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NASA probe should lead to quieter supersonic aircraft
There's a good reason why it still takes hours to fly cross-country: supersonic airplanes are still so noisy that it's utterly impractical to fly them over populated areas. That's why the Concorde was largely relegated to overseas flights, after all. However, NASA has a new sensor that could usher in an era of quieter supersonic aircraft. The Eagle Aero Probe (the device you see in the red housing above) measures air pressure changes right near where they occur during a sonic boom, giving a near-instantaneous sense of what's happening. Previously, the sensors were about 15 feet away in the radar dome -- not exactly helpful when you need real-time data to measure a shockwave.
ICYMI: Supersonic jetliner, the issue of sea sponge and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-37467").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: NASA gave Lockheed Martin $20 million to make a preliminary design of a supersonic jetliner that will break the sound barrier without a sonic boom. Stanford students are putting a self-driving Audi through a race course to improve AI algorithms. And MIT says it has found proof that sea sponges are the first animal on earth. Finally, Sweden's McDonald's has a new happy meal box that turns into a virtual reality headset. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
NASA picks a supersonic jet design for its X-plane initiative
NASA has awarded a key contract for its New Aviation Horizons X-plane initiative, bringing supersonic passenger travel a step closer (back) to reality. The space agency will give Lockheed Martin $20 million to complete the preliminary design for its Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). As that name suggests, the goal of the competition is to create a jet that can fly faster than sound without the normal sonic boom that can shatter windows in houses below. The teams are tasked instead with creating a sonic "heartbeat" that is more like a soft thump.
World's fastest car to make 'slow' debut in the UK
We've waited years to see the Bloodhound supersonic car in action, and at last the promised day is starting to draw near. The team has revealed that its monster motor will debut at the Newquay Aerohub in Cornwall on November 17th -- however, it'll be limited to just 200mph. That's still ferociously fast, but the jet and rocket-powered car is ultimately designed to break the world land speed record at 1,000mph. Construction of the vehicle is still underway, and the tests in Southern England will be conducted before the airbrakes and winglets have been fitted. The current plan is to begin high-speed testing in South Africa next summer, during optimal weather conditions. The results will determine when driver Andy Green can attempt to earn yet another spot in the history books.
Supersonic air keeps train tracks clear when weather sucks
Unlike forest fires, you personally can't do much to stop trainwrecks. With that in mind, the folks over at General Electric took a break from tracking your brain on BBQ and devised a way to keep one of the oldest forms of powered-transport on track in adverse weather conditions. You see, the Ardennes Forest in Belgium is legendary for its inhospitable conditions and to sidestep them and the mountains, trains were taking a longer, flatter and more expensive route. That wasn't too economical. So, GE implemented what it calls the Advanced Rail Cleaner for trains on the route. Essentially, the ARC is a module that sits at a precise spot ahead of the front axle and uses high-pressure air (rather than lasers) moving at supersonic speeds to clear away any moisture and debris.
Supersonic subs look to cross the Pacific in under two hours
The distance between Shanghai and San Francisco is around 6,135 miles (9,873 km), and a team of scientists aims to make that trip possible in 100 minutes. Researchers at Harbin Institute of Technology's Complex Flow and Heat Transfer Lab have developed new tech that allows submarines to traveling a crazy-high speeds beneath the water. The solution? Create an air "bubble" of sorts that leverages supercavitation, a technology applied to torpedoes, to reduce drag caused by water while in route. Theoretically, this means that the vehicles could reach the speed of sound underwater (around 5,800km/h or 3,694 MPH while submerged), reducing the travel time between the aforementioned cities to under two hours.
The Big Picture: Inside the cockpit of the '1,000 mph office'
Above is the view Andy Green will have when he attempts to break the world land-speed record in the British Bloodhound supersonic car. The numbers on the dials refer to a legend that can be found here. Among the many controls are a Rolex speedometer (54) and a 3D-printed steering wheel (68). Green's attempt is still some way off, with an attempt to break the current record (763mph, also held by Green) planned for August 2015. If successful, the plan is to attempt to break the 1,000 mph barrier a year later. [Image credit: Stefan Marjoram]
Spike supersonic business jet swaps windows for a wraparound live-view display
We're pretty excited about the Spike S-512 supersonic business jet, but this latest feature could potentially make a three-hour Mach 1.6 hop from New York to London a bit nerve-wracking for uneasy fliers. A post on the company's blog this week describes one of the cabin features, a "thin display screen" that's embedded in the wall. Cameras mounted around the jet's exterior will power a panoramic view, which can also be swapped for other images or content that's more conductive to sleep, such as a solid dark color or a starry night scene. Removing the windows helps Spike trim the plane's weight while also reducing drag, enabling faster speeds and boosted fuel efficiency. We don't expect commercial airliners to follow suit, however, so if flying 1,218 mph in a windowless tube is something that strikes your fancy, you'll need to hop aboard an S-512 after the supersonic jet takes to the skies in 2018.
Virgin Galactic's commercial space plane makes first successful test flight
Attention, amateur space cadets! If you've ever wanted to swing on a star or see one up close, consider this proof positive Virgin Galactic's that much closer to making your dreams come true. SpaceShipTwo, its inventively named commercial vehicle designed to take well-moneyed civilians into outerspace, has just completed its first rocket-powered test flight. The craft, partially owned by Virgin group overlord Sir Richard Branson and the Abu Dhabi-based investment group PJC, took off earlier today from its berth at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, where carrier-craft WhiteKnightTwo ferried it to a 47,000 ft altitude after which its own rockets kicked in for a supersonic flight. In all, the solo run lasted just slightly over ten minutes, during which the SS2 notched an altitude of 55,000 feet before returning safely back to its desert port. For its first outing, the SS2 scored high marks by Virgin Galactic chief George Whitesides' estimation, performing just as expected with "expected burn duration, good engine performance and solid... handling qualities throughout." It's encouraging news for the nascent space tourism industry, although it's worth noting this flight carried reduced risk considering it was bound to our own atmosphere. The team anticipates that "full space flight" testing will begin sometime before year's end. As for when you'll be able to actually book a real deal luxury space flight? Virgin Galactic's set a tentative 2015 date for that, giving you, the every(wo)man, plenty of time to save up or mortgage your life for the opportunity to tour the cosmos.
Visualized: Boeing supersonic airliner concept soars in a wind tunnel, quietly
No, you're not looking at an early preview of Star Wars Episode VII -- it just might represent the future of air transport, though. Boeing has spent years developing a truly quiet supersonic airliner concept, the Icon II, and what you see is an aerodynamics test of a mockup in a vaguely Death Star-like wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center. The starfighter design is for more than just show, as you'd suspect. Its V-tail design moves sonic booms further back, reducing the chance that shockwaves will reach the ground (and our ears) intact, while the top-mounted engines isolate engine noise. Boeing and NASA are ultimately hoping for production passenger aircraft discreet enough to fly over land at supersonic speeds, although we can't help but think that the sci-fi look is a convenient bonus.
NASA awards $100,000 grant for sideways supersonic plane concept, sonic boom not included
NASA isn't just interested in extra-terrestrial exploration, but in pushing the boundaries of atmospheric flight as well, which is why it's just awarded $100,000 in funding for the supersonic plane concept shown above. As you can see, the symmetrical plane is basically all wing, and that's because it has two different configurations based on how fast you want to go. For normal, subsonic flight, a plane needs a decent wingspan to get off the ground and sustain flight at lower speeds. But, when you want to go supersonic, large wings become a bit of a drag, which is where the concept's bi-functional design comes in. The plane begins its journey in the long-winged setup, but spins 90 degrees amongst the clouds to use its stubby wings for efficient faster-than-sound flight and "virtually zero sonic boom." Gecheng Zha from the University of Miami has been touting his concept for quite some time, but now he's got the cash to refine the design, run simulations and do some wind tunnel testing, with the potential for more funding in the future. Unfortunately, the concept is, at best, decades from becoming a reality, but we're sold on the ninja star-like design. Guile, however, is not impressed.
Hybrid rocket / seaweed jet ready to fly in 2050, keep emissions above ozone (video)
What's cooler than jetting from Paris to Tokyo in under three hours? Getting there in a biofuel burning hybrid rocketplane. The recently announced superjet, the Zehst (short for "Zero Emission Hypersonic Transportation"), loopholes around the whole pollution angle by only using its rocket engines in the stratosphere. Below the ozone however, seaweed-biofuel powered jet engines will kick in for some keen, green landings. Don't get too excited though, the EADS won't even have a prototype ready until 2020, and commercial flights aren't expected to follow until the hump of the century. Look on the bright side though, you've still got that airline-approved Galaxy Tab to keep you occupied for the next four decades of long, dark, redeyes. That's almost as cool, right?
Climbing robot can scale walls on a supersonic stream of air, won't leave fingerprints behind
There are plenty of wall climbing robots roaming the Earth, but few can scale heights as gracefully as this little guy can. Developed by researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, this bot can wind its way across any glass, metal or cloth terrain, without even touching its pods to the surface. The secret lies in Bernoulli's Principle, which states that as the speed of a fluid increases, its pressure decreases. This phenomenon also applies to streams of air, which, when moving at high speeds around of a circular gripper, can create a vacuum strong enough to hold things without actually touching them. In this case, air shoots out of the robot's feet at more than 2,000 miles per hour, creating enough pressure to lift the craft, while holding it close to the wall. The technology isn't new, but rarely can it support the weight of an entire device -- let alone the extra cargo that this climber's non-contact adhesive pads can hold. Researchers say the supersonic grippers will be available in "some months" and will probably cost "a few hundred dollars." As for the bot itself, Canterbury's engineers envision it being used for industrial inspections -- though the more we think about it, the more we realize just how dirty our windows are. Video after the break.
Apple submits patent application for magnetic and sound-based peer-to-peer technology
A patent discovered by Patently Apple suggests that Apple may use a magnetic compass and supersonic tone technology to share data between your iPhone and other electronic devices. In this new peer-to-per communication system, a magnetic compass is used to monitor the magnetic signature of a compatible electronic device. Once these devices are close together, they could automatically recognize one another and share information seamlessly without user intervention. In another scenario, a device with a speaker could output an encoded supersonic tone that changes the local magnetic field. This change in the magnetic field can be detected by the receiving device. The supersonic tone is not audible to human ears, but it may drive your dog bonkers. Once the tone is detected by the compass on the portable device, the two devices will open a connection and share contact information, images, media and other files. Similar to a MAC address for a Wi-Fi-enabled device, these signatures may be unique to each device. Once detected, the signatures could be stored and recognized for later use.
US Army to deploy Individual Gunshot Detector, essentially a radar for bullets
Latest in our series of "when video games turn real," here's the US Army's newest addition to the wargadget arsenal. The Individual Gunshot Detector, produced by QinetiQ, is an acoustic monitor attuned to tracking down the source of gunshots just by their sound. It has four sensors to pick up the noise of incoming fire, and its analysis of those sound waves produces a readout on a small display that lets the soldier know where the deadly projectiles originated from. The entire system weighs just under two pounds, and while it may not be much help in an actual firefight -- there's no way to distinguish between friendly and hostile fire -- we imagine it'll be a pretty handy tool to have if assaulted by well hidden enemies. 13,000 IGD units are being shipped out to Afghanistan later this month, with a view to deploying 1,500 each month going forward and an ultimate ambition of networking their data so that when one soldier's detector picks up a gunfire source, his nearby colleagues can be informed as well.
USB 3.0 shocker! Supersonic Magnum thumb drive rocks 200MB/s read times, sure to be rather pricey
You thought the 70MB/s write speeds were wild? The kids at Patriot are making the scene at CeBIT with the successor to the Supersonic USB thumb drive we first saw at the tail end of last year, and it's putting its old man to shame. The Supersonic Magnum series, sporting capacities up to 128GB, boasts a single eight channel controller with 200MB/s read and 110MB/s write speeds. And it will fit in your hip pocket! Release date TBA, and we can only imagine it will cost you a pretty Deutschmark.
Bloodhound SuperSonic Car begins construction: 1,000mph on Intel Atom processors (video)
We saw the mockup back in July and, soon, we'll be seeing the real thing. Construction of the Bloodhound SSC is underway, with a planned top speed of over 1,000mph courtesy of a jet engine borrowed from a Typhoon jet fighter sitting in the back -- and a trio of Intel Atom processors in the cockpit that will run a number of onboard diagnostics and telemetry systems. Sure, they won't be adding to the overall thrust of the thing but neither will they be putting much of a drain on the electrical system. If all goes according to plan the car will be completed by the end of this year and will start speed runs by the beginning of 2012. Maybe by then Intel will have something a little quicker to slap in there.
Patriot intros Supersonic USB 3.0 flash drive, milks 100MB / sec from a single chip
At present, there seem to be three strategies to embracing the potential of USB 3.0 -- go all out with an external SSD, introduce a hulking RAID-on-a-stick, or settle for a single-chip USB key with ho-hum maximum read/write speeds of roughly around 80MB / sec and 60MB / sec. There are a number of these barely-better-than-USB-2.0 flash drives floating about, but Patriot decided not to settle for that -- its new Supersonic flash drive uses the mythical "quad channel" technology (and a native USB 3.0 controller) to eke out some extra speed. That allows Patriot to beat down the USB 2.0 straw man with 70MB / sec writes and 100MB / sec reads, and possibly justify a pricing premium if the company can't manufacture them on the cheap. If the Supersonic sounds like the best of all worlds for your portable data, you'll find it in 32GB and 64GB configurations starting Q1 2011. No word on price quite yet.
Bloodhound SuperSonic Car gets a full-scale model ahead of land speed record attempt
If you've been busy wondering what a 1,000mph car might look like, here is your answer. A full-sized model of the Bloodhound SSC has been hammered together and is currently on show at the Farnborough International Air Show. We reckon the reason it's there is because the real deal Bloodhound will be built by aeronatics companies and its supersonic speed will justify describing its movement as "flying." Three of the men responsible for the project, including driver Andy Green, were involved in the current land speed record holder, the Thrust SSC, which acheved 763mph back in 1997. With better aerodynamics allied to a Falcon hybrid rocket and Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, it's believed that the Bloodhound will go all the way past the magical 1,000 marker, but there's still at least a year before a shakedown run can be enacted. If everything goes well, however, they might be able to squeeze their attempt at the world land speed record in before the 2012 robocalypse. Fingers crossed.
Supersonic Green Machine sends greetings from the future
While many of us are busy debating the relative merits of pocket-sized technology, NASA is mulling over ideas on a much grander scale. Submitted as part of the Administration's research into advanced aeronautics, the above Lockheed Martin-designed aircraft is just one vision of how air travel might be conducted in the future. It's a supersonic jet employing an inverted-V engine-under-wing configuration, which apparently helps to significantly reduce the resultant sonic boom. Other than that, we're only told that "other revolutionary technologies" will provide for the achievement of range, payload and environmental goals. So that snazzy paintjob wasn't just for show, after all -- who'd have guessed?
