a small talent in media relations and occasional fits of technical literacy (i.e., yrs truly).
John Bartley K7AAY
Having a small percentage advantage by using H2 rather than He could have a major advantage on the second stage. Besides, there's only so much He in the Texan helium wells, so conserving it until fusion gets going is a good idea.
> So, once we use the helium we have, we aren't getting any more. One source says this may happen by 2030.
Well, that's a very good argument for using H2 in the orbiter rather than the ground-to-station shuttle.
Of course, all we need to do is to get fusion spun up here, and we will have a bit more He to play with.
However, there was no authoritative source listed on the 'may happen by 2030' quote, so I think digging a little deeper may be justified.
Just think... Supra-NewYork Station (yes, Heinlein did write about it in the Fifties, didn't he?)
A story in the Fall 1990 WHOLE EARTH REVIEW #68, pp. 101-104, documents a 1984-1987 USGS study which showed a 70% correlation between radio signals on 200 Hz - 100 KHz. (the signals which BPL, if permitted by the FCC, will largely block).
Multiple citations are included to other research at the end of the article.
I think I will build one, even though when I bought my new home, it was built in Zone Green.
> What's even more interesting is that I have yet
> to see any reports about this coming from any of
> the California plates, perhaps it hasn't been
> found or tested for or it's just not there..
> Who knows.
California's tectonics are significantly different than the OR-WA-BC situation. The Subduction Zone we have up here in the Silicon Forest puts us at much greater risk of The Big One.
An Oregon Department of Geology scientist gave a Tsunami presentation at my Red Cross Disaster Responder meeting earlier this month. She reviewed the history of Tsunamis and the quakes which cause them, at the Oregon shore. Layers of sediment show when there's been a big one. She, and the rest of the department, based on the physical evidence and frequency, think there's one due 'soon'.
Seaside would NOT be a good place to be, ditto for Gold Beach and Florence. If your oceanfront community does NOT have evac routes already plotted, and signage posted, right now, then consider moving.
At very least, go to the ODG website and get the evacuation brochures.
Uhh, sorry too burst your bubble, but
1) Switzerland is still a republic, and
2) Women got the vote here before they did there, so it is very arguable that our form of government advanced far quicker than theirs.
3) Switzerland (as per McPhee and others) still has a racial pecking order:
German Swiss
------------
French Swiss
------------
Italian Swiss
------------
Romansch Swiss
------------
Everybody else
which is rather tacky.
However, a powered repeater is a device which requires a license to install. If you install it, the carrier can have the FCC come down on you like a ton of bricks.
Carriers do *not* like unauthorized picocells, and *do* report them to the FCC. You are intruding on *their* frequencies, for which they pay an obscene amount to the FCC.
The ARRL reports every month on FCC enforcement actions against unlicensed idiots with radio gear. The fines are not cheap.
Go with the passive approach, it's *much* safer, as well as cheaper just for the hardware. If you have problems with it, just ask a ham for help; we love this stuff!
Only those with E911 fully enabled, which ain't many.
http://complaints.bbb.org/Welcome.asp