“People tend to ascribe more capabilities to them than they really have, and people say, oh, they have 3D printers now that will print in metal, at precisions of 1/1000th of an inch,” he said. “With those, yeah, you can print out some gun parts for sure, but those 3D printers also cost about $6,000 and take up a room.”
Article source: http://www.cleveland19.com/2018/11/27/northeast-ohio-schools-are-teaching-students-how-d-print-theres-one-reason-that-could-be-dangerous/
What if powered mechanical flight didn’t require all the normal trappings of aircraft? That is, a flight that does not need big heavy jet engines to get a plane off the ground, or tons of octane to power this propulsion? Well, some engineers and scientists assert that this arrangement isn’t actually necessary for the purpose of artificial flight at all.
This is not an old theory, either – inventors have dedicated their lives to the discovery of flight without traditional propulsion since the 1920s. However, the technologies they developed were never sophisticated or precise enough to deliver on their gravity-defying dreams.
But now, a group of MIT scientists believes that there could a way to convert these dreams into reality.
The conventional theory of flight goes more or less like this: the wings of aerial vehicles are so designed (after decades of studying models such as bird wings) that they can generate a stream of air underneath them in order to keep them in flight. However, these vehicles are also heavy, and therefore, need a significant amount of thrust to get them high enough into the air in order to set up these streams in the first place. Therefore, relatively huge, complex engines with hundreds of moving parts were developed to provide this thrust. With a few exceptions, the energy to drive these engines came from fossil fuels.
This principle keeps all craft along the lines of the bi-wing airplane in the air. However, some scientists believe that
Article source: https://www.evolving-science.com/matter-energy/engine-free-ion-powered-flight-00853
Smith, James A., II, – 83, of Little Egg Harbor, NJ passed away on Tuesday, November 20, 2018. Born in Philadelphia, PA he lived in Shamong, NJ before moving to Little Egg Harbor 15 years ago. He served in the US Army and after being honorably discharged he worked in the defense industry first at General Electric Missile and Space and then at Boeing Vertol. He spent over 35 years as a logistics engineer supporting naval aviation at the Naval Air Warfare Center at Lakehurst and returned to work after his retirement from the Navy with Eagle Systems, Inc. Jim enjoyed spending time on the water, boating and fishing as well as model trains and building model airplanes. He is survived by his beloved wife of 60 years Carol J. Smith, daughters Nicole A. Kisielnicki (Edward) of Browns Mills, NJ and Lisa J. Musilli (Mario) of Stamford, CT, son James A. Smith III (Denise) of Carteret, NJ, sister Suzanne Holland (Chet) of Southport, NC, grandchildren Sarah Mannon, Jason Mannon, Jaime Kisielnicki, Jessica Musilli, Emily Musilli, Janelle Morano, James A. Smith IV, and great grandchildren Andrew and Brayden. A Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday December 1, 2018 at 11:00am at St. Theresa’s R.C. Church 450 Radio Road Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087. In lieu of flowers please make donations to the Food Bank at Greater Tuckerton Ministerial Association Inc, 641 Radio Road, Little Egg Harbor, NJ 08087 or Starfish Connection, a non-profit mentoring program supporting underserved students in Stamford,
Article source: https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/obituaries/smith-james-a-ii/article_4d03394e-eee5-5e37-b369-c04b2d3f0d9f.html
Eight members of the Guyana Police Force Steel Orchestra have been questioned and placed under close arrest following allegations that they stole exhibits from a recent reception.
The band members are accused of stealing model airplanes that were on display during a cocktail reception held last Thursday at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
The theft was reported in other sections of the media yesterday. In response to the reports, police said a thorough investigation is being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters and a case file has been completed and sent for legal advice. It also confirmed that the ranks were questioned and placed under close arrest.
Article source: https://www.stabroeknews.com/2018/news/guyana/11/27/police-band-members-under-close-arrest-over-theft-of-model-planes-from-reception/
The work was also contributed to by many undergraduate students from 2010–2018 as part of MIT’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), as part of MIT’s Minority Students Research Program (MSRP), or as part of MIT’s summer research exchange program with Imperial College London (IROP). These students include Y. K. Tey, P. Kandangwa, W. B. Rideout, J. Epps, S. O’Neill, M. Adams, J. M. Salinas, N. H. Rodman, I. L. LaJoie, W. A. Rutter, A. J. Sanders, N. J. Martorell, I. Vallina Garcia, J. P. Liguori, K. Dasadhikari, B. J. Scalzo Dees, M. H. Knowles, D. W. Fellows and D. P. Aaradhya. In addition, we thank A. Brown, T. Tao, C. Tan, P. Lozano, J. Peraire and C. Guerra-Garcia for technical discussions and advice, in some cases as part of student thesis committees. K. Masuyama, A. Dexter and J. Payton contributed to the project in its earlier phases. J. Leith and J. L. Freeman contributed to the financial and procurement administration for the project. F. Allroggen contributed to the resource management for the project. We also thank the laboratory staff at MIT AeroAstro for their help with the design, fabrication and flight testing of the EAD aircraft, in particular D. Robertson, T. Billings, A. Zolnik and T. Numan. Finally, we thank the MIT Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation for access to space for indoor flight testing, in particular S. Lett. This work was funded through MIT Lincoln Laboratory Autonomous Systems Line, the Professor Amar G. Bose Research Grant, and through
Article source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0707-9
United Technologies plans to split into three separate companies, the industrial giant said on Monday. The breakup, to be completed by 2020, signals a shift away from a kitchen-sink approach to industrial manufacturing in favor of generating returns by specializing in a single area of business.
One of the entities will be called United Technologies, with a focus on aerospace, wrapping up the company’s Collins Aerospace Systems and Pratt Whitney units. Another will be Otis, manufacturing elevators and escalators, and the third will be Carrier, making heating and cooling equipment among other products.
“Our decision to separate United Technologies is a pivotal moment in our history and will best position each independent company to drive sustained growth,” the company’s chairman and chief executive, Gregory J. Hayes, said in a statement.
Last week, Chinese regulators approved the company’s $30 billion purchase of Rockwell Collins, a manufacturer of airplane parts, providing the final green light for a deal struck last year.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/business/united-technologies-split.html
The first ever “solid state” plane, with no moving parts in its propulsion system, has successfully flown for a distance of 60 metres, proving that heavier-than-air flight is possible without jets or propellers.
The flight represents a breakthrough in “ionic wind” technology, which uses a powerful electric field to generate charged nitrogen ions, which are then expelled from the back of the aircraft, generating thrust.
Steven Barrett, an aeronautics professor at MIT and the lead author of the study published in the journal Nature, said the inspiration for the project came straight from the science fiction of his childhood. “I was a big fan of Star Trek, and at that point I thought that the future looked like it should be planes that fly silently, with no moving parts – and maybe have a blue glow. But certainly no propellers or turbines or anything like that. So I started looking into what physics might make flight with no moving parts possible, and came across a concept known as the ionic wind, which was first investigated in the 1920s.
“This didn’t make much progress in that time. It was looked at again in the 1950s, and researchers concluded that it couldn’t work for aeroplanes. But I started looking into this and
Article source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/21/first-ever-plane-with-no-moving-parts-takes-flight
