nevertheless

The historical occasion of the Mars rover Curiosity flawlessly landing inspires humanity with buckets of hope for eventually making ways, perhaps for humans to one day set foot on the red planet.

Since Mars is 250 million miles from earth a round trip to and from it would take more than 12 months, and would be astronomically costly. Needless to say, a somewhat ambitious plan has recently been forwarded which proposes establishing a living colony of permanently based human inhabitants.

Bas Lansdorp via his Dutch company Mars One is aiming to send ten humans to the red planet by 2023 by creating a one way trip to willing frontier inhabitants. Lansdorp will next year be holding a worldwide lottery in order to select 40 trainee astronauts. And after a yet to be declared period these lucky winners will whittle down to ten for the actual mission itself, by turning the selection and training programme into a "media event" similar to a reality show.


Watch the video animation after the jump to learn how Lansdorp proposes his plan to work.

The first 30 seconds of the staged video however, has a dramatic sound bed piece to set the scene for the eight flying robot quadcopters.

These toy scale flying bots are completely autonomous, meaning that they are controlled by a computer programmed with instructions to play the instruments.

What leaps tall buildings in a single bound is faster than a locomotive ? Is it a bird ? Is it a train? No its a hoverbike. Not your ordinary traditional hovercraft since it has a possible altitude reach of 10,000 feet and a top speed of 278 km/h or 173 mph. For the time being though its somewhat theoretical, since the inventor, Chris Malloy is yet to conduct real world flight tests.

The craft looks more like a bicycle on its side but includes a 1170 cc 4-stroke engine delivering 80 kW driving two ducted propellers. Controlled with a set of handlebars used for controlling direction, lift and speed, and a standard 30L fuel tank.

The frame is engineered from kevlar reinforced carbon fiber with a light foam core, while the propeller blades are made of Tasmanian Oak with the leading edges covered in carbon fiber. And since there’s two of them spinning in opposite directions, there’s no need for a tail rotor to cancel out the rotational forces.

Visit Chris Malloy's website to learn more about availability, price and should you feel so inclined donate to his project.

The Snowbird flew into history recently when it continuously flapped its wings with both a sustained altitude and airspeed for 19.3 seconds, covering a distance of 145 meters at an average speed of 26.5 kilometers per hour.

The ornithopter was designed and constructed by a team of engineering students led by Todd Reichert, Cameron Robertson and Professor Emeritius James D. DeLaurier from the University of Toronto.

According to lead developer and project manager Todd Reichert; the Snowbird represents one of the last of the aviation firsts and the completion of an age-old aeronautical dream: "Throughout history, countless men and women have dreamt of flying like a bird under their own power, and hundreds, if not thousands have attempted to achieve it."



Whilst this is an incredibly stunning achievement the craft, as we can see in the video, is towed for the initial couple of hundred meters to provide lift. Nevertheless if they continue to develop it, they may yet find way for it to be totally self-sufficient !

The cool music for the video was provided by Nicholas Marten and Daniel Gauthier.

One has to keep in mind when watching this animation in that the idea is a concept. The actual ability of the craft to function is likely two or more steps beyond a feasible reality. Nevertheless an entertaining contribution to drawing board gravity powered flight !



The weird punchline near the end of the video, is the suggestion that the design and function of the aircraft won't attract "terrorist activities". Huh ?

Seems to be a growing market in personal transport aircraft, like the Intora Firebird, a small one person helicopter that uses jet tip hydrogen peroxide rockets for propulsion. Rocket copters are supposed to be surprisingly easy to fly, with less vibration and improved stability, over their traditional cousins.

The video here explains all about this clever helicopter, except that you may need to dig around in here for the finer details.

Professor Joseph Monaghan and David May from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, have been researching the mystery of vanished ships and airplanes in The Bermuda Triangle, and now appear to have solved it.

"Oceanographic surveyors of the sea floor in the area of the Bermuda Triangle and the North Sea region between continental Europe and Great Britain have discovered significant quantities of methane hydrates. The methane—normally frozen at great pressure as gas hydrates embedded within subterranean rock—can become dislodged and transform into gaseous bubbles expanding geometrically as they explode upwards. When these bubbles reach the surface of the water they soar into the air, still expanding upwards and outwards.

Any ships caught within the methane mega-bubble immediately lose all buoyancy and sink to the bottom of the ocean. If the bubbles are big enough and possess a high enough density they can also knock aircraft out of the sky with little or no warning. Aircraft falling victim to these methane bubbles will lose their engines-perhaps igniting the methane surrounding them-and immediately lose their lift as well, ending their flights by diving into the ocean and swiftly plummeting." Source.


The video here shows what happens when bubbles of methane gas emitting from bottom of a glass of water sufficiently lower the density of the water causing the boat to sink.



While the science from the oceanographic survey and the video offers an insight to the exploding bubbles of methane gas, the photographic proof may take some time getting.

Itec, or Indigenous People's Technology and Education center, is a non profit company, have developed what they coin The Maverick Sport, a flying car that anyone who can drive, and learn to fly, in just a few hours of tuition. 

Itec's zany but cool looking beach buggy flying car or iFly has passed all the legal tests and among the tech specs;  its Float capable, has Robust suspension for 'off roaring', Dual drive (transaxle or propeller) and can do Interstate speeds on road plus it has Proprietary mast and spar system that makes crosswind operations possible.

Thing to keep in mind though, their primary focus for their flying machine is for humanitarian use in frontier areas of the world.



Although the video is exciting, with some cool music by Andy Hunter and David Crowder, there's an awful lot that being glossed over, like correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall seeing how one attaches and dismembers the parachute wing and its not clear how much runway one needs for lift and landing.

Millions of starlings perform a kind of site-specific dance, cluster flocking to and fro forming surreal airborne patterns and kaleidoscopic designs, are seen here pouring into Rome from northern europe, revealing an awesome and entertaining aerial display of nature.

Researchers from the GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania demonstrate an autonomous quadrotor helicopter performing precise aggressive manoeuvres, flying through windows only 3 inches larger than itself and roosts on vertical surfaces.

According to its makers: "The quadrotor knows the location and orientation of the window from the motion capture system." And by virtue of its connection to an outboard wireless network computer, it uses multiple video cameras to provide very accurate attitude and position data.

While I was amused by the insectoid buzzing noises it makes as it stabilizes itself, its likely the precursor to new weapon in hostage/counter insurgency and counter terrorism?

Hybrid aircraft researchers are developing flocks "of small, unmanned air vehicles flies quietly into a city, maneuvering among the buildings. They communicate as they search for places to land, not on streets or flat rooftops but on the sides of buildings and under the eaves, where they can cling, bat or insect-like, in safety and obscurity. Upon identifying landing sites, each flier turns toward a wall, executes an intentional stall and, as it begins to fall, attaches itself using feet equipped with miniature spines that engage small asperities on the surface. Using its propeller in combination with its limbs, the flier can creep along the wall and reorient for a better view. With opposed pairs of spines, the flier clings tenaciously to resist gusts of wind and ride out inclement weather. The fliers stay attached for hours or days, consuming little power and emitting no sound as they monitor the area. When finished, they launch themselves with a jump and become airborne again, ready for their next mission."

These remarkable robotic critters or hybrid moths were developed by Alexis Lussier Desbiens and Alan Asbeck from Stanford University .

The (silent) video  below shows the first inflation test of E Green Technologies new Bullet 580 Airship at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Alabama.

The airship, is 235' long by 105' in diameter, making it the largest operating airship in the world. The Bullet 580 has a unique design of seven internal helium envelopes that control lift while the outer envelope is completely non-rigid and contained with simple ambient air.

The Bullet has five times the lift capability of conventional airships and can hover, spin and rotate on an axis, and no longer require wind to maintain stability. The airships are green fueled by algae and/or diesel with later versions to run on a hybrid electric engine. Test flights for the craft will begin in early summer, 2010.

They look like becoming a cheaper alternative to satellite surveillance since there is no currently efficient manned or unmanned system for mid- or high- altitude and long duration flight, between 50,000-75,000 feet with the capability to stay airborne for weeks to months, providing a stable sustainable platform. They also look like proving invaluable for disaster relief, remote sensing, communications, missile defense warning and weather monitoring.

Alabama resident John Wathen together with volunteer pilot Tom Hutchings, from the Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies made a flyover video over the area where the Deepwater Horizon oil rig sank.

This polluting environmental disaster of unimaginable proportions, will no doubt go down as the largest and worst oceanic oil and gas spill ever - the gulf appears to be bleeding a red mass of floating goo. One estimate suggests "that the volume coming out of the hole is in the order of 4 barrels per second (around 350,000 barrels per day." And to think, a $500,000 switch could have prevented this, phew !

But wait there's more - The Natural Gas emissions are astounding as well.

"The Natural Gas doesn't just bubble to the top of the ocean and release into the air. It is absorbed into the water, like air is absorbed, and actually creates oxygen depletion. Hence, the emission of natural gas of these volumes into the sea is producing a significant area of Oxygen depleted water in the Gulf of Mexico which may be very large threat to fisheries and other wildlife in the area." VIA

As you watch the close up video of the hole remember the pipe is 5 feet in diameter. Watching this makes me shudder with disbelief, and shudder even more wondering if the hole could Embiggen anymore ?



Hey, without wishing to be alarmist, but what is going to happen when the hurricane season emerges ? Maybe help create habitat destruction of an immense order ?


Read more of the latest stories about the Mexican Gulf oil spill here.

But if you thought that this horrific accident was the first by BP oil, than think again. Science & Soul one of my blog roll friends shares with us his insightful history of the environmental diasters that BP oil has in the recent past, festooned upon the American continent.

The satellite has not responded to commands since solar flares fried its CPU in April, and it won't shut down.  Thus it is likely to interfere with other satellites as it crosses their orbital slots on its way to an earth-sun Lagrange point, the natural final destination of a geostationary satellite without manoeuvring power.

The satellite looks to becoming Zombiefied, a satellite term for a failed satellite in orbit.

"Galaxy 15 is continuing on an orbital path occupied by C-band satellite AMC-11 operated by SES World Skies. Its still-operational payload could cause interference with the SES satellite for two weeks starting around May 23, according to estimates." via

Satnews, counters this claim; "There has been no immediate service interruption to customers, and based on current technical information, no service interruption is expected for the media customers on this satellite"

However the video here gives us a clearer account of possible interference outcomes of the rogue satellite.



I have, until now expected most satellites would include a backup control system, after all, aren't most of these sophisticated objects that sail out beyond human physical boudaries  multimillion dollar investments ?

is a short imagined astronomical 3D galactic star formation fly- though made by Matthias Müller for a sci-fi Starcraft 2 gaming video contest.

I recommend you watch this video in full screen mode to appreciate this beautifully conceptualised imaginary part of the universe.

Matthias Müller, created this cool animation using the following software tools:

3ds max, Fumefx, Particle flow + box#3, Krakatoa and composited it in After Effects.