Category Archives: Transportation

The Sandman

Posted on Tue, 2009-11-03 by gravityloss
Posted in engines, industry, RLV:s, Transportation | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Viking Mariella Blackout

Posted on Sat, 2009-09-19 by gravityloss

Viking Line’s Mariella passenger and car ferry was drifting without steering capability between 00:30 and 01:00 (24 hour notation) near Utö in the Gulf of Finland on saturday morning 2009-09-19. YLE and HBL have more. There apparently was some spare … Continue reading →

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Airline vs Spaceline Safety

Posted on Wed, 2009-08-19 by gravityloss

62 mile club has a writeup of a beta “customer qualification program” for XCOR’s Lynx suborbital craft. This highlights the differences and current state of play. Rocketships will not be as safe as airliners in the near future, and they … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, engines, Homebuilt, industry, RLV:s, Suborbital, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Just A Photo

Posted on Mon, 2009-08-10 by gravityloss

A somehow in an unspecifiable way interesting composition I ran into at the slightly risque chicks and bikes blog.

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Eckerö Line Nordlandia

Posted on Thu, 2009-07-16 by gravityloss

We could literally see the pier about 200 m in front of us from the rear of the ship while waiting for the tugs to tend our disabled ship in. Continue reading →

Posted in meta, Motivation, Navelgazing, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Air France Flight 447

Posted on Wed, 2009-06-03 by gravityloss

2009-06-01 Air France flight 447 crashed with over 200 passengers on board in the Central Atlantic. At this early point it seems the failure was initiated by severe turbulence. Wings have been known to snap off because of very strong … Continue reading →

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Magic Highway and the Astounding World of the Future

Posted on Mon, 2009-06-01 by gravityloss

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6pUMlPBMQA] Changes of lifestyle in the future have indirect effects that are perhaps unexpectable to some but were probably predicted by many. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJjUVIIYptE]

Posted in Demotivation, Humor, idiocracy, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Coal Uses Oil

Posted on Mon, 2009-03-30 by gravityloss

Uh oh. If Iain is correct, coal burning in the USA is oil burning as well, since the trains run on diesel and the amounts of coal needed per Joule are so vast, that almost half of coal’s cost at the … Continue reading →

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Optimum Rocket Cruise

Posted on Fri, 2009-03-20 by gravityloss

With some caveats. 🙂 Let’s assume a rocket is launched, and accelerates to constant speed v_c. Then it stays cruising at this speed and at a constant altitude. Landing is disregarded. The cruise We must modify the rocket equation slightly … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Demotivation, Humor, Motivation, RLV:s, Science Links, Spacecraft, Suborbital, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Plastic Flywheels?

Posted on Thu, 2009-03-12 by gravityloss

Gyro energy density is defined only by tip speed. And that is limited by material strength to weight ratio. Why not use ultra high density polyethylene (Spectra / Dyneema) for gyro disks? It has a very good strength to weight … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, industry, Science Links, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments