How incredibly cool is THIS!
Solar-Powered Plane Flies for 83 Hours, Doubles World Record
DailyTech reports that defense firm QinetQ has set the unofficial world record for the longest continuous unmanned flight with the Zephyr, a British-built spy plane.
The Zephyr stayed in the air for 83 hours and 37 minutes, besting the previous record of 30 hours and 24 minutes held by Northrup Grumman’s Global Hawk.
The plane, which can be launched by hand, has a carbon fiber skeleton that weighs under 70 lbs and an 18m wingspan covered with silicon solar cells. It is powered by a lithium sulfur rechargeable battery that is twice as efficient as any other battery in the world.
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WOW. Neat calendar!! BTW, I was expecting post at 8; can be here 8-9, but have to dash at 9…sorry I won’t be around! : (
This place is really looking great.
Good news, Bumz! We have sorted out both the comment and the revenue issues here at Teh Beach Haus! We won’t need the sub blogs after all, just a little hacking of the ad display widgets to base them on categories. Our current rather slapdash category system will go away and be replaced by a strict one, and then we can get as cutesy and snarky as we like with tags. And that way we can also go with both other ad services and our own ads (eventually).
peanutbutter continues to be a genius!
you are confirmed at 8 laura. and one hour is fine for comments. you have a life, unlike yours truly…
It’s 8 Laura. The problem is that I can’t get the three calendars to all agree to be on the same time zone. Like I said, we’re still ironing things out.
YAY!!!! One main blog set-up means one calendar. I’ll pick one of the ones that’s in Central time and adjust the titles accordingly.
New post up at Spook’s Political Affairs!
Breaking News From The DNC!
Drop by, comment if you like, but main thread stays here. Let us know how you like this approach!
yes but multiple posts can be at the same time due to categories. we aren’t totally out of the woods yet but can see some daylight through the branches.
A picture is worth a thousand pieces of…
New post up at Spook’s Political Affairs!
Federal Judge Keeping Prominent Democrat In Jail Is Old Karl Rove Political Crony!
Drop by, comment if you like, but main thread stays here. Let us know how you like this approach!
Is this about airplanes? I discovered quite by accident that if I had a light, slow-flying hand-launched-glider, I could halve its sink rate by cutting its wingtips back at about a 10 degree angle from the fore-aft direction. The likely explanation seemed to be that the air from underneath the wing no longer impinged on the wing’s upper surface but streamed away in a clean vortex. The little guys used to sail away from me, then “shake themselves”, set up a comfortable angle of attack, and go on and on, sometimes losing themselves completely in a thermal. I used to put my phone number on them, and wound up meeting people who had found the little critters some distance from the field.
Always surprized me that no one seems to use this trick, but it would be suited to slow flight only. However, a solar-powered powered glider would seem to be a perfect candidate for a bit of wingtip clipping.
Another airplane comment. I made an electric-powered sailplane with a wing with flat central section and strong dihedral in the outer panels, like the plane pictured. The experienced builders at the field derided my effort, because, they said, I was throwing away lift in the outer wing and was not gaining the stability that I thought I would get: Dihedral throughout the length was the way to go, they said. And you know, they were right.
New post up at Spook’s Political Affairs!
Federal Judge Tosses Bogus Political Prosecution Of Prominent Democrat [Integrity Abides]!
Drop by, comment if you like, but main thread stays here. Let us know how you like this approach!
um, is this an on-topic comment? Is that allowed?
Wall Street Jitters upstairs!
http://www.relaxedpolitics.com/?p=1580