From the Mind of the Lemming: Night Flight

Humans are adaptable critters. Or perhaps the Lemming should say "adapting."

For example, although they've got top-rate color vision and see well enough to avoid trees at twilight, humans are most sincerely not nocturnal. But instead of accepting a role as day-dwellers, they keep developing new ways to stay active: no matter where a sun is relative to the local horizon.

They do, however, seem to like feeling "in control," even when the actual work is getting done — and quite well — by their tech.

The Lemming recalls a time when a train's "driver" didn't tell the train's AI that he was stepping out of the vehicle — and ran after the train as it left without him.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "It's Morning — Somewhere — Or Maybe Near Sunset"
  (September 12, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Morning in the City"
  (August 29, 2014)
• "Gone for the Weekend"
  (July 4, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: Xanadu Springs"
  (June 20, 2014)
• "From the Mind of the Lemming: The Lemming's Walking Stick"
  (May 23, 2014)

Kepler-186f, Sunsets, Tourism, and a Musing Lemming

(From UPR at Arecibo, NASA; used w/o permission.)

"How a sunset might look on Earth's new cousin Kepler-186f"
"NASA confirms the discovery of an Earth-sized planet that may have potential for life, but its sun is dimmer than ours. Here's what an evening stroll on a beach on Kepler-186f might be like.
Eric Mack, c|net (April 17, 2014)

"NASA announced Thursday that it has confirmed the first planet beyond our solar system that exists in the habitable zone of its star and is close to the size of Earth, making it the most likely exoplanet yet validated to host life. But the planet, Kepler-186f, orbits an M-class dwarf star and receives only about a third of the energy from its sun that Earth receives from our own beloved fireball.

"That means it could be a frozen, Hoth-like world, or it could be more dry and dead like Mars. But if conditions are right and liquid water exists on Kepler-186f, as NASA thinks it might, it could look more like the above conception, a slightly more chilly version of Earth with shallow oceans...."

Folks at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo's Planetary Habitability Laboratory started with a photo of sunset as seen from a Caribbean beach. A little digital tweaking later, they had what sunset on Kepler-186f would look like: if the planet has an atmosphere and ocean a bit like Earth's.

We don't know if Kepler-186f has an atmosphere, let alone water: but if it does, at least some of the water will probably be liquid.

Sunlight on Kepler-186f's at high noon would be a big like sunlight on Earth an hour before sunset: the climate will be on the nippy side for humans, at best. The sunlight isn't just dimmer: it's redder, too. Or is that more red?

Kepler-186f's star is smaller than Earth's Sol: and it's cooler: about 3,788° Kelvin, compared to Sol's 5,778° Kelvin. That's why Arecibo's simulated sunset looks like one of William Ascroft's Krakatoa sunset sketches.

Looking Ahead: Tourism Destinations in 4814

At the moment, humans must be content with studying Kepler-186f from the Solar system. Keper-186 is nearly 500 light years away: too far for any off-the-shelf transportation system available on Earth.

Humans have, over the last million years, been consistently innovative: and the Lemming sees no sign that this inventive streak has played itself out. It may not be too long before humans travel between stars as routinely as they do between continents today.

If Kepler-186f has an atmosphere, and water, and life: that's a lot of "ifs," but let's suppose that the planet's equatorial zone is warm enough for human comfort.

Kepler-186f is slightly larger than Earth, but not by much. The Lemming made a very rough estimate of Kepler-186f's surface gravity.

With a diameter 1.11 times Earth, Kepler-186f's volume is 1.37 times Earth's, give or take. If it's made of exactly the same mix of rock and metal, it'd be denser: but the Lemming's looking for a rough estimate, so let;s say that it's 1.37 times Earth's mass.

Plugging these numbers into the old g = m/r² equation, where g is surface gravity, m is mass, and r is radius (Earth=1); the Lemming got a surface gravity for Kepler-186f of about 1.11 g. Humans shouldn't find that too uncomfortable.

Someone weighing 150 pounds here would have about 166 pounds pressing on the sands of that hypothetical beach. It'd be like wearing a 16 pound backpack: except that the force would be distributed throughout the body.

Spectacular sunsets, weather on the nippy side but tolerable, far from the hustle and bustle of Earth: the Lemming thinks Kepler-186f has serious potential as a tourist destination.

Ridiculous? maybe. More to the point, today humans can't get there: but 28 centuries back, when Homer's "Odyssey" was new, cruise ships might have seemed just as impossible.

Of course, someone may already be living there: and that's another topic.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Kepler-186f: Facts, Speculation, and the Lemming"
  (April 25, 2014)
• "Life in the Universe: Where is Everybody?"
  (March 15, 2013)
• "Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe"
  (November 30, 2012)
• " '...If There Were Intelligent Life Up There....' "
  (November 22, 2012)
• " 'All We Want is Peace and Quiet' - Another Look at the Mind of the Alien"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (December 9, 2009)

Warp Drive: Silly as Thinking People can Fly

"Warp Speed, Scotty? Star Trek's FTL Drive May Actually Work"
Jillian Scharr, Space.com (May 14, 2013)

"In the 'Star Trek' TV shows and films, the U.S.S. Enterprise's warp engine allows the ship to move faster than light, an ability that is, as Spock would say, 'highly illogical.'

However, there's a loophole in Einstein's general theory of relativity that could allow a ship to traverse vast distances in less time than it would take light. The trick? It's not the starship that's moving - it's the space around it.

In fact, scientists at NASA are right now working on the first practical field test toward proving the possibility of warp drives and faster-than-light travel. Maybe the warp drive in 'Star Trek Into Darkness,' the franchise's latest film opening this week, is possible after all. [Warp Drive: Can It Be Done? (Video)]..."

NASA working on a warp drive? That's as silly as thinking people could fly - or walk on the moon. Building a spaceship with an Alcubierre-White drive is beyond today's technology.

Building a White-Juday warp field interferometer, which is what NASA may still be working on? That's well within what humans can do, mostly with off-the-shelf hardware.

Tech, Time, and Congress

Maybe it'll take a thousand years for tech to catch up with theoretical physics. Or maybe it's a matter of decades.

If the American Congress decides to save a few dollars by scrapping the White-Juday interferometer project, someone else will almost certainly build pretty much the same equipment. Discussion of Alcubierre's equations started as a global debate, and stayed that way.

It's the Lemming's opinion that today's fast communication gets partial credit - or blame - for the 'blink and you'll miss it' pace of change in technology and science. The Lemming likes the Information Age, some folks don't, and that's another topic.

Lots of "Ifs"

Then there's quantum entanglement. It  may be communication at infinite speed, only happen at about 10,000 times speed of light, or not be inter-particle communication at all.

If quantum entanglement involves signals that travel faster than light, and if the effect can applied to matter as well as information, and if it can be scaled up to include stuff that's big enough: warp drives might not be the fastest way to get from here to there.

And that is definitely another topic. Topics.

Related posts:

• "Quantum Entanglement and a Babbling Lemming"
  (May 3, 2013)
• "Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe"
  (November 30, 2012)
• "Antimatter Rocket Motor: Physics, Straightforward; Engineering, Not So Much"
  (October 26, 2012)
• "Time, the Universe, and Space Aliens"
  (April 20, 2012)
  Particularly
  • From Theoretical Physics to Working Spaceships
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

'One Small Hop for a Grasshopper...' SpaceX's Reusable Rocket

"Experimental Private Rocket Makes Highest Test Hop Yet"
Miriam Kramer, SPACE.com (December 26, 2012)

"A privately built rocket prototype that could lead to a completely reusable spaceflight system has passed its biggest test yet - a 12-story hop and smooth landing.

"The experimental reusable rocket, called the Grasshopper, made its highest and longest flight yet on Dec. 17, marking the prototype's third successful test by the private spaceflight company SpaceX.

"In the latest test at SpaceX's proving grounds in MacGregor, Texas, the Grasshopper rocket flew for 29 seconds and reached a height of more than 130 feet (40 meters). A video of the Grasshopper test flight shows the rocket soaring up into the Texas sky, then smoothly descending to land on four spindly legs...."



We're a long way from routine commercial flights to orbital hotels, research labs, and way-stations to the stars: but the Grasshopper is an important step in that direction. Or hop.

What's important about the SpaceX Grasshopper and other reusable launch vehicles is that they're - reusable. Even the Space Shuttle had throwaway booster rockets and fuel tanks. That's okay for government-funded flights to the International Space Station: but no way to run an airline. Spaceline?

Think about it: how long would a commercial air carrier last, if the company had to throw away most of each airliner after one flight?

Related posts:

• "Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Boeing CST-100 Spaceship: Passenger Service to ISS, Commercial Space Stations"
  (July 21, 2010)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)

Another Step Closer to a Practical Warp Drive: Maybe

"How NASA might build its very first warp drive"
George Dvorsky, io9 (November 26, 2012)

"A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks...."

This isn't as crazy as it may sound. The original Alcubierre equations were taken seriously by physicists: as a fascinating and impractical theory. An Alcubierre warp drive, as originally presented, would have used incredible amounts of power: and might not be stable. (June 12, 2009)

Tweaking the Numbers

"...The idea came to White while he was considering a rather remarkable equation formulated by physicist Miguel Alcubierre. In his 1994 paper titled, 'The Warp Drive: Hyper-Fast Travel Within General Relativity,' Alcubierre suggested a mechanism by which space-time could be 'warped' both in front of and behind a spacecraft....

"...In terms of the engine's mechanics, a spheroid object would be placed between two regions of space-time (one expanding and one contracting). A 'warp bubble' would then be generated that moves space-time around the object, effectively repositioning it — the end result being faster-than-light travel without the spheroid (or spacecraft) having to move with respect to its local frame of reference.

" 'Remember, nothing locally exceeds the speed of light, but space can expand and contract at any speed,' White told io9. 'However, space-time is really stiff, so to create the expansion and contraction effect in a useful manner in order for us to reach interstellar destinations in reasonable time periods would require a lot of energy.'..."

For early version of the Alcubierre warp drive, "a lot of energy" meant at least what you'd get by converting Jupiter - 317 times as massive as Earth - into energy.

That sort of energy requirement made Alcubierre's equations interesting, but impractical.

Equations, Assumptions, and 'Impossible'

What is or isn't possible depends partly on assumptions. A 'warp drive' is impossible, for instance, assuming that:

• Technology will never improve
• Alcubierre's paper covered all possibilities

Using rockets for interplanetary travel is 'impossible,' too: assuming that humanity stopped developing new technologies in 1903.

That's when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky published "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices."

A hundred years later, some folks were wondering when people would go back to the Moon.

Tweaking the Numbers

Harold White explained how looking at Alcubierre's work a little differently made a big difference:

"...'I suddenly realized that if you made the thickness of the negative vacuum energy ring larger - like shifting from a belt shape to a donut shape - and oscillate the warp bubble, you can greatly reduce the energy required - perhaps making the idea plausible.' White had adjusted the shape of Alcubierre's ring which surrounded the spheroid from something that was a flat halo to something that was thicker and curvier...."
(io9)

'Are We There Yet?'

"...White and his colleagues are trying to simulate the tweaked Alcubierre drive in miniature by using lasers to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million....

"...'Our initial test device is implementing a ring of large potential energy - what we observe as blue shifted relative to the lab frame - by utilizing a ring of ceramic capacitors that are charged to tens of thousands of volts,' he told us. 'We will increase the fidelity of our test devices and continue to enhance the sensitivity of the warp field interferometer - eventually using devices to directly generate negative vacuum energy.'

"He points out that Casimir cavities, physical forces that arise from a quantized field, may represent a viable approach...."
(io9)

Bending space-time by one part in 10 million won't take us to other stars. But if that ring of capacitors bends space-time even a little, that will show that the theory works.

Change Happens

Space ships with warp engines won't be built in the next year or so: in the Lemming's opinion. For starters, negative vacuum energy rings aren't off the shelf hardware. Today.

But let's remember that change happens. Leonardo Da Vinci drew pictures of flying machines. About five centuries later, internal combustion engines made powered fight possible.

Maybe folks will know how to build negative vacuum energy rings five centuries from now.

On the other hand, White wants to pump tens of thousands of volts of energy into a ring of ceramic capacitors: to see whether and how much space-time gets stretched.

Warp drive could be closer than it seems.

A tip of the Lemming's hat to Thomas Sanjurjo, on Google+, for the heads-up on this article.

Related posts:

• "Antimatter Rocket Motor: Physics, Straightforward; Engineering, Not So Much"
  (October 26, 2012)
• "Time, the Universe, and Space Aliens"
  (April 20, 2012)
  Particularly
  • From Theoretical Physics to Working Spaceships
• "Faster Than the Speed of Light: Maybe"
  (November 25, 2011)
• "Interstellar Space Probe: Thirty Years Later"
  (May 9, 2010)
• "Warp Speed Kills? Let's Say It's an Engineering Challenge"
  (March 11, 2010)

Chevy Volt, Chevy Spark: Electrifying!

"Chevy Spark"
"Soon to be an URBAN LEGEND"
Chevrolet.com

"...The globe was our proving ground - and this engine came back tested and approved by people all over the world. It tackled some of the most difficult and demanding international terrain - city streets with hills included. But Hill Start Assist won’t let them drag you down by keeping the brake engaged for the split second it takes for your foot to move from the brake to the accelerator...."

Oddly enough, the Chevy Spark doesn't harness static cling as a power source. What makes the Spark go is a fairly conventional internal combustion engine. (Wikipedia) That could change next year, when an all-electric Spark rolls into the market. (Wikipedia) Or, not.

Remembering the Volt

What impressed the Lemming about the Chevy Volt, with its electric drive, was that the car actually worked: and had enough speed and acceleration to make do on American streets and roads.

Electric cars had been around for decades, and were a good choice if you wanted something with no exhaust fumes: and a top speed well in excess of 10 miles an hour. Golf carts are a pretty good example.

The Lemming may be back in a week or so, with more about the Spark. Then again, maybe not.

Almost-related posts:

• "Hands off Driving, Driving With Your Brain, and All That"
  (March 4, 2011)
• "Another Electric Car: the Teslamobile"
  (January 18, 2011)
• "Electric Cars That Actually Work"
  (November 2, 2010)
• "Chevy Volt Electric Car: Best Thing Since Sliced Bread, According to Chevrolet"
  (July 31, 2010)
• "Chevy Volt Dancers: Come On, It Wasn't That Bad!"
  (December 15, 2009)

SpaceX's Dragon Cargo Ship Returns

"SpaceX Dragon Capsule Splashes Down in Pacific, Ending Historic Test Flight"
Clara Moskowitz, Space.com (May 31, 2012)


(SpaceX/Michael Altenhofen, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

"The world's first commercial space cargo ship dove through Earth's atmosphere and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean early Thursday (May 31), ending an historic test flight to the International Space Station.

"The SpaceX Dragon capsule made a water landing off the coast of Baja California, Mexico at 11:42 a.m. EDT (1542 GMT). Recovery ships have spotted the capsule and are en route to collect the vehicle to tow to Los Angeles...."

This may have been a "test flight," but the Dragon was also hauling cargo on this run.

"...While the cargo-delivery spacecraft built by Russia, Japan and Europe are designed to burn up during re-entry, Dragon is equipped with a heat shield and parachutes to survive the fiery plunge.

"Dragon is packed with 1,367 pounds (620 kg) of crew items, used hardware and completed science experiments for its return trip. On the way up, the spacecraft delivered student-designed experiments and food, clothing and other supplies for the station's astronauts...."
(Space.com)

I can see why some folks decided to concentrate on building one-way cargo carriers. The Dragon's heat shield and other re-entry equipment adds weight - and complexity - to the SpaceX vehicle. It's arguably faster and easier to make a one-way disposable ship.

On the other hand, how long would a commercial carrier like FedEx Express stay in business, if they flew each of their Airbuses once, and then threw it away? I think we'll be seeing more reusable spaceships, as space transport moves away from government programs, and into the hands of folks who know how to run a business.

Coming - Fairly Soon

"Splashdown for SpaceX Dragon spacecraft"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (May 31, 2012)

"...The agency hopes the contracting out of freight duties will save it money that can then be re-invested in more daring activities beyond the station, at destinations such as asteroids and Mars.

"The commercial cargo approach will be followed later this decade by crew transport services.

"SpaceX wants this business as well, and is developing the safety and life-support equipment that would allow Dragon to double up as an astronaut taxi...."

SpaceX's Dragon will probably make a pretty good 'taxi' to Earth orbit: but the Lemming suspects that its 'parachute drop' landing technology will make it one of the less attractive alternatives.

There aren't any 'fly back' spaceships available today, now that the Space Shuttle has been retired. Not too many years from now, that could change.

Reaction Engines Limited's Skylon spaceplane is designed to use commercial airports for landing - and takeoff. It may not be long before a single vehicle will be a 'hypersonic transport' carrying taking cargo and passengers across the Pacific on one run, and fly to an orbital facility on the next.


(from Blue Origin, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

Other companies, like Blue Origin, are developing spaceships that take off and make powered vertical landings. The Lemming thinks that research and development may pay off in a few decades - or a few generations - when commercial service to the Moon and other places without a thick atmosphere comes into demand.

The Lemming is pretty sure that it's when commercial service to the Moon and beyond: not if.

The question is when, and who will be taking part. Like the Lemming said, "when it's time to build spaceships, people will build spaceships." (October 4, 2009)

People are building spaceships.

Related posts:

• "The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings"
  (May 25, 2012)
• "Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service"
  (December 8, 2010)
• "Blue Origin: Another Company Building Spaceships"
  (February 27, 2010)

The Dragon Flies: SpaceX Photo, and Some Drawings

"Successful Launch Kicks Off SpaceX's Historic Mission"
SpaceX Press Release (May 22, 2012)

"Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon spacecraft to orbit in an exciting start to the mission that will make SpaceX the first commercial company in history to attempt to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station - something only a handful of governments have ever accomplished.

"At 3:44 a.m. Eastern, the Falcon 9 carrying Dragon launched from SpaceX's launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Now Dragon heads toward the International Space Station. On that journey it will be subjected to a series of tests to determine if the vehicle is ready to berth with the station.

"Broadcast quality videos, including video inside of the SpaceX factory, may be downloaded at vimeo.com/spacexlaunch and high-resolution photos are posted at spacexlaunch.zenfolio.com....

"...The vehicle's first stage performed nominally before separating from the second stage. The second stage successfully delivered the Dragon spacecraft into its intended orbit. This marks the third consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch and the fifth straight launch success for SpaceX...."

As press releases go, that's a pretty good one: quite a few facts; hardly any corporate gibberish; and links to some pretty good graphics. SpaceX generally seems to be doing a good job of telling about Dragon and their other projects. Telling and showing. That color drawing is labeled "Dragon Spacecraft in Cargo Configuration" on their "Dragon Overview" page.

"...Dragon is a free-flying, reusable spacecraft being developed by SpaceX under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. Initiated internally by SpaceX in 2005, the Dragon spacecraft is made up of a pressurized capsule and unpressurized trunk used for Earth to LEO transport of pressurized cargo, unpressurized cargo, and/or crew members. ..."
("Dragon Overview," SpaceX)

There's a picture of the "crew configuration" for Dragon, too.

The photo of Dragon's interior, the one that the Lemming put up there with the press release, isn't identified. From the drawings, it's the Lemming's guess that we're looking up at the squarish hatch near the top of Dragon.

What the Lemming likes particularly about SpaceX's Dragon is the 'commercial' angle. Sure, NASA's the big customer for now: but it looks like SpaceX and other companies are getting read to provide commercial transportation services to low Earth orbit. And, eventually, beyond.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and the Hanseatic League"
  (April 29, 2011)
• "Four Ships Docked at the ISS"
  (February 28, 2011)
• "SpaceX's Dragon: Getting Closer to Commercial Service"
  (December 8, 2010)

Skylon Spaceplane's New Engine Test; Old Video; Passenger Module

"Key tests for Skylon spaceplane project"
BBC News (April 27, 2012)

"UK engineers have begun critical tests on a new engine technology designed to lift a spaceplane into orbit.


(Reaction Engines, via BBC, used w/o permission)
"The pre-cooler demonstration is a major step in proving the Skylon concept"

"The proposed Skylon vehicle would operate like an airliner, taking off and landing at a conventional runway.

"Its major innovation is the Sabre engine, which can breathe air like a jet at lower speeds but switch to a rocket mode in the high atmosphere.

"Reaction Engines Limited (REL) believes the test campaign will prove the readiness of Sabre's key elements.

"This being so, the firm would then approach investors to raise the £250m needed to take the project into the final design phase.

" 'We intend to go to the Farnborough International Air Show in July with a clear message,' explained REL managing director Alan Bond.

" 'The message is that Britain has the next step beyond the jet engine; that we can reduce the world to four hours - the maximum time it would take to go anywhere. And that it also gives us aircraft that can go into space, replacing all the expendable rockets we use today.'..."

The Lemming's been following Skylon for a few years now. It's good to see another milestone approaching for the robot spaceplane.

Giving Skylon artificial intelligence should save a lot of weight, since autopilots don't need the sort of bulky environment systems that humans require. It's smart design, in the Lemming's opinion, since Skylon is designed for routine cargo runs.

On the other hand, Skylon's operators may run into legal complications. The Lemming hasn't researched this, but it seems likely that someone's going to make a fuss about a 269-foot-long robot sharing airspace and taxiways with other aircraft. There may even be laws that say an airplane has to have a human pilot.

Human Pilots: Good News, Bad News

In the Lemming's opinion, humans are pretty good at dealing with unexpected situations. Particularly if there isn't a whole lot of data available for a thorough analysis. As someone said:

• Computers are designed to arrive at correct solutions
  • Given enormous amounts of data
    • All of which is completely accurate
• Human brains are designed to arrive at correct solutions
  • Given very little data
    • Most of which is wrong

A wide-awake, undistracted, human pilot is nice to have around when you're 1,500 feet over a major city and the engines quit. But now and then someone falls asleep, or misses the airport: which tends to diminish the impression that a human's place is at the controls. The Lemming has posted about the ups and downs of having humans in the loop before:

• "Lemming Tracks: East Coast Air Travel; or, 'Oops' "
  (March 24, 2011)
• "Flight 188, Distracted Pilots, and Dangerously Impractical Software?"
  (November 27, 2009)
• "Now there are Two 'Heroes of the Hudson' "
  (January 31, 2009)
• "US Airways Flight 1549: Lost Two Engines, No People"
  (January 17, 2009)

Skylon: the Video

"SKYLON Spaceplane: Mission Animation"

SpaceRenaissance, YouTube (August 10, 2010)
video, 6:45
"SKYLON is the successor to Britain's HOTOL spaceplane concept, being developed by Reaction Engines Ltd (REL). It is an unpiloted fully reusable aircraft-like vehicle capable of transporting 12 tonnes of cargo into space and is intended as a replacement for expensive expendable launchers in the commerical {!] market. (Source: www.spacefuture.com)..."

"Blue Danube," starting about 3:18 into the video, is a nod to Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). That, or a whacking great coincidence. Either way, it's a pretty good 'this is how it works' video. Or, more accurately, how Skylon will work. Provided that technical issues are manageable, and investors keep funding it.

Of course, it's possible that Reaction Engines' investors will decide that they'd rather not be part of 21st century transportation. That would change details aerospace transport, but not the 'big picture.' In the Lemming's opnion. There are other outfits with systems to service low Earth orbit installations in the works, like:

• Armadillo Aerospace
• Bigelow Aerospace
  • Space station modules
• Blue Origin
• Bristol Spaceplanes

There are more: and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace/Boeing may dust off its Delta Clipper/DC X.

Skylon: Optional Passenger Module

(Reaction Engines Ltd., used w/o permission)

That passenger module could easily go through a few more design changes before Skylon actually flies. From the looks of what Reaction Engines Ltd. has now, Skylon flights could serve as a sort of commuter service to whatever replaces the ISS. Or maybe drop the module off in orbit as a sort of mini-station.

More about Skylon:

• "SKYLON"
  Reaction Engines Ltd.

Related posts:

• "Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming"
  (July 23, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Era Ends: 'It's On to the Next Adventure' "
  (July 21, 2011)
• "British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June"
  (May 6, 2011)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)

Still more, about:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades "
• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Centuries"

Google's New Bike is Green: and Yellow; and Red; and Blue; and- - -

"Google rolls out a new design for its campus bike"
Jay Greene, CNET News (April 17, 2012)
"The Web giant picked its new GBike, created by a team of Google engineers, from among nearly three dozen submissions in a company-wide design competition. It debuts later this month."


(Google, via CNET, used w/o permission)
"The new GBike, designed by Google engineers, will debut at the company's Mountain View, Calif., campus by the end of April."

"When it came time to redesign the colorful bikes scattered about Google's massive Mountain View, Calif., campus, the company knew exactly who to turn to for next generation of its GBikes: Googlers themselves.

"Last fall, the company launched a competition among employees to replace the 2-year-old fleet of bikes available to workers at the Googleplex to pedal from one building to another. The idea was to come up with a user-friendly, low-maintenance bike.

" 'We've got an entrepreneurial and innovative culture,' said Brendon Harrington, Google's transportation operations manager. 'We said, "You tell us what you think is a cool design." '

"The company listed four design criteria. The bike had to be easy to produce. It needed to be affordable. The bike had to be both comfortable and secure. And, in a nod to its culture, the bike had to be Googley, using novel components, structure, and appearance...."

This, in the Lemming's opinion, is part of what makes Google successful. It's a 'big business' that says it values the skills and opinions of its employees. And then acts as if that's true.

It's a radical idea: but seems to work for Google. Maybe other big companies could learn from Google's example.

Or, not.

As for why the Lemming isn't ranting about how everybody, everywhere, should ride bicycles all the time? For starters, the Lemming lives in central Minnesota. The climate here isn't quite the same as Mountain View's. And that's another topic.

Sort-of-not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Rose Bowl Helmets, Jell-O Cartons, and the Italian Renaissance"
  (January 11, 2012)
• "Google's 13th, and Where Did the Month Go?!"
  (September 27, 2011)
• "Interior Design: Something a Little Different"
  (March 12, 2011)
• "Google, China, Censorship, Compromise: 'Totally Wrong;' or, Not"
  (March 23, 2010)
• "Better Ideas From Norway: A Bicycle Lift"
  (June 7, 2008)

Spaceplanes: Seven Decades, One Infographic, and a Hopeful Lemming

"Space Planes: Evolution of the Winged Spaceship (Infographic)"
Karl Tate, Space.com (July 5, 2011)


Source SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration

It's a pretty good one-stop look at the last seven decades of spaceplane development.

There's the usual stuff about the American military 'admitting' that the X-37B spaceplane exists. It's (almost) true. Sort of. I've posted a sort of reality check about the X-37B. Several times. Including this:

• "NASA's X-37 Project, New Technologies, and - EEEK! the Military!!"
  (October 23, 2009)

I got the memo, about the death of Disco and passing of the '60s: but not everyone seems to have read their copy. And that's another topic.

Space Shuttle, Hype, and Hope

The Space Shuttle wasn't the sort of airliner-to-orbit that we'd hoped for. On the other hand, it carried modules of the International Space Station (ISS) up, ferried people to and from the ISS, launched satellites: and carried the occasional repair crew. Remember the Hubble fix?

Until folks started building working models of today's spaceships, there was some optimism. Maybe even excessive optimism. ("Future Space," Tales of Future Past, David S. Zondy)

On the whole, though, the Lemming thinks excessive optimism is easier to stand - than the 'and we're all gonna die' attitude that's been fashionable for a while. Yet another topic.

As outfits like Bigelow Aerospace add to the ISS - and set up other orbital destinations - there's going to be a market for anyone with a practical, safe, surface-to-orbit ferry service. Which probably means that Skylon, Dream Chaser, some other spaceplane - or maybe something like the scuttled Delta Clipper - will be the 21st century's DC-3.

Or maybe swarms of killer bees will make nuclear power plants explode, paving the way for killer robots, mutant frogs, and homicidal computers to kill the survivors of biological warfare, global warming, and the coming ice age. ("Science Fiction in the Movies: 'The Satan Bug' to 'The Matrix'," Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (January 26, 2010)) That's not likely, though: in the Lemming's opinion.

Related posts:

• "Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and Looking from Silbervogel to the Stars"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June"
  (May 6, 2011)
• "X-37B Back on Earth: Photos, Facts, and the Lemming"
  (December 3, 2010)
• "X-51 Waverider, Bullet Trains: Change Happens"
  (March 11, 2010)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019 "
  (March 12, 2009)

Also:

• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

What's next?

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades

Space Shuttle Era Ends: "It's On to the Next Adventure"

"Atlantis Makes Final Landing, Ending 30-Year Shuttle Program"
FoxNews.com (July 21, 2011)

"After decades of inspiring millions around the globe, space shuttle Atlantis made a final, picture-perfect touchdown at Kennedy Space Center at 5:56 a.m. EDT -- ending the shuttle program.

" 'Job well done, America,' mission control told pilot Doug Hurley and the thousands watching and listening to the landing in the pre-dawn dark.

"There was a clear sense of nostalgia on the part of both crew and staff at Kennedy Space Center, as the ship made its final arrival safe and sound.

" 'Having fired the imaginations of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time -- its voyage at an end,' reported mission control.

" 'Mission complete, Houston,' Hurley responded. 'After serving the world for over 30 years, the space shuttle has earned its place in history. Atlantis has come to a final stop.'

" 'It's been 30 great years for the Space Shuttle program,' said Bill Nye, executive director of the Planetary Society, in a statement on the landing. 'With this venerable space vehicle retired, it's on to the next adventure.'..."

The Lemming indulged in a little nostalgia - including taking a look at a 360-degree interactive picture of Mission Control on NASA's Space Shuttle Multimedia page. That room has changed - a little - since the '60s. Each station's screens are a lot more colorful, rows of mission emblems are on the wall, and the folks at each station don't all look quite so much alike: signs left by three decades of rapid change.

It's been an exciting ride, in many ways.

Now What?

(from NASA, used w/o permission)
"Space shuttle Atlantis lands for the final time at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls"

Americans with travel plans in low Earth orbit and beyond are in for an awkward transition, in the Lemming's opinion. NASA's extended their contract with the Russian space program, so we've got reservations on Soyuz vehicles through June 30, 2016. (NASA press release (March 14, 2011)) That takes care of basic transportation needs for folks working shifts at the International Space Station - but that's about that.

Considering how shaky the Federal government's finances are - the Lemming thinks it's probably good sense for the feds to let someone else get the job done, when it comes to routine freight and passenger runs.

On the other hand, the Lemming compared one of of NASA's high-profile missions with what advertisers spent on Super Bowl commercials - and what Congress does with our money. And that's another topic.

Meanwhile, quite a few folks have been developing their own spaceships. Some, like Virgin Galactic, with a great deal of publicity. Others, like Blue Origin's New Shepard program, very quietly indeed.



It's not just American companies that have their eyes on Earth orbit and beyond. There's Skylon, the Reaction Engines Ltd. spaceplane; and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle 1.

Building spaceships isn't the only way to be involved with the next few decades in space. Bigelow Aerospace is focusing on developing rental properties in Earth orbit.

The Space Shuttles are headed for museums and history textbooks - after hauling freight and people to what's arguably the first construction site in space: the International Space Station. The ISS is just about finished now, so we probably won't need the sort of freight-car cargo capacity that the Shuttle offered. Not right away.

A few years down the road, we could be seeing everything from flying gumdrops to hypersonic waveriders carrying cargo and passengers to and from whatever joins the ISS in orbit.

Like the fellow said, "It's on to the next adventure"

What's next?

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and Looking from Silbervogel to the Stars"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Atlantis: 'Inspirational,' the Last of Its Kind (and what's next)"
  (July 8, 2011)
• "Endeavor's Last Flight, Orbital Hotels, and Spaceports"
  (June 1, 2011)
• "McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper: First Single-Stage-to-Orbit Freighter - Almost"
  (July 13, 2011)
• "Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and the Hanseatic League"
  (April 29, 2011)

More, on the NASA website:

• Space Shuttle
  (www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/)
• Space Shuttle Multimedia
• International Space Station (ISS) "Ground Facilities"

"Carmageddon?" "Never Mind!"

Remember "Carmageddon," when Los Angeles drivers would recklessly plunge the city into a veritable abyss of unspeakable chaos, horror, doom, and the mother of all traffic jams? Because Interstate 405 needed maintenance?

As Gilda Radner said, "never mind!"

"L.A. Freeway Reopens Ahead of Schedule"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 17, 2011)

"The event that many feared would be the 'Carmageddon' of epic traffic jams cruised calmly to a finish Sunday, with bridge work on the Los Angeles roadway completed nearly a full day ahead of schedule and officials reopening a 10-mile stretch of the busy freeway.

"Drivers honked their horns and waved from car windows as traffic started moving in all 10 lanes of Interstate 405 just after noon for the first time since being shut down at midnight Friday. There were no major problems since the freeway was closed, despite warnings.

"The mayor praised contractors for working so quickly and thanked city residents for heeding calls to stay off the roads. He also gave credit to news outlets for spreading word about the closure, which had been planned to last for 53 hours.

" 'We couldn't have done this without the cooperation of this city,' Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said...."

As the Lemming opined yesterday: "The Lemming thinks that "Carmageddon" will fizzle." Mostly because road maintenance and detours are routine here in Minnesota - and the Lemming doesn't think there's really all that much difference between folks in central Minnesota and Los Angeles.

Still: "Carmageddon" was a cool name; the impending doom of gridlock despair gave journalists something to exercise angst about; and the whole thing gave the Lemming posts - two days in a row.

Sort-of-related posts:

• " 'Carmageddon' is Upon Us? Them?"
  (July 16, 2011)
• "Milly Dowler, News of the World, and Old-School Journalism in the Information Age"
  (July 7, 2011)
  Particularly
  • A Purple-Skinned, Orange-Eyed Space Alien: and Today's News
• "Electric Cars That Actually Work"
  (November 2, 2010)
• "Flying Car Invented: Again"
  (July 1, 2010)
• "Solar Trees Top (Some) California Parking Lots"
  (August 29, 2009)
• "Power Stations in Space: California Caught On"
  (April 20, 2009)

"Carmageddon" is Upon Us? Them?

" 'Carmageddon': Los Angeles Freeway Shuts Down"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 16, 2011)

"A 10-mile stretch of one of the nation's busiest freeways has turned into a virtual ghost road.

"Ramps to the normally clogged Interstate 405 began shutting down Friday evening before the entire roadway was closed at midnight, setting the stage for a 53-hour construction project that will test whether this car-dependent city can change its driving habits for a weekend.

"For weeks, authorities have urged residents to avoid getting in their car, lest they trigger what's been hyped as 'Carmageddon.'..."

The Lemming could get sarcastic at this point, about those panicky people in Los Angeles, or those crazy citizens of California, or those addled Americans. One problem with that attitude: the 'Carmageddon is upon us!!' mindset isn't limited to the west coast, or America. Remember this classic?

"...the center cannot hold;
mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...."

(Yeats)

Although it makes sense to think about the effects some change - like maintenance on a major highway - will have, the Lemming thinks there's something about at least a few folks that thrives on assuming the worst. And then assuming that the worst is inevitable.

The secular versions of that sort of thing have been the coming ice age, global warming, and fearing fluoridated water. American doomsayers with a taste for religion have their own traditions: which the Lemming's discussed in another blog.

• "Oh, Rapture! Here Come the End Times - Again"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (May 20, 2011)

'Carmageddon?' Probably Not

There's a little fact behind fears of the coming "Carmageddon:"

"...Such an event could back up vehicles from the 405 -- locals like to joke that its name is shorthand for 'traffic that moves no faster than 4 or 5 miles an hour' -- to surface streets and other freeways, causing a domino effect that could paralyze much of Los Angeles.

"With warnings having been broadcast through television, radio, social media and flashing freeway signs as far away as San Francisco, much of the city's nearly 4 million residents appear ready to stay off the roads...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

The Lemming thinks that "Carmageddon" will fizzle. Here in Minnesota, it's a little unusual to have a summer without a few highways blocked for repairs. It's like the old gag. 'Minnesota has four seasons: fall, winter, spring, and road repair.'

But Minnesota isn't California. Maybe there really will be a "Carmageddon." Los Angeles is full of city folks - and that's another attitude.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Arizona Dust Storm: THIS MAY BE THE END OF CIVILIZATION AS WE KNOW IT!!!!! - or, not"
  (July 6, 2011)
• "Electric Cars That Actually Work"
  (November 2, 2010)
• "Flying Car Invented: Again"
  (July 1, 2010)
• "Solar Trees Top (Some) California Parking Lots"
  (August 29, 2009)
• "Power Stations in Space: California Caught On"
  (April 20, 2009)

Space Shuttle: Three Decades of Flights; and Looking from Silbervogel to the Stars

"How the Space Shuttle Was Born"
Mike Wall, Space.com (June 28, 2011)


(NASA, via Space.com, used w/o permission)

"The last-ever space shuttle launch — that of Atlantis, scheduled for July 8 — will come just over three decades after the first one, which took place April 12, 1981.

"But that's not to say NASA's iconic shuttle program just turned 30 years old. It's actually pushing 40, since President Richard Nixon officially announced its existence in January 1972. And the shuttle's roots go much deeper than that, stretching all the way back to a 1930s concept vehicle the Nazis hoped could drop bombs on New York City.

"The story of the shuttle's birth is one of big dreams and slashed budgets, of shifting visions, of NASA and the nation's attempt to find their way in space after beating the Soviets to the moon in 1969. Here is a synopsis of that long, involved tale. [NASA's Space Shuttle Program in Pictures]

"Roots: The Silbervogel

"In the late 1930s, the Nazis initiated the 'Amerika Bomber' project, an effort to build an aircraft capable of taking off from Germany and dropping a bomb on the continental United States.

"Various engineers, including a man named Eugen Sanger, submitted proposals. Sanger's idea, developed with the mathematician Irene Bredt, was a type of winged rocket called the Silbervogel (German for 'silver bird').

"The reusable Silbervogel would ascend to suborbital space, then drop down into the stratosphere. At that point, the increasing air density would give the vehicle lift, bouncing it to a higher altitude again. The process would repeat, with the Silbervogel making the trip across the Atlantic in a series of leaps and bounds...."

That sort of transatlantic roller coaster isn't likely to ever be used for passenger service - but it's got possibilities as a freight carrier. Provided there's a high demand for ultra-fast transcontinental package delivery.

The article traces the Space Shuttle's development, through the X-15 rocket plane that flew, the X-20 Dyna-Soar that didn't, the Apollo program that skipped over steps we're taking now, with the International Space Station (ISS).

Or, rather, that NASA and the American government would be taking, if the Beltway folks hadn't run up a mind-boggling debt. Which reminds the Lemming of college kids with credit cards and indulgent parents - and that's almost another topic. (May 16, 2011)

'When It's Time to Build Spaceships - - - '

Right now, if the American Congress decides that developing better ways to get people and cargo to Earth orbit: It'll make a difference.

Sort of.

If Congress also decides to stay out of the way of folks who run outfits like Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America, SpaceX, and Blue Origin: America will probably be one of the countries with commercial properties in orbit - and beyond. Which will present a dilemma of sorts for Ivy League universities: They'll have to consider whether to have an expedition outfitter with a local office handle their science projects; or impress folks by outsourcing to France. Or maybe India. There seems to be a sort of prestige involved with going to another country - to get what's available down the street.

On the other hand, if Congress decides to 'protect' 'the Masses' from big, dangerous spaceship and the reckless people who build them - well, Japan has a quite active space program, so do India, China, and quite a few other nations.

Someone may even have the nerve to let private sector firms develop transport systems - that work reliably, safely, on-schedule, and on-budget.

The Lemming's been over this before:

• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)

This is the Apathetic Lemming?!

In case you're wondering about the Lemming's name? Check out "About the Lemming."

What's Next?

You can buy tickets for suborbital flights right now - although Virgin Galactic hasn't brought its tourist service out of development yet. Other firms are concentrating on less glamorous freight and passenger service to the ISS. And rental properties like the ones Bigelow Aerospace is developing.

The Lemming doesn't expect anything with quite the 'wow factor' of the Apollo project. Not any time soon. International politics don't seem right for something like the 'Moon Race.'

Still - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NASA have been discussing starship design. (PCMag.com (October 30, 2010)) It's not exactly "Star Trek" stuff - physicists are still wrangling over warp drive theory (June 12, 2009) - but the Lemming thinks we're closer to having a working interstellar probe now, than we were to having people on the Moon in 1955. (December 12, 2010, May 9, 2010)

And, for all the Lemming knows, somebody may have worked the bugs out of Alcubierre's theory.

Meanwhile, Blue Origin and SpaceX are building flying gumdrops that promise to offer practical ferry service to and from orbit.

Related posts:

• "Atlantis: "Inspirational," the Last of Its Kind (and what's next)"
  (July 8, 2011)
• "Endeavor's Last Flight, Orbital Hotels, and Spaceports"
  (June 1, 2011)
• "Last Trip for Space Shuttle Endeavour; and Reaching for the Stars"
  (May 16, 2011)
• "Major Leagues, Minor Leagues, and the Hanseatic League"
  (April 29, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Infographic: From Steering Thrusters to Rudder/Speed Brake"
  (January 31, 2011)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

British Spaceplane Engine Test Coming in June

"Big Test Looms for British Space Plane Concept"
Mike Wall, Space.com (April 18, 2011 )

"A huge, unmanned British space plane is on pace to start launching payloads into Earth orbit in less than a decade - provided it can pass a crucial engine test in June, its designers say.

"The Skylon space plane - which would take off and land horizontally, like a commercial jet - is still a concept vehicle for now, but it recently passed several rigorous independent design reviews, the British company Reaction Engines Ltd, which is developing the spacecraft, announced Tuesday (April 12).

"Private funding is lined up to see it through all stages of development, culminating with the start of commercial operations in 2020. That funding, however, is contingent on Skylon hitting some key milestones along the way, and a big one looms just a few months off....

"...In its current design incarnation, the Skylon space plane is a spaceship behemoth. It is about 276 feet (84 meters) long and weighs about 303 tons (275,000 kilograms) at liftoff. For comparison, the main truss of the International Space Station – which is the largest spacecraft ever built – is about 357 1/2 feet (109 meters) long and weighs about 408 tons (370,290 kg)..."

It's not the size of Skylon that sets it apart so much as the engines, in the Lemming's opinion.

Reaction Engines (Abingdon, Oxfordshire) has developed a sort of hybrid engine they call SABRE. It's designed to use oxygen from Earth's atmosphere until Skylon is about 16 miles up and going Mach 5. Then the engine switches to burning hydrogen from an onboard tank, like many rockets do now.

Relying on oxygen collected in transit for the first leg to orbit means less oxygen stored in Skylon - making more room for cargo. Mass, actually - but the point is that it's an elegant idea that hasn't been done before.

Hence the test in June.

The Lemming hopes that Reaction Engines succeeds - and suspects that it won't be long before others are designing and building their own spaceplanes.

• "Hypersonic Transports: Not Yet, But They're Coming"
  (March 30, 2010)
• "Hypersonic Vehicles: Waveriders to Space"
  (November 2, 2009)
• "When it's Time to Build Spaceships, People Will Build Spaceships"
  (October 4, 2009)
• "A Freighter Unloads its Cargo: What's the Big Deal?"
  (September 20, 2009)
• "Skylon: Spaceplane for 2019"
  (March 12, 2009)

The Lemming's take on:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades "

Space Shuttle Discovery: 27 Years, Last Flight Done

"Touchdown! Shuttle Discovery Lands at Kennedy, Completes Final Mission"
FoxNews.com (March 9, 2011)

"Space shuttle Discovery touched down safely at Kennedy Space Center at 11:58 a.m., completing its 27-year spaceflight career and its final mission into space.

"After the landing, the runway will be marked to show where Discovery's mission finally ended -- a mark that caps a prolific career, which saw 39 flights in 27 years. Next stop for the orbiter will be retirement from service -- the shuttle will eventually be placed on public display in a museum.

"The cheers from the crowd were audible all the way up in the air traffic control tower, NASA wrote on its landing blog.

" 'I think the legacy that she leaves behind is quite incredible,' shuttle astronaut Michael Barratt said of Discovery, adding that the spacecraft has been 'space-kindly' to its crews, largely due to the team of engineers that maintains the ship. 'Even though it's the last time, we really do look forward to bringing her back to her home port and back into those caring hands.'..."

Discovery is the oldest of the Space Shuttle Fleet, and was flown the most often. This was its 39th mission. Two more Shuttle missions are planned: Endeavour in April, and Atlantis in June. Each is a service run to the International Space Station (ISS).

The Lemming remembers Sputnik, the Apollo program, and the first Shuttle missions. Quite a lot has changed in that half-century or so, quite a bit of it connected with 'space' technology. Weather satellites - and powerful computers - have helped turn weather forecasting from a sort of guessing game into pretty good predictions for the next 24 hours - and even after that, it's pretty good out to about five days.

Communications satellites, the GPS system, and more information technology, help folks figure out where they are - and this post is going to turn into a discussion of the Information Age if the Lemming isn't careful.

Related posts:

• "Four Ships Docked at the ISS"
  (February 28, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Discovery, Names, James Cook, and a Little History"
  (February 21, 2011)
• "Space Shuttle Infographic: From Steering Thrusters to Rudder/Speed Brake"
  (January 31, 2011)
• "Last Flights of the First Space Freighters, New Construction at Spaceports"
  (September 23, 2010)
• "Last Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch: More of a Beginning, Than an End"
  (May 14, 2010)

More:

• "Humanity in Space: The Next Few Decades"

Hands off Driving, Driving With Your Brain, and All That

"The worst car feature ever invented?"
Robert Basler, Oddly Enough blog, Reuters (March 3, 2011)

"Every so often an idea comes along that is so awful it deserves a place in the Bad Idea Hall of Fame. Like there was the toilet timer that made sure workers don't spend too much time in the bathroom, and of course there was that hotel bed-warming service.

"But now, along comes an idea that makes those others seem positively brilliant.

"We have photos showing 'hands free driving' in a car that is controlled by the driver's brain. I'm not making this up.


(from Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch, via Oddly Enough, used w/o permission)
"Dr. Daniel Göhring of the AutoNOMOS research team of the Artificial Intelligence Group at the Freie Universitaet

"I don't know how good you are at controlling your thoughts, but speaking for myself, if you strap that gizmo to my head when I'm behind the wheel, here are the sort of unfiltered random impulses my car is going to get from me:..."

Mr. Basler's "unfiltered random impulse" are - all too plausible. It's the Lemming's opinion that this hands free driving' car will be highway-ready in a few years. And that a few drivers will fall madly in love with the technology.

The Oddly Enough post is, typically, funny. In the Lemming's opinion. Your experience may vary.

Jump Jet Deja Vu

This technology reminds the Lemming of a vertical-take-off military jet that test pilots loved. It was wonderfully responsive: reacting almost instantly to any twitch on the controls. Aviation technology magazines featured it regularly.

Then the thing went into production. As the Lemming heard it, after a few fatal crashes folks found out that most pilots aren't, quite, like test pilots. The jet was fun to fly: for someone with unusually fast responses, who reveled in rapidly processing information rushing in through multiple channels. And whose attention never, ever, wavered from the task at hand. Not even for an infinitesimal fraction of a second.

For any normal human being, even someone who'd been trained as a military pilot, that jet was an accident waiting to happen. Apparently all it took was a momentary lapse in pilot concentration, and the thing went from 'barely stable' to 'unstable.'

Brain Computer Interface: Good Idea, But - - -

The Lemming's on the same page with Mr. Basler. This 'hands free driving' car has 'bad idea' written all over it. In the Lemming's opinion, most drivers simply won't have the sort of mental discipline it may take.

That Dr. Göhring can use this system work doesn't surprise the Lemming particularly: a person doesn't get that far in the technical end of academia by having a mind that wanders. The rest of us? Mr. Basler outlined some of the probable outcomes.

Which doesn't mean that this research is a waste of time. At all.

In the Lemming's opinion, technology developed for 'hands free driving' has an obvious application for folks who use powered wheelchairs. There's not that much difference, in principle, between Dr. Göhring operating a car with a control system that interfaces with his brain, and someone operating a motorized wheelchair without needing manual controls.

What's the point, since we've got those little joystick controls? Not everybody has control circuits running all the way from the motor cortex to their hands. Everything from fish to iguanas and us has the main control circuits at the front/top end, and a control cable running through a more-or-less-flexible segmented sheath to near the other end. It's a pretty good design - but means that a broken neck can be trouble.

And that's another topic. Topics.

Getting further from vehicle control systems, the sort of technology being developed by the AutoNOMOS research team should be adaptable - in the Lemming's opinion - to other 'brain-computer interface' applications.

There are the obvious medical/prosthetic devices. Imagine an artificial arm or leg, that responds more-or-less the way the original did: and lets the user feel through the prosthetic. Eventually we should be able to grow new limbs: but it doesn't look like that technology is quite as far along. There was a promising bit of serendipity a decade or so back, when researchers found fresh skin growing back on immune-suppressed - mice, the Lemming thinks it was. And that's (what else?) yet another topic.

Related posts:

• "Driverless Van: Nifty Concept; Apparently Works"
  (October 28, 2010)
• "Meet Fenway the Robot, Hospital Helper"
  (September 21, 2010)
• "Never Heard of a BCI (Brain-Computer Interface)? You Will"
  (April 20, 2010)
• "Good News, Neural Devices Connect Brain, Computers: Bad News, Same Thing"
  (July 11, 2009)
• "The Robot With a Rat's Brain"
  (August 14, 2008)

The Lemming opines on technology, people, and common sense:

• "Technophobic Movies: A Top (Bottom?) Ten List"
  (January 27, 2011)
• "The Web Rewires Your Brain: Ain't That Great?"
  (July 2, 2010)
• "[Information] Power to the People!"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (April 16, 2010)
• "Data-Driven Art: For an 'Overwhelmed' 'Hive Mind???' "
  (January 27, 2010)
• "The Threat of Dangerous New Technologies: It's Not All That New"
  Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (August 23, 2009)

More:

• "Dr. Daniel Göhring"
  Research Assistant
  Artificial Intelligence Group
  Freie Universität Berlin
• "Plasticity and primary motor cortex."
  abstract
  Sanes JN, Donoghue JP, Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, via HIH (2000)

Designing Parking Facilities: There's More to It Than Concrete Slabs

"Parking Basics & Green Strategies" (.pdf)
Ed Rahme, AIA, LEED AP, timhaas.com, via New York (state) Parking Association

"Fundamentals of Parking
"Parking Garage Basics & Green Strategies...

"...Learning Objectives

"Presentation Structure:
• Part I: Size of the Parking Space
• Part II: Circulation: Width of the Traffic Aisle & End Turning Bays
• Part III: Vertical Circulation: Parking & Speed Ramps
• Part IV: Circulation Systems: Single and Double Helix
• Part V: Vehicular Entry and Exit Lanes
• Part VI: Parking Efficiency
• Part VII: Structural Systems
• Part VIII: Concrete Durability
• Part IX: Code Provisions
• Part X: Accessibility
• Part XI: Security
• Part XII: Lighting
• Part XIII: Elevators
• Part XIV: PARCS
• Part XV: Sustainability
• Part XVI: References...."

This is a .pdf/Acrobat file - but it looks to the Lemming as if it was converted from something like a PowerPoint presentation.

If you've ever wondered just how wide and long a parking space should be, how much headroom there should be in parking ramps, or how the turning radius of a Toyota Sequoia compares to that of the AASHTO Passenger Car (P) Design Vehicle - this should be a very useful resource.

Some of what's here seems to be specific to New York State building codes - but there's quite a bit that's applicable for most parking lot/garage designs. Or, in the case of why salt is bad for concrete, applicable in places where winters involve ice or snow.

Some of the "sustainability" and "green" stuff is surprisingly practical: plantings on the roof to keep the upper deck cooler (sunlit plants are cooler than sunlit concrete); filtering and recycling storm water; that sort of thing.

Then there's the nifty idea of giving priority to those cute little toy cars with almost enough room inside for the driver. They're probably practical for getting around inside a convention center, or for driving a block or two: provided you don't have to carry much along.

The Lemming lives in central Minnesota. Never mind how energy-efficient those little mini-micro-bitty junior cars are: During winters here, it would hardly be worthwhile searching for one of those things after each snowfall.

What's the Big Deal With Parking Garages?

Folks in America, and a fair number of other places around the world, use powered vehicles to get around. Back in the 'good old days,' when horsepower could be calculated by counting the number of horses attached to a cart, folks didn't have to worry about exhaust fumes.

Manure in the street and the occasional dead horse? That they had to be concerned with. And, unlike exhaust, that stuff didn't just drift away on its own.

Which is another reason why the Lemming doesn't miss the 'good old days' all that much.

Since we use cars in this country, we need some place to put them when they're not carrying us and groceries - or whatever - around. Here in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, the population density is low enough for us to get by with a parking lane on most streets, and a few parking lots.

In a place like, say, San Francisco, or Albany, new York, that won't work. Now in the more heavily-built-up parts, anyway.

Which is where parking garages come in. Happily, folks have caught on that parking garages don't have to be bug-ugly eyesores - and that the things should be designed with safety and health in mind.

Change, as the Lemming has opined before, happens. And sometimes it's for the better.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Leaning Tower of Pisa: Nothing to do With Pizza"
  (January 14, 2011)
• "The Eiffel Tower: Still Pretty Cool"
  (April 23, 2010)
• " 'Good architecture really isn't so complicated' "
  (December 26, 2009)
• "Beach House is Energy-Efficient. Also Looks Cool"
  (August 4, 2009)
• "Now You, Too, Can Live in a Rusty Equipment Shed"
  (July 20, 2009)

Bullet Trains, Engineering, Economics, and Politics as Usual

"It's the Bullet Train ... to Nowhere"
William La Jeunesse, State & Local, Politics, FoxNews.com (February 14, 2011)

"Hailed as a high-speed road to the future, a jobs program and a symbol of America's dedication to innovation, President Obama proposed Monday spending $8 billion on a bullet train -- a down payment on a nationwide network that will cost $58 billion over the next six years.

"But in the one state where the federal high-speed rail project is underway, critics say money is being misspent, ridership studies are inflated, the route is politically corrupted and the system will never be self supporting.

" 'They don't know where they're going to build it, they don't have a mile of right of way under possession, it is not shovel ready, it is not even engineer ready,' said Richard Tolmach, with the California High-Speed Rail Authority. 'It is still a work in progress where the line might go. Right now it is not somewhere the feds should be putting their money.'..."

In the Lemming's opinion, there's going to be a - lively - debate about this bullet train project. Like where it should go. Back to the article (op-ed?):

"...And that is where the controversy comes in. The first leg of the project is slated for the middle of Central Valley -- not between major cities, or congested freeway corridors like San Francisco and San Jose or Orange County and Los Angeles. The Central Valley site is between Borden -- a point on the map where no one lives -- and Corcoran, a town where half the residents will never board a train because they're in prison...."

'Obvious' is in the Eye of the Chauvinist

The Lemming suspects that whether it's sensible, starting work on a new transportation system in a relatively remote location, depends in no small part on what sort of person is asked.

Some folks, in the Lemming's opinion, will feel that anybody who likes this project is a doo-doo-head. They, again in the Lemming's opinion, are likely to think it's 'obvious' that starting construction in California's Central Valley is 'stupid.' Likely enough, again in the Lemming's opinion, the same folks would be incensed if starting the project involved demolishing part of San Francisco's financial district.

Other folks, still in the Lemming's opinion, will feel that anybody who doesn't like this project is a doo-doo-head. They, still this blogger's opinion, are likely to feel that the project's detractors are the spawn of Satan - or the equivalent. And, of course, would probably feel that only an idiot would consider starting the project anywhere else.

A Train Should Go Somewhere

What does the Lemming think?

The Lemming thinks that for a transportation system to be of any use, it had better connect at least two points that need to exchange material and/or people.

Also that it's a good idea, if bullet trains are going to be built, to start work somewhere.

It may even make sense to start somewhere other than in the heart of a major city.

Apathy and a Blogging Lemming

This isn't a political blog - and the Lemming isn't 'political.' Not in the sense that the Lemming claims that one person or party is always right, and that others are always wrong. The Lemming's 'apathetic,' too - but only in a sort of sideways sense:

• "About the Lemming"

Bullet Trains: Catching Up With the 20th Century

It's the Lemming's of the opinion that 'bullet trains' are some of the 20th century's more impressive transportation technologies. And effective at moving people from city to city.

The last time the Lemming checked, we were a little over a decade into the 21st century. The Lemming could be wrong about this, but maybe the United States should start moving some of its transportation network into the 20th century.

Related posts:

• "Boeing 747-8: Big Can be 'Green' "
  (February 12, 2011)
• "Hong Kong's Mid-Level Escalators (It's About Time!)"
  (September 27, 2010)
• "X-51A Waverider: It's Just the Beginning"
  (June 18, 2010)
• "Bullet Trains in America: United States Transportation Enters the 20th Century (It's About Time)"
  (January 28, 2010)
• "Shinkansen: Japan's Bullet Trains"
  (December 6, 2007)