Tag Archives: Aviation/Space

Swiss solar-power plane set for trans-US flight

Posted on by

“The experimental Solar Impulse plane, which has made several trips since its maiden flight in 2009, will take off on May 1st on a transcontinental tour split in five stages.  ‘We are ready to do this flight across America,’ said Solar Impulse co-founder Andre Borschberg during a press conference at a hangar in Mountain View, near San Francisco.  A non-stop flight would take approximately three days travelling at the aircraft’s cruising speed of around 43 miles (70 kilometres) per hour. ‘We have limited ourselves to fly a duration maximum of 24 hours,’ said Borschberg, who will share the piloting duties with Solar Impulse president Bertrand Piccard.”

http://www.thelocal.ch/page/view/swiss-solar-power-plane-prepares-for-trans-us-flight

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Is Virgin Galactic ready for powered flight?

Posted on by

“SpaceShipTwo (SS2) performed a 10.8-minute glide flight April 12 in the skies above the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, the second such flight in as many weeks. This flight was distinguished by a ‘cold flow’ test of the SS2′s propulsion system, where nitrous oxide flowed through the rocket engine and out the nozzle, creating a distinctive contrail. ‘As well as providing further qualifying evidence that the rocket system is flight ready, the test also provided a stunning spectacle due to the oxidizer contrail and for the first time gave a taste of what SpaceShipTwo will look like as it powers to space,’ Virgin Galactic noted in a statement.”

http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/04/13/is-virgin-galactic-ready-for-powered-flight/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

New space race: Putin unveils $50 billion drive for Russian supremacy

Posted on by

“President Vladimir Putin on Friday unveiled a new $50 billion drive for Russia to preserve its status as a top space power, including the construction of a brand new cosmodrome from where humans will fly to space by the end of the decade.  Fifty-two years to the day since Yuri Gagarin became the Soviet Union’s greatest hero by making the first human flight into space, Putin inspected the new Vostochny (Eastern) cosmodrome Russia is building in the Amur region of the Far East.  Putin said that Russia hoped to have the first launches from Vostochny in 2015 and the first manned launches in 2018.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/12/new-space-race-putin-unveils-50-billion-drive-for-russian-supremacy/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Hacking an Airplane With Only an Android Phone

Posted on by

“So it looks like someone could hack a jetliner. With an Android smartphone. Awesome.  At the Hack In The Box conference in Amsterdam, security consultant Hugo Teso demonstrated PlaneSploit, an app he developed that can take control of certain systems aboard an airplane and cause it to change direction or just crash itself into the ground.  Hugo’s no terrorist, mind you. He developed the app to point out the glaring, frightening, insane security holes in most planes’ onboard flight systems. His demonstration was done in a simulated environment, but the methods and effects, he says, are exactly the same as what could happen with a real plane.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-12/hacking-an-airplane-with-only-an-android-phone

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

White House confirms NASA plan to ‘lasso’ and bring asteroid near Earth

Posted on by

“President Barack Obama’s administration will seek $100 million in funding for a mission to tow an asteroid closer to Earth for the purpose of helping future expeditions to Mars.  NASA’s mission proposal, adapted from a scenario (PDF) designed by the Keck Institute for Space Studies, calls for a robotic probe to grab an asteroid measuring approximately 500 tons and 25 to 35 feet in width in 2019 and bringing it into orbit near the moon, which would shorten future asteroid expeditions by months, on top of providing access to the asteroid’s natural resources.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/06/white-house-confirms-nasa-plan-to-lasso-and-bring-asteroid-near-earth/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

State Confiscates $10,000 From Airline Passenger Over Exchange Rate Disagreement

Posted on by

“Docherty was boarding a flight to Costa Rica in November 2010 when a dog trained to sniff out money (they have those?) found Docherty’s stash of cash. There was $9,880 in U.S. currency and another $335 Canadian. Docherty explained he’d calculated the Canada-U.S. exchange rate so the total amount to come in under the $10,000 limit.  The trouble was that by the time he took his flight two days later, the U.S. dollar had strengthened, making his package worth more than $10,000 Canadian.  Agents seized the money under the legislation and unlike criminal charges, the onus falls on people like Docherty to prove the money was legitimately acquired.”

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/b-c-mushroom-picker-loses-bid-back-10k-202942846.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

European Union delays carbon tax for one year

Posted on by

“The EU will put its controversial carbon tax on intercontinental airline flights on hold for a year to give time for international talks to reach a compromise on the issue.  Almost all ICAO members have objected to the EU carbon tax on airline flights, which formally took effect in January 2012, saying it violated international law.  China even threatened reprisals against European aircraft maker Airbus. The US rejects the EU’s methodology which calculates the tax based on the entire flight, but could possibly accept basing it on the portion through European air space.  US airlines lost a complaint against the tax before the European Court of Justice.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/21/european-union-delays-carbon-tax-for-one-year/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

U.S. complains about ‘excessive’ business class travel by UN staff

Posted on by

“The United States is taking aim at ‘excessive’ business class air travel by UN staff as it presses a campaign to restrain the global body’s multi-billion dollar budget.  The United Nations spent at least $769 million of its general budget of more than $5 billion in 2010-11 on moving officials and staff around the world, according to UN figures. The peacekeeping department, which has its own budget, spent another $200 million.  Some $54 million of the $74 million of air tickets bought at the main headquarters in New York and Geneva were business class. Diplomats say the figure is probably much higher as no clear figures have been given.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/18/u-s-complains-about-excessive-business-class-travel-by-un-staff/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Airport security set for boom despite budget cuts

Posted on by

“The airport security sector is still expected to soar despite US budget cutbacks as air traffic grows and the threat of terrorism persists, analysts say.  Screening passengers and baggage as well as surveillance at airports is a business that has boomed as countries radically tightened security in the wake of the September 11 attacks.  In addition to new types of screening equipment, the drive to better target screening by use of information on travellers available to border control agencies will rely heavily on technology and data gathering.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/19/experts-airport-security-set-for-boom-despite-budget-cuts/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Shock Video: Cop Protects First Amendment In Airport

Posted on by

Shock Video: Cop Protects First Amendment In Airport

“Sheriff defends free speech rights against airport official during opt out campaign.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1CjZN2H5-8

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet