Water on Mars Afterall!

I was unable to post this when the news broke on the 26th of this month, but I am finally getting around too it now.  The Mars rover named Curiosity has discovered water locked into the soil of the red planet.

Each cubic foot of Martin soil has about two pints of liquid water, usually bound to other minerals reports the article in The Guardian news report by Alok Jha.

For more information, copy and paste the url for this article listed below in the Ref section.


___
Ref.
1. The Guardian.  "Nasa's Curiosity rover finds water in Martian soil" September 26, 2013. ( http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/26/nasa-curiosity-rover-mars-soil-water ).

Scorpion: The New Light Jet Fighter Nobody Asked For

This week there was a surprising announcement by Textron CEO Scott Donnelly at the Air Force Association technology conference outside of Washington, D.C.  It seems that Textron teamed up with Cessna to design a new, low-cost jet fighter designed for countries that have very tight defense budgets (i.e. The United States for one).

As described and revealed in a photograph, the Scorpion is a versatile twin-engine Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)/Strike aircraft. Engines are expected to be built by Honeywell (specifically the Honeywell TFE731s).  Empty weight of 11,800 pounds and max speed of 450 knots and a ceiling of 45,000 feet. Textron/Cessna is targeting a operating cost of $3000.00 a flight hour for this aircraft.

To this blogger, the Scorpion looks like a fixed wing F-14 Tomcat with its wings in the extended position. But I'm thinking that this could be a great aircraft for Great Britain and Japan for their respective "aircraft carrier" programs if the Scorpion can be navalized.


___
Ref.
1.  www.flyingmag.com. "" by Stephen Pope. September 17, 2013. (http://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/jets/scorpion-light-attack-jet-nobody-asked?cmpid=enews091213&spPodID=030&spMailingID=17904912&spUserID=NTI1OTk5OTQ5OTMS1&spJobID=229891228&spReportId=MjI5ODkxMjI4S0).  image from same website.

World's Largest Radio Control Robot Dragon

I finally have something interesting to post here...

Called "Tradinno", this massive mechanical dragon has been declared the world's largest 4-legged walking robot by Guinness World Records 2014.

It is a 11-ton dragon that has a length of 51 feet and a wingspan of 40 feet.  This behemoth was built by Germany's Zollner Elektronik AG.  This robot was built for show buiness - but we will not be seeing it on a new season of "Game of Thrones" or a updated Harry Potter project.  Instead, this robot will appear in a old folk play called "Drachenstich".  It is performed every August in the Bavarian town of Furth im Wald.

For more details, just copy and paste the link below in the "Ref" section.

___
Ref.
1.  nbcnews.com. "World's largest walking robot is a fire-breathing dragon ... of course" by Helen A.S. Popklin. Sept. 13, 2013.  (http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/worlds-largest-walking-robot-fire-breathing-dragon-course-8C11150626). image from same website.