If you're not familiar with the challenges of jet engines at high speeds, you might be surprised to find that one of the most difficult challenges is heat – not from the combustion of fuel, but rather from the compression of the air being rammed into the front of the engine. The pre-cooler developed by Reaction Engines is aimed at solving that challenge. If they pull it off, hypersonic passenger aircraft traveling at 5,000 km/hour (3,000 miles/hour) are almost certainly in our future. I don't know about you, but personally I love the idea of traveling from San Diego to London in 90 minutes or so...
Monday, January 7, 2013
Reaction Engines' Pre-Cooler...
A fascinating technological development, passed along by friend, neighbor, and reader Dick F. The video is a bit hyperbolic (they are looking for investors :), but the technology and its potential are fascinating nonetheless.
If you're not familiar with the challenges of jet engines at high speeds, you might be surprised to find that one of the most difficult challenges is heat – not from the combustion of fuel, but rather from the compression of the air being rammed into the front of the engine. The pre-cooler developed by Reaction Engines is aimed at solving that challenge. If they pull it off, hypersonic passenger aircraft traveling at 5,000 km/hour (3,000 miles/hour) are almost certainly in our future. I don't know about you, but personally I love the idea of traveling from San Diego to London in 90 minutes or so...
If you're not familiar with the challenges of jet engines at high speeds, you might be surprised to find that one of the most difficult challenges is heat – not from the combustion of fuel, but rather from the compression of the air being rammed into the front of the engine. The pre-cooler developed by Reaction Engines is aimed at solving that challenge. If they pull it off, hypersonic passenger aircraft traveling at 5,000 km/hour (3,000 miles/hour) are almost certainly in our future. I don't know about you, but personally I love the idea of traveling from San Diego to London in 90 minutes or so...
An Environmentalist Discovers Science...
Fascinating speech via reader and friend Doug W., who says:
Transcript (a little different than the actual speech) available here...
I have never been quite sure what to think about the GM food scare, but in general my BS detectors were vibrating. Fascinating. Of course, his climate change stuff is still off, but it’s still worth a listen.
Transcript (a little different than the actual speech) available here...
Worst Recession Ever...Gets Even Worse...
I've posted this chart before; this is just another in a series of updates to it. It gets more terrifying the more time goes by...
Q & A...
The question:
If someone from the 1950s suddenly appeared today, what would be the most difficult thing to explain to them about life today?The best answer (awesome++):
To expand on the while there are a lot of obvious differences between now and 1950 in terms of technology, culture, etc., I wonder which changes or new things they'd grasp easily and which would be utterly perplexing.
I possess a device, in my pocket, that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man.
I use it to look at pictures of cats and get in arguments with strangers.