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User: MichaelSmith

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  1. Liquid fuels on Space Tourism Isn't Worth Dying For · · Score: 4, Informative

    I looks like the hybrid solid/liquid engine isn't going to push SS2 to 100km altitude. The original compound ran rough and it doesn't have a high enough specific impulse. The new compound explodes. Dick Rutan demonstrated a Long-EZ equipped with a liquid fueled engine in 2001. I think it is time to go back to XCOR and ask about a bigger engine.

  2. Re:ground based pics of ss2 breakup on SpaceShipTwo Pilot Named; Branson Vows To 'Move Forward Together' · · Score: 1

    The Guardian article says this was actually the first flight test of the new plastic based engine. So I suppose it worked for a few seconds in flight, nothing more.

  3. Re:So first plastic solid rocket design status is. on SpaceShipTwo Pilot Named; Branson Vows To 'Move Forward Together' · · Score: 1

    Frame 2 from the ground based photos seems to show that thrust from the engine reduced before the explosion. I wonder if something came loose and obstructed the outlet of the engine, causing an increase in pressure. Sort of a blowback situation.

  4. Re:ground based pics of ss2 breakup on SpaceShipTwo Pilot Named; Branson Vows To 'Move Forward Together' · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Consistency is a big issues with solid fuels. The shuttle SRBs were paired during construction, and the fuel was poured at the same rate into each engine from the same source. That way if the engine developed more or less thrust because of a variation in the consistency of the solid fuel, it would happen on both sides of the shuttle. Liquid fuels mix themselves, but a mixing problem is locked in to solid fuels until you burn them. I just wonder if a mistake was made during construction which caused a sudden increase in engine pressure, above that caused by the greater efficiency of this new fuel.

  5. Re:GPS can fail? on World War II Tech eLoran Deployed As GPS Backup In the UK · · Score: 1

    There is one switch in the US which will disable the whole system. GPS works badly for aircraft because they change altitude. Most users have a fixed altitude, so a small degradation in the system can cause large positional errors.

  6. Yeah like VHF multilateration on World War II Tech eLoran Deployed As GPS Backup In the UK · · Score: 1

    Its used in Australia as well, in parallel with GPS and radar. The aircraft transmits a signal, and multiple ground stations compare the arrival time.

  7. Most uninteresting on Tao3D: a New Open-Source Programming Language For Real-Time 3D Animations · · Score: 1

    It looks like an INI file for describing different layers in windows.

  8. struggling on Infinite Browser Universe Manyland Hits 8 Million Placed Blocks · · Score: 1

    Can we still slashdot things?

  9. Three motors on Tesla Announces Dual Motors, 'Autopilot' For the Model S · · Score: 1

    I had the impression the Model S has two motors between the rear wheels, one for each wheel.

  10. Re:It's like the metric system... on Maps Suggest Marco Polo May Have "Discovered" America · · Score: 1

    Its hard to miss. Basically a wall from the Arctic to the Antarctic.

  11. Re:Big Old Liar on Maps Suggest Marco Polo May Have "Discovered" America · · Score: 1

    He doesn't mention Chinese tea houses. Tea has been important in China for thousands of years but Polo makes no mention of it.

  12. Re:The story on AIDS Origin Traced To 1920s Kinshasa · · Score: 1

    HIV is a mutated version of a chimpanzee virus, ... which probably made the species-jump through contact with infected blood while handling bush meat.

    Okay, was there no monkey meat business before 1920s? Why did it make the jump only at that time? How exactly does a virus change from a chimp version to a human version?

    It made the jump because of the large local population, fed by modern transportation systems. Previously it hadn't been possible to support a million people in such a small area.

  13. Re:Doctor Mary's Monkey on AIDS Origin Traced To 1920s Kinshasa · · Score: 1

    In fact I know a guy who works as a butcher. He got badly sick at one point from exposure to blood from a butchered animal. Not sure if it happened because he had an open wound. It does seem to be an occupational hazard for butchers.

  14. Re:Distance and Charge Time on A Garbage Truck That Would Make Elon Musk Proud · · Score: 1

    Yes I would agree. Its just that I used to hang around the test stand in the engine factory for the Australian fleet of FA/18 jets and those things are very loud.

  15. Re:Low hanging fruit on A Garbage Truck That Would Make Elon Musk Proud · · Score: 1

    IIRC there was a product advertised some years ago. Its basically a contractors truck with an integrated generator. The focus is on supplying power to a construction site, and traction runs off the same power source.

  16. Re:Distance and Charge Time on A Garbage Truck That Would Make Elon Musk Proud · · Score: 1

    I can't wait for to be woken at 5 AM when the turbine generator fires up outside my bedroom window ;(

  17. Re:Distance and Charge Time on A Garbage Truck That Would Make Elon Musk Proud · · Score: 3, Informative

    Its just like a British milk float. It spends a lot of its time stopped, so an engine which doesn't need to idle is more efficient.

  18. Re:Do some research first please? on After Dallas Ebola Diagnosis, CDC Raises Estimate of Patient's Possible Contacts · · Score: 1

    More to the point its like being afraid of flying sharks. You could make a shark fly but it wouldn't be a particularly dangerous predator once you got it working.

  19. Re:Wow on Boeing Told To Replace Cockpit Screens Affected By Wi-Fi · · Score: 1

    Doesn't work that way in aerospace. The client pays for maintenance. Margins on development are small and the risk for developers is very high. If the airlines insisted on free fixes, the developer would just disappear. They don't want that to happen so they pay for the extra work.

  20. Re:Wow on Boeing Told To Replace Cockpit Screens Affected By Wi-Fi · · Score: 1

    As long as passengers are willing to pay for the upgraded gear with the price of their tickets.

  21. Re:Operators on Boeing Told To Replace Cockpit Screens Affected By Wi-Fi · · Score: 2

    Those poor, poor airline operators.

    Passengers will pay.

  22. Re:No he didn't on Man Walks Past Security Screening Staring At iPad, Causing Airport Evacuation · · Score: 1

    Thinking about this on the train this morning I reckon you could get close by using Doppler sensing sonar along a corridor with one way doors at each end. A Doppler shift which indicates somebody going the wrong way would disable both doors until humans sort it out. It could probably be augmented with a camera based system. There would inevitably be false positives from kids darting around, etc but you wouldn't have to shut down the terminal.

  23. Re:LAX has this solved. on Man Walks Past Security Screening Staring At iPad, Causing Airport Evacuation · · Score: 1

    (we assume most people aren't complete morons in Australia).

    Did you _see_ the results of the last election?

    Touche.

    But in our defence, only 32% of people voted for the Libs, the remaining 13% was made up of the various national parties. The 5% that got them over the post were due to dodgy preference deals.

    But realistically the dregs of Labor weren't getting back in to office.

  24. Re:No he didn't on Man Walks Past Security Screening Staring At iPad, Causing Airport Evacuation · · Score: 1

    How about one of those big fans they use for indoor skydiving, but oriented horizontally and pointed away from airside.

  25. Re:I still don't get this. on Consumer Reports: New iPhones Not As Bendy As Believed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I found a nokia at a tram stop once. It was just the internal structure and battery, but a bit of hunting around in the gutter revealed the case. It had been dropped on the road and repeatedly run over. I snapped the lot together and found the most frequently dialed numbers (parents in Malaysia, not calling there to say I had found their daughters phone smashed on a road in Melbourne). Called her boyfriend and he arranged for me to drop off the phone. Very strong bits of gear, Nokias.