Design fixed for 1,000mph car

The UK team aiming to smash its own land speed record by driving a car beyond 1,000mph (1,610km/h) has settled on a final design for the vehicle.

It calls for a major re-configuration of the vehicle’s two power units, with a Eurofighter jet engine now being positioned above a hybrid rocket.

The car, known as Bloodhound, will be built in Bristol’s docklands.

The team expects to start running the vehicle on the Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape Province, South Africa, in 2011.

The dried-out lake bed had the perfect surface for the record attempt, said Bloodhound’s driver, Wing Commander Andy Green.

“It’s hard enough to support a six-tonne car on metal wheels but soft enough to allow the wheels just to sink in maybe 10mm,” he told BBC News.

The project was launched into the public domain in October 2008. Since then, intensive efforts have been under way to finalise the car’s design – one that maximises the vehicle’s performance and stability.

The original plan was to position a small (200kg) rocket above a heavier (1,000kg) EJ200 Eurofighter Typhoon engine loaned to the team by Britain’s Ministry of Defence.

However, as the design staff worked through the modelling, it became clear that additional thrust was going to be needed to overcome the aerodynamic drag. This called for a bigger (400kg) rocket.

This in turn introduced instabilities that could only be solved by flipping the positions of the two power units.

“We have switched the architecture of the rocket and the jet engine and the reason for that was we were seeing some quite high lift loads at the rear end of the car,” explained chief designer John Piper.

“The change, though, has had some beneficial side-effects, he added.

“We can now get a good chassis structure across the top which means we can now have a really good mounting for a single fin, whereas before with the rocket on top it was right in the way of where the fin would go. That meant we were going to have to have two fins, one on each side; and they were occupying the space where ideally we’d like to put in parachute cans.

via BBC News – Design fixed for 1,000mph car.

Jetman attempts first intercontinental flight, doesn’t make it, will try again

Yves Rossy, who calls himself “Jetman”, is poised to make the first intercontinental flight powered by a jet-pack when he attempts to fly across the Strait of Gibraltar from North Africa to Europe on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Swiss adventurer powered into the record books a year ago when he crossed the English Channel from Calais to Dover with a jet-propelled wing on his back.

He will now attempt the 23-mile crossing between Tangier in Morocco and Tarifa on the southwestern tip of Spain.

“It is going to be historic,” Mr Rossy said ahead of the record attempt. “No one has ever done this before.”

The daredevil, who also claims the nickname “Fusionman” – because he believes he combines the skills of man and bird – will leap from a plane on the African side of the Strait of Gibraltar and attempt to soar across north Atlantic waters at the mouth of the Mediterranean.

Using a four-cylinder jet pack and carbon fibre wings spanning over 8ft, he will jump out of a plane at 6,500 ft and cruise at 130 mph until he reaches the Spanish coast, when he will parachute to earth.

The journey, which is dependent on good weather, is expected to take less than fifteen minutes to complete.

Mr Rossy, who is a professional airline pilot, will be accompanied by a fleet of helicopters and aircraft to film

via Jetman attempts first intercontinental flight – Telegraph.

A Swiss man has failed in his attempt to become the first person to fly solo across the Strait of Gibraltar using a single jet-propelled wing.

Yves Rossy, known as Jetman, ditched in the water and was rescued minutes after setting off from above Morocco.

Organisers said he had deployed his parachute after the wing malfunctioned, possibly owing to engine failure.

The 50-year-old became the first person to cross the Channel using a jet-powered wing in September 2008.

Wednesday’s 38km (23 mile) flight had been billed as the first crossing of its kind over the north Atlantic between Africa and Europe.

It appeared to begin well as Mr Rossy launched himself from a small plane about 1,950m (6,500ft) above Tangier in Morocco.

Thumbs-up

The former fighter pilot had planned to cut his engines, open a parachute and land in Atlanterra, southern Spain, after a flight lasting up to a quarter of an hour.

But within minutes it was clear all was not well and Mr Rossy plunged into the sea.

He was unhurt when fished from the water by a helicopter, but had been taken to hospital as a precaution, said organisers.

“The good news is that he is fine,” Stuart Sterzel, spokesman for sponsors Webtel.mobi, told reporters near Atlanterra. “He gave the thumbs-up sign through the door of the helicopter.”

He added that Mr Rossy would probably attempt the crossing again in the new year. – bbc

World’s fastest man adopts world fastest feline

The world’s fastest man adopted the animal kingdom’s fastest sprinter Monday, as Usain Bolt welcomed a new baby cheetah named Lightning Bolt into his life.

The Jamaican sprinter’s sponsorship of the 3-month-old male cheetah is part of an effort to boost Kenyan conservation efforts of its famous wildlife, whose survival is threatened by trophy hunting, climate change and human encroachment.

The world record-holder in the 100 and 200 meters paid $13,700 to formally adopt the cub. He will also pay $3,000 a year to care for Lighting Bolt, who will be raised at an animal orphanage in Nairobi.

The money will go to the Kenya Wildlife Service, and some will be used to protect Kenya’s endangered species, KWS director Julius Kipngetich said.

Bolt was joined on the trip by Colin Jackson, a former 110-meter hurdles Olympic champion, and Jochen Zeitz, the chief executive of athletic gear manufacturer Puma. Zietz made the visit to launch his charity’s campaign to preserve ecosystems.

Jackson adopted a 2-year-old eland, the largest of the antelope species.

Bolt, who was on a four-day visit to Kenya, said Friday he was looking forward to seeing Kenya’s diverse wildlife, but was scared of meeting lions.

He nearly ran away when asked Monday to pet a fully grown cheetah named Sharon for a photo shoot with Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Bolt had Zeitz stand in for him, until he saw that Sharon seemed harmless.

The world record holder appeared more comfortable later while handling his baby cheetah, which was the size of a fully grown domestic cat. He cradled the fuzzy-headed cub while feeding it bottled milk as cameramen snapped away.

When asked if he was afraid of cheetahs, Bolt said: “Yes, I was, but not anymore.”

Lighting Bolt is among three cubs rescued by KWS officials after their mother abandoned them in a game park.

via World’s fastest man adopts world fastest feline – Yahoo! News.

Meb Keflezighi is first U.S. men’s winner of NYC Marathon since 1982

News flash: New York City Marathon
Meb Keflezighi, of the United States holds a U.S. flag after winning the men’s division of the New York City Marathon, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Keflezighi is first U.S. man to win NYC Marathon since 1982: American Meb Keflezighi was wiping away tears after Sunday’s New York City Marathon — for his victory and for his recovery from a 2007 hip injury he feared might end his career.

And for Ryan Shay, a friend who collapsed and died at the U.S. Olympic trials in New York two years ago.

Keflezighi, 34, a resident of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., became the first U.S. man since Alberto Salazar in 1982 to win the NYC Marathon. Keflezighi covered 26.2 miles in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 15 seconds.

Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot of Kenya was second in 2:09:56.

Mike Sayenko, a former Washington Huskies and Sammamish High School runner, finished 14th in 2:16:38.

Brett Winegar of Shoreline was 24th in 2:23:11.

Among U.S. men, Sayenko was eighth and Winegar was 14th. The race served as this year’s national championship.

Derartu Tulu, 37, of Ethiopia was the women’s winner in 2:28:52; she is the oldest women’s champion since 42-year-old Priscilla Welch in 1987. Two-time defending champion Paula Radcliffe of Britain was fourth, hobbled by tendinitis behind her left knee.

Asked about the significance of the victory, Tulu said she plans to compete at the London Olympics in 2012 when she is 40.

“I hope to be able to bring another victory for my country,” she said, “So I hope you will be there to ask me the same question.”

Russian Ludmila Petrova, 41, was the runner-up for the second consecutive year.

via Other Sports | Briefs | Running: Meb Keflezighi is first U.S. men’s winner of NYC Marathon since 1982 | Seattle Times Newspaper.

America needs some good news and while this is just a sporting event, it will help many people to realize that now is not a time to give up. Now is a time to work and meet our goals. We can still bring this country back on course.  Keep at it.  Great job, Meb!

Man proves he has world’s strongest fingers

Bingli – who has been studying martial arts for 32 years since the age of just seven – can stand upside down supporting himself on just one index finger.

On Monday he scooped the Guinness world record for completing 12 press ups on just one finger of his right hand.

“I’ve been training since I was seven years old and my index finger has as much strength in it as most people’s entire body,” said Fu of Lianyungang, eastern China.

via Man proves he has world’s strongest fingers – Telegraph.

Rogue satellites to be cleared from Earth’s orbit by German robots | Science | The Observer

Robots that rescue failing satellites and push “dead” ones into outer space should be ready in four years, it has emerged. Experts described the development by German scientists as a crucial step in preventing a disaster in the Earth’s crowded orbit.

Last year it was reported that critical levels of debris circling the Earth were threatening astronauts’ lives and the future of the multibillion-pound satellite communications industry. But senior figures at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) told the Observer they have been given the go-ahead to tackle a crisis that will come to a head in the next five to 10 years as more orbiting objects run out of fuel.

Their robots will dock with failing satellites to carry out repairs or push them into “graveyard orbits”, freeing vital space in geostationary orbit. This is the narrow band 22,000 miles above the Earth in which orbiting objects appear fixed at the same point. More than 200 dead satellites litter this orbit. Within 10 years that number could increase fivefold, the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety has warned.

Klaus Landzettel, head of space robotics at DLR, said engineering advances, including the development of machines that can withstand temperatures ranging from -170C (-274F) to 200C (392F), meant that the German robots will be “ready to be used on any satellite, whether it’s designed to be docked or not”.

In 2007, the US Orbital Express project succeeded in refuelling an orbiting satellite. However, that satellite had been specifically designed to dock with the device.

via Rogue satellites to be cleared from Earth’s orbit by German robots | Science | The Observer.

Eerie Cloud Created by NASA Rocket Experiment

Reports of UFOs skyrocketed last weekend along the east coast of the US after a NASA launched an experiment to study an unusual phenomenon called noctilucent clouds, or ‘night shining’ clouds. The Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE) was conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense Space Test Program, created artificial noctilucent cloud using the exhaust particles of the rocket’s fourth stage at about 173 miles altitude. It created a bright object with a fan-shaped tail, prompting calls of concern from residents in Virginia and Massachusetts to local authorities. But this object was definitely identified. – universetoday

===

An eerie cloud that glowed briefly in the night sky Saturday was no UFO. It was created by humans – more specifically a NASA rocket built to make clouds that shine at night.

The rocket launched as part of an experiment to artificially create so-called noctilucent – or night-shining – clouds, the highest clouds on Earth. They naturally appear around 50 miles (80 km) above Earth’s high latitudes and are also known as polar mesospheric clouds.

Saturday night’s rocket experiment lifted off at 7:46 p.m. EDT (2346 GMT) from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. It created a brief light show that was visible across the United States’ East Coast and sparked calls from curious skywatchers as far away as Boston, according to the Associated Press.

“It was very impressive … albeit short-lived,” said Joe Rao, an instructor and guest lecturer at New York’s Hayden Planetarium, who witnessed the event. Rao is also SPACE.com’s skywatching columnist.

The experiment created a man-made noctilucent cloud using the fourth stage of a NASA Black Brant XII suborbital sounding rocket that spewed exhaust particles 173 miles (278 km) above Earth. Ground-based radar and camera stations recorded the resulting cloud’s formation and illumination. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Department of Defense’s Space Test Program oversaw the launch, which it called the Charged Aerosol Release Experiment.

NASA has observed naturally occurring night-shining clouds using its AIM satellite. The Naval Research Laboratory and Space Test Program also uses a satellite called STPSat-1 to observe the phenomena and also used the spacecraft to observe Saturday night’s man-made cloud.

“We weren’t exactly sure what we were going to see, as this was the very first time that a noctilucent cloud experiment was attempted,” Rao said. “Would it be something obvious to the eye, or something rather faint?”

The result, he added, was spectacular.

Rao described the cloud as “a brilliant object” that displayed a wide, fan-shaped tail shortly after it was created. But the artificial phenomenon was over in just a few minutes.

via SPACE.com — Eerie Cloud Created by NASA Rocket Experiment.

Book Review: ‘The Third Man Factor’

In 1953, Austrian mountaineer Herman Buhl became the first person to climb Nanga Parbat in the ­Himalayas—at 26,660 feet, the ninth tallest peak in the world. He climbed by himself and not far from the summit was forced to spend the night out in the open without a sleeping bag or tent. It was an agonizing ­bivouac, but Buhl survived—in part, he later wrote, ­because he sensed that he shared the ordeal with a ­companion. “I had an extraordinary feeling,” he wrote, “that I was not alone.”

Accounts of experiencing a supportive presence in extreme situations—sometimes called the “third-man phenomenon”—are common in mountaineering ­literature. In 1933, Frank Smythe made it to within a 1,000 feet of the summit of Mount Everest before ­turning around. On the way down, he stopped to eat a mint cake, cutting it in half to share with . . . someone who wasn’t there but who had seemed to be his ­partner all day. Again on Nanga Parbat, on a 1970 climb during which his brother died, Reinhold Messner ­recalled being accompanied by a companion who ­offered ­wordless comfort and encouragement.

In “The Third Man Factor,” John Geiger, a fellow at the University of Toronto, presents many accounts of such experiences, and not only from climbers. Among those who have felt a ghostly companionship he cites Charles Lindbergh on his solo flight across the ­Atlantic in 1927 and the last man to walk out of the South Tower of the World Trade ­Center before it ­collapsed on 9/11. “Over the years,” Mr. Geiger writes, “the ­experience has ­occurred again and again, not only to 9/11 survivors, mountaineers, and ­divers, but also to ­polar explorers, ­prisoners of war, solo sailors, shipwreck ­survivors, aviators, and ­astronauts. All have ­escaped ­traumatic events only to tell strikingly similar stories of having experienced the close presence of a companion and helper.” Mr. ­Geiger’s book is a highly readable, often gripping, ­collection of survival stories, alongside a survey of theories that attempt to explain the third-man phenomenon.

via Book Review: ‘The Third Man Factor’ – WSJ.com.

Land speed record attempt begins

Final preparations are being carried out by a Hampshire-based team in its bid to break the world land speed record for steam-powered vehicles.

Dubbed the “fastest kettle in the world”, the car aims to reach 170mph (274km/h) at Edwards Air Force base, California, over the next four days.

Built in Lymington, the team’s car will attempt to beat the current record of 127mph (206km/h) set in 1906.

The three-tonne vehicle will be driven by main financer Charles Burnett III.

Technical problems

The British team includes test driver Don Wales, nephew of the late Donald Campbell and grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, who between them achieved more than 20 land and water speed records.

Mr Wales told the BBC that its main engineering obstacle was to develop a compact boiler system to turn 40 litres (8.8 gallons) of water per-minute into superheated steam at 400C (752F), at 40 times atmospheric pressure.

It was forced to abandon a test run in March on Thorney Island, near Emsworth, when technical problems set in.

The longest standing land speed record is recognised by the Federation International Automobile (FIA).

The team will attempt to break the record for five days between 0630 and 1030 local time (1430 and 1830 BST).

via BBC NEWS | UK | England | Hampshire | Land speed record attempt begins.

Video: 4 year, 1 million dollar Longest Car Jump Attempted: 1 mile in a Hot Rod Lincoln

Spoiler: He lives… and fully recovers… but he doesn’t make the jump.  Here is a summary of the story behind this video from http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/:

The Devil at Your Heels is a 1981 documentary that chronicles the attempt of stuntman and daredevil Ken Carter to jump a rocket-powered car over the Saint-Laurent River–a distance of one mile, which would handily smash all existing records for jumping cars.

The documentary opens with some quick framing of the task, including footage of the ramp and the car to be used for the jump, and then chronicles how Ken Carter got his start as a daredevil, including footage of some early jumps. It then follows the ups and downs he experiences in his five-year journey to jump the river. He has a series of financial and technical obstacles. Technical problems include difficulties with the car (the fuel tank keeps blowing up) and the ramp he’s planning to jump off (it’s bumpy and not necessarily structurally sound). The financial problems are simpler; he keeps running out of money, and his backers are unhappy.

In the fifth year, everything is set, but two attempts are called off–one because of a short strike by the ground crew, and one because of weather (and perhaps because Carter loses his nerve). The backers, desperate to finish, believe that Carter has lost his nerve and call him to a meeting in another city, and then bring in another driver, Kenny Powers, to attempt the jump.

Unfortunately, the bumps in the ramp have not been fixed, and as the car accelerates, it starts to shake itself to pieces and falls apart in midair. The parachutes deploy and the car lands in shallow water–Powers survives with eight broken vertebrae (he later recovers fully). The effort to make the jump is abandoned.

The film closes with Carter vowing to continue trying. However, a few years after the movie was made, the ramp was demolished, and then Carter was killed in 1983 in Peterborough, Ontario attempting another stunt. – wiki

I met someone once who does crazy stunts like juggling chainsaws and sticking nails up his nose. It is interesting that a person would risk death to entertain others. Biologically, I don’t understand how this would be adaptive. Are people like Carter missing part of their brains?