Tag: Jet

Military-grade jet fuel made cheaply from plant waste instead of coal

An expensive superfuel normally reserved for missiles and hypersonic jets can now be made from crop waste instead of fossil fuels – and more cheaply to boot Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2213081-military-grade-jet-fuel-made-cheaply-from-plant-waste-instead-of-coal/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Hubble’s new portrait of Jupiter

This new Hubble Space Telescope portrait of Jupiter reveals a smaller-than-usual Great Red Spot and an intense color palette in Jupiter’s swirling clouds. NASA said, “The colors, and their changes, provide important clues to ongoing processes in Jupiter’s atmosphere.” Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-hubble-portrait-jupiter-june-august-2019…

Climate Crisis May Be Increasing Jet Stream Turbulence, Study Finds

The climate crisis could be making transatlantic flights more bumpy, according to research into the impact of global heating on the jet stream. From a report: Jet streams are powerful currents of air at the altitudes which planes fly. They result from the air temperature gradient between the poles and the tropics, and reach speeds of up to 250mph (400kmph). They…

Astronomers investigate AGN jet in the Messier 87 galaxy

Astronomers have taken a closer look at the relatively nearby Messier 87 (or M87) galaxy to investigate the jet of its active galactic nucleus (AGN). The new research, described in a paper published July 31 on arXiv.org, delivers important insights into the parameters of the jet, which could improve the understanding of AGNs in general. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-08-astronomers-agn-jet-messier-galaxy.html…

High-Security Locks For Government and Banks Hacked By Researcher

pgmrdlm shares a report from Reuters: Hackers could crack open high-security electronic locks by monitoring their power, allowing thieves to steal cash in automated teller machines, narcotics in pharmacies and government secrets, according to research to be presented Friday at the annual Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas. Mike Davis, a researcher with security firm IOActive, discovered the vulnerability last…

A closer look at Io’s weird volcanoes

Io’s volcanoes have fascinated scientists since the Voyager 1 spacecraft first discovered them nearly 40 years ago. Now a comprehensive new report – based on ground-based studies – unveils new mysteries about the most volcanically active world in our solar system. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-report-ios-enigmatic-volcanoes…

Inventor Flies Across the English Channel on His Jet-Powered Hoverboard

PolygamousRanchKid quotes CNN: French inventor Franky Zapata has successfully crossed the Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard for the first time, after a failed attempt last month. Zapata took off from Sangatte, northern France early on Sunday morning and landed in St. Margarets Bay, near Dover in England. The journey took just over 20 minutes, according to Reuters news agency… In an…

NASA’s Mars 2020 rover does biceps curls

The robotic arm on NASA’s Mars 2020 rover does not have deltoids, triceps or biceps, but it can still curl heavy weights with the best. In this time-lapse video, taken July 19, 2019, in the clean room of the Spacecraft Assembly Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the rover’s 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) arm handily maneuvers 88 pounds’ (40 kilograms’)…

NYT: Boeing Was Certifying Its Own Safety For the 737 Max

Boeing’s 737 Max was built with “effectively neutered” oversight, writes the New York Times, citing interviews with over a dozen current and former employees at America’s Federal Aviation Agency. Their damning conclusion? The agency “had never independently assessed the risks of the dangerous software known as MCAS when they approved the plane in 2017.” The regulator had been passing off routine…