3D printing for kids! Hey I want one First!

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

Just found MachineDesign again and saw this tidbit.

A 3D printer still in the prototype stage targets kids age 10 and up. Called the Origo, the device first started to take shape as inventor Artur Tchoukanov’s Masters project while he was attending the Umea Institute of Design in Sweden. Today, Origo is both the name of the device and the company. The device is intended to let kids print their own custom toys or small items. The printer is said to be as easy to use as an Xbox or Wii.

Just for Kids? What’s that all about? I want one!

Stratolaunch think spaceship 1 + Falcon and there you go.

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Private spaceflight gets new contender with Stratolaunch

Now that’s the ticket!

ExoSkel hup!

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

Neat little article. Heinlein’s starship troopers had these, but before that E.E.Doc Smiths lensmen series. And who can forget the ending of Aliens?

Could the Jetsons be Close? This would foment radical change and growth…

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

I had not realized that LENR (low energy nuclear reactions) research had continued. The PPT’s are actually pretty exciting but the proof is in the repeat ability. There does appear to be some developing theory and theory based experimentation, if this work bears fruit it would be a game changer.

Picture has nothing to do with the article, just APOD ‘eye candy.’

AWST – NASA, SpaceX Set First Dragon Launch To ISS

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

NASA and SpaceX announce a February launch for Dragon to the ISS.

Later in the article is this, first articulation of something that should have been policy from the start:

Philip McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA headquarters, told the conference he expects regular commercial cargo deliveries to the ISS to begin next year, followed in about five years by commercial crew flights. Although it is currently funded only through 2020, McAlister says he expects the station to continue to operate “as long as it is safe and productive,” serving as an anchor destination for a growing space economy in orbit.

Some very blunt advice…

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

This article from the Cato Institute is very hard for me to argue with. Essentially the only parts of gov’t that matter when talking about deficits are (drum roll please) Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the Defense department. And even the DoD is relatively small beer, it’s a traditional bee in the bonnet of Libertarian/Cato types (with some reason.) Mr. Bandow points out that all of these programs have to become purely means tested, I think the age has to move up into the mid seventies and should start doing so essentially on a year every year basis ASAP and that anyone ten years or more from ‘retirement’ would be affected, ten years is a huge time horizon to deal with the change.

Anyway read the article it’s timely and prescribes the sort of major overhaul we need.

DoD Buzz | The Iran problem

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

DoD Buzz | The Iran problem.

The problem with Iran is that there is nothing we can do about it as the article below points out. Short of all out war we are not going to make the situation any better proliferation wise and almost any other option at least leaves open the opportunity for long termsolutions.

The article points to a think tank paper arguing (rightly I think) that Deterrence like that used vs. the USSR is the most realistic option but it requires constant vigilance and a very credible threat on our side. Maintaining such a credible threat is not cheap, has to be part of the grand strategy and force structure of the US. The issue is, is the current administration up to the job of planning that grand strategy? Is the US up to sustaining another deterrent axis and the costs associated, the article highlights the (largely artificial) stresses even the limited missile shield for Europe is causing with Russia.

One interesting thing about this is that all the Wests attempts to halt proliferation have in the end come to nought, the worst of the worst are going to get the nuc’s, unless we provide an almost blanket assurance that we will avenge any first use then at least one more tier of nuc powers will emerge.

It’s also of some ironic interest that it was the US’s perfection of smart weapons and limited war tactics that could be seen as driving this nuc arms race. We should remember that at one time or another we saw nucs as the cheap counter weapon to the Russian horde . These smallish countries now see nuc’s as the cheap counter to folks with deep pockets and smarter magazines.

Air Force Mini Shuttle the future Swiss army knife of space

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Sci Fi Engineer

In a testing procedure, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle taxis on the flightline in June 2009 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif

The Air Forces X37B autonomous mini shuttle has proven a great success. The first prototype orbiting for 9 months and then returning safely. The second unit is currently at 10+ months. Also the craft have shown that they are very maneuverable in orbit and very hard to keep track of from the ground even by pretty sophisticated observers. Now The AF is talking about an X37C that could carry six passengers. But it would still be autonomous, i.e. the passengers are passengers not pilots. To me that is probably a rather weak cover/secondary use. Most of the craft would spend most of their lives with no passengers, doing an array of important tasks. I think the AF like s the idea of a more ‘drone’ like operating profile, multi use(refuel, recovery, small launch, medium duration observation, etc) able to upgrade, lower orbit so less massive ‘optics’ for any class of objective. This would be the true space fighter, not a combat vehicle, but a platform that can do almost anything almost anywhere (in orbit) on very short notice without giving away the mission just by its shape/launch orbit.

Of course they need to lose the expensive aeroshell, it was necessary I assume to keep from having to do something even more expensive with the Boosters control laws, but it sure looks expensive, and for the six person version would get pretty bulky. Of course a 6 person crew though the same as the shuttle does not mean a shuttle scale vehicle, Shuttle was a mixed cargo freight hauler most of its size was for cargo I don’t the X37C will be much more than 2x maybe 3x the size of the diminutive 29ft X37B.

The US Air Force X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle during encapsulation within the United Launch Alliance Atlas V 5-meter fairing Feb. 8, 2011, at Astrotech in Titusville, Fla. The fairing protects and carries the OTV into space.