Pilates PC-24 Jet Set Roughing it…next they’ll pu floats on it

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

Pilatus Aircraft has been producing airplanes since the 1940s, but the Swiss firm’s newest model, the PC-24, is its first jet. Pilatus didn’t want to just be another jet maker. Instead, the company borrowed from its very successful single-engine turboprop, the PC-12, to create a jet that can do everything conventional business jets can do and fly in and out of relatively short, unpaved runways. Oh, and it has a big cargo door as well.

A short piece at Wired…not a real airplane yet, the above is one hell of a rendering. Pilatus’ world trotting PC-12 is the air ambulance of choice in the nether regions of the world…it’s also a preferred discrete ride for SOCom, one wonders what they will do with the PC-24?

A world (at sea ) of difference

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

as in many engineering projects the Navy’s UCAV X-47B flight testing and carrier qual seems to have suddenly jumped from baby steps to hyper speed.

Navy officers are very clear on a distinction between the Navy and the Air Force, which insists on talking about remotely piloted aircraft: Navy “unmanned air systems” have operators, not pilots. Of course, the Navy hasn’t been forced to divert a large number of qualified pilots into UAVs, as the USAF has been (Predators and Reapers are the USAF’s second-largest pilot force after the F-16), and will not have to do so for a long time. But the fact remains that flying a UAV with a stick and rudder or any semblance thereof is (to quote an Airbus guy’s comment on the Boeing 777’s back-driven yoke) like putting a steering wheel on a horse. “Pilot” is a bit of a misnomer.
Speaking of pilots, the Navy’s attitude towards adopting the X-47B’s automatic landing technology for manned operations is quite positive. The potential benefits — less wear and tear on airframes and less training time for the air group, along with improved safety — are substantial.

Read more at: http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs
Wired has a different set of thoughts and more questions here. Wired sometimes seems to confuse the world of war with the world of tech and the world in general with the blue coasts of the US but they do a good job of tracking the tech and monitoring for hubris.

MIT TR | Synthetic Biology Could Speed Flu Vaccine Production

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

….researchers are hoping to engineer entirely new circuits into cells to help diabetes patients. Martin Fussenegger, a bioengineer at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, described a molecular system in which cells are modified with genes that can detect low pH levels in the blood, a sign of a diabetic state. In response, he says, the engineered cells will produce insulin to better regulate blood sugar levels and calm the diabetic state.
This kind of engineering typically depends on viruses to modify genes so that cells will perform useful tasks. But that method is risky: the introduced DNA could integrate into the genome at an unfortunate location that might lead to cancer. Harvey Lodish, a cell biologist at MIT, is working on a technology that could avoid that problem: lab-made red blood cells. After these cells are modified, they will kick out the virus in the course of their natural development process.
“The beauty of red blood cells is they are pretty much the only cell in body without a nucleus,” says Lodish. “By the time they get into circulation, they have lost their DNA and are stable for 120 days with no risk of tumors.”
In Lodish’s method, a retrovirus carries a new gene into the genome of progenitor cells that will eventually produce red blood cells. The cell uses that new gene to produce a modified version of proteins that sit on the surface of the mature red blood cell even after the cell has lost its DNA. The modified surface protein has been engineered so that other compounds can easily be attached to it—antibodies that could mop up toxic substances in the blood, or small-molecule drugs to attack cancers or other diseased cells. Lodish believes the technology is a safer approach to putting synthetic biology to use in the human body.

As Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit says, “faster please”

A distant Kablaam!

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

This image shows one of many fresh impact craters spotted by the UA-led HiRISE camera, orbiting the Red Planet on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter since 2006. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/UA
Scientists using images from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across.

Three armed smartphone enabled robotic mixologist (bartender)

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

‘want some WD40 with that?’

We’re told it’s the wave of the future. Design, make, enjoy. Beyond home-based 3-D printers, there will be new machines and display screens and apps that will invite you to have day to day products just the way you want them. Digital buffets await and not surprisingly the time is now to contemplate robot bartender systems. Such a system is on display now, which can serve the cocktail of your latest twist of imagination. Makr Shakr is the name of the new system which goes on display at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, starting Wednesday. The drink-making robotic system made its debut during Milan Design Week 2013, and is making a debut in its final configuration at the Google event. The system can make the cocktail you want with its three robotic arms, which mimic the actions of a bartender. Shaking a Martini and slicing lemon garnishes are part of its repertoire. A smartphone app allows users create their cocktail concoctions from scratch.

Titan, Cassini still exploring the moons of Saturn

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

To create the first global, topographic map of Saturn’s moon Titan, scientists analyzed data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and a mathematical process called splining. This method effectively uses smooth curved surfaces to “join” the areas between grids of existing topography profiles obtained by Cassini’s radar instrument. In the upper panel of this graphic, gold colors show where radar images have been obtained over almost half of Titan’s surface. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/JHUAPL/Cornell/Weizmann

Planet hunting techniques expand

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

Planet hunting techniques expand:http://phys.org/news/2013-05-method-planets-scores-discovery.html

The new method looks for three small effects that occur simultaneously as a planet orbits the star. Einstein’s “beaming” effect causes the star to brighten as it moves toward us, tugged by the planet, and dim as it moves away. The brightening results from photons “piling up” in energy, as well as light getting focused in the direction of the star’s motion due to relativistic effects.
“This is the first time that this aspect of Einstein’s theory of relativity has been used to discover a planet,” said co-author Tsevi Mazeh of Tel Aviv University.
The team also looked for signs that the star was stretched into a football shape by gravitational tides from the orbiting planet. The star would appear brighter when we observe the “football” from the side, due to more visible surface area, and fainter when viewed end-on. The third small effect was due to starlight reflected by the planet itself.

Biomimetic armor Seahorse style

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

Inhabitat article on Seahorse inspired armor and it has 3Dprinting to!
A related article at ABCNews

Now for something somewhat different

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

In a gerotor motor, the outer ring’s gear teeth remain stationary while fluid flow turns the internal rotor. This drawing is of a six-pointed gerotor assembly. To see a motor’s internal components in action, view the YouTube video, Motion Study of the Gerotor Motor at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iooA0mJzEIE.

Machine Design has always been one of the best engineering teaching magazines out there and this article on hydraulic motors is an example of why. Informative and elegant graphics, straight forward, intelligent and direct (without dumbing down) explanatory prose. OK it’s about hydraulic motors but it’s cool, neat, etc, especially in this age of the maker revolution.

Another example of why important stuff should NOT be left to government bureaucrats

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Sci Fi Engineer

phys.org : Reports from “Humans 2 Mars Summit” suggest dust may prevent human settlement of Mars by Bob Yirka

…. perchlorates appear to be widespread on the planet’s surface. The fine dust material produced by perchloric acid has been known to cause thyroid problems in people here on Earth.
Just as problematic, … is gypsum…. been known to cause a condition similar to black lung in coal miners in people exposed to it for long periods of time.
… known presence of silicates on the Martian surface—if breathed-in they can cause reactions with water in the lungs and result in the creation of harmful chemicals.
Martian dust could pose health hazards because of the difficulty of removing it from space suits and boots. … fear the dust would build up in air filters and living quarters, adding yet another life threatening element to the list of other known hazards (traveling and landing safely, exposure to radiation and cosmic rays, etc.) for the people who seek to colonize the planet.

You can always find some pretext for why not to do something.

This sort of narrow thinking is why it the Mars colonization effort by somewhat older unworried warriors is a great idea, they will lead the way, they may die earlier…will almost certainly die earlier than they would on Earth but in the big picture they will be immortal.

I think that a commercial fly by of Mars possibly convoying with early colony equipment makes a lot of sense. Drop off a 3D printer to start fabbing buildings or building parts. The fly by would work on the tech of getting there and of living in space for long periods. Multiple (4 in a Bigelow Cross?) inflatable Bigelow modules would make a light weight but spacious habitat that one or two couples could live in for the time needed. I would boost and decelerate the complex with an earth orbital tug and have minimal onboard propulsion since its pointless mass to take with you. With the right kit of science and DIY they would keep busy doing various types of investigation the whole time.

Big picture:

Asteroid capture and exploitation

Refueling / reuse of space side craft

Asteroid mining for space side resources and drop side assets

L point science platforms with robo and human servicing

Low earth orbit hotel/spa/ops-center

4 person large scale spacecraft flyby of Mars

Mars colony robot precursor landings

Mars colony crew of 6 to 8 no return, first Martians

Follow up resource flights to Mars, gradual build up of Mars colony

All possible in the next twenty years, tenish if we really pushed, and I think we could commercial/ kick start/survivor fund the whole bloody thing…