NASA’s Double Bubble D8

NASA has long been longing at ways to revolutionize the air travel which has not seen any great technological advancement in the recent past. NASA has come up with a new design which can be fitted right into the aircraft’s wings. This new radical design is related to the segment of Double Bubble D8 which focuses on fitting the plane with extra equipment to increase its agility, speed and performance. NASA study has shown that this new design will help in boosting the fuel efficiency of the air crafts by eight percent through dramatically reducing the drag as well as weight of the future planes.

NASA working on a super project

NASA is actively engaged in testing new fan and inlet design at its Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Currently the design of jet aircraft ensures that the engines are located quite away from the aircraft body in order to avoid the slow flowing air which usually develops along the plane’s surface. This is also known as boundary layer.

NASA engineers have devised a new way of reducing the fuel burn through embedding the aircraft engine into these surfaces. Doing away with the boundary layer aircraft will generate the propel ability right through its mission with less fuel usage. NASA engineers are currently in testing phase but they are hopeful that the new design and required enabling technologies will help in revolutionizing the air transportation in near future.
How the testing is carried out?

Testing is an integral part of development of new design and its enabling technologies in order to make it safer for wide usage in future. NASA is conducting highly experimental test which will certainly require years of preparation but it will help in removing all the doubts about it in the right fashion. Research team will be testing out the new technology and hardware by pushing it against varying wind speeds and boundary layer thickness as well as the fan operation. This research will also help a number of aircraft design being pursued by the NASA along with other private and academic industry partners.

NASA has plan to get this ‘double bubble or D8’ into a twin hull plane for better fuel efficiency and lesser load and unload time factor. The design for Double Bubble D8 craft was developed in 2008 by Aurora Flight Sciences and MIT. NASA has given a contract worth $2.9 million to a company for developing a scale model of the aircraft. So far in terms of innovation only X planes has made distinct name for itself by breaking the sound barrier.

Benefits of the D8

In a nutshell this new design forwarded with the D8 will bring about a number of benefits which includes increased fuel efficiency, less community noise, improved air quality, heightened passenger experience, greater airport compatibility and faster boarding and deplaning. However the best thing worth noting about the D8 is that it will help in enhancing the efficiency of the planes at transonic cruise speeds.

New Virgin Galactic Space Plane Unveiled

Virgin Galactic `Back on Track’ to take Tourist in Space

Online News had been informed by Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire tycoon, that he was of the belief that Virgin Galactic is `back on track’ in the race to take the tourists in space. Branson had been speaking during the unveiling of Virgin’s latest SpaceShipTwo in Mojave Desert in California. It is said that the six-seater vehicle would be replacing the earlier SpaceShipTwo that had broken up high in October 2014, over the same desert.

On investigation, it was observed that the pilot Michael Alsbury had organized a braking mechanism earlier resulting in the failure of the vehicle. Mr Alsbury had died in the crash and his co-pilot PeteSiebold had been injured badly. Virgin Galactic states that it expects to `democratise space’ by taking fee-paying passengers on momentary trips to the edge of space.

However it tends to face competition from competitors in its efforts of developing a `commercial space line’. Sir Richard informed Sky New at the unveiling that `all of us have tears in our eyes today. Eighteen months back was a difficult day to say the least for everybody picked themselves up and got straight back to work the next day, creating this beautiful spaceship and now we are back on track again. There is so much that can be achieved to the benefit of earth by exploring space’.

New Vehicle Virgin Spaceship Christened `Unity’

The naming ceremony for the new vehicle Virgin Spaceship – VSS, was performed with his one year old granddaughter Eva-Deia with a bottle of milk and was christened Unity. The spaceship tends to feature an image of the eye of physicist Stephen Hawking.

Hawking in an audio message had stated that Sir Richard had offered him a seat aboard one of the first flights in orbit. He further added that since that day he had never changed his mind and that if he was able to go and Richard would still take him, he would be very proud to fly on this spaceship. He had been an enthusiastic supporter of human space flight for long, making this huge human achievement more accessible and the first private astronauts would be pioneers.

Branson had stated according to a company press release, that the beautiful new spaceship VSS Unity seems to be the embodiment of his goal and a great testament to what can be achieved when true teamwork, great skill with deep pride are mingled with a common purpose.

Ferry Passengers up to 50 Miles above Earth’s Surface

Recently the company had informed that due to the fatal crash, the new spaceship would not blast off and head straight to space, anytime soon and faces a wide testing period. When the craft has been totally checked, Virgin Galactic intends to utilise it in ferrying passengers up to 50 miles above Earth’s surface, a height which the company states would qualify them as bona fide space tourists.

To book a seat, hundreds of people have already paid $250,000 with Virgin Galactic including stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Lady Gaga and Brad Pitt who have joined the list. The first flights had been scheduled for 2009; however the end of 2017 seems to be the earliest probable date.

The testing of the SpaceShipTwo would now be stepped up though the company seems to be uncooperative in setting the deadlines. It has stated that the lessons have been learned from what had occurred to the earlier craft. Sir Richard had commented that they have been working on it for the last 10 years and that they would not give up till they have achieved their dream.

The USS Enterprise from Star Trek becomes reality

An American engineer has set a goal more ambitious: to make a ship identical to that of the television series Star Trek, the legendary USS Enterprise. He is a systems engineer and electricity which is nicknamed Dan BTE or "Build The Enterprise Dan." He calculated that the project should be led in 20 years. BTE Dan presented in detail the technical specifications and the budget at all levels. For his project, the man in question has even appealed to NASA and the State.