Trivia - What is this?

DSC00976, originally uploaded by rob-the-org.

Ok - I have been going through and updating and posting some of my pictures, and have been looking for just the right one to do this w/ - and think this is probably the best one.

So - your challenge - is to ID this artifact currently on display at the National Air & Space Museum - Udvar Hazy Center in Dulles, Virgina.

(I could have asked where it was located - but the group it was in and all of the tags on the picture should have given all that away).

Q - what is it?

A - The mothership from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"

Q - what was its role?

A - It was the mothership - where the old abuctee's came out - and Richard Dreyfuss went in.

Q - who was responsible for it?

A - Director = Steven Spielberg

Q - what is it made out of?

A - Plastic models - mostly Oil Refineries

Q - what year was it created?

A - 1977

Links - week ending August 19th

Sorry for the lack of original content. Work has been a beast over the last couple of weeks. This is all Milstuff.....

- Return of the Spaceplane (Wired)

- Laser Weapon power level mystery solved (Wired)

- ASAT - What did the Chinese stir up (Military.com)

- A Day in the life of a X-47 (Defense Tech)

- Return of the Battleship (Ares @ AviationWeek)

Links - week ending August 12th

More articles that I have kept open in my browser for the last week - to read when I need a break from the monotony of work;

- Ride along w/ Wired magazine on the first Virgin America flights (and see how Geeky air travel has become)

- How to (physically) hack a high security lock

- FAA puts new ground surveillance radar goes into service early at O'Hare

- Hypersonic's - getting closer than many believe

- Rising age of US military aircraft attracting attention (due to maintainability)

Is the Future of flight taking shape today?

With only a little bit of fanfare - the one possible future of (manned) flight - took to the air last week in the California desert. The X-48B - Blended Wing Body (BWB) took to the air from Edwards Air Force base for a 30 minute test flight.

This 8.5% scale model - based on a design from Boeing's Phantom Works. The wing is blended into the fuselage - so it has some aspects of a flying wing - but without the sacrificing payload/range for stealth.

[And - no - they didn't train mice to fly the scale test model. It was fully radio controlled from the ground. Yes - they do make jet engines that small - I have seen them on amateur radio control planes. I have to dig up the pictures from a trip the Tucson R/C Jet Rally from Feb 2004. But trust me - its a jet. All you have to do is remember the Predator/Reapers that are flown over Irag and AFG - are being controlled from CONUS - and flying something like this from the side of the runway - is child's play.]

Boeing has been looking at this design for several years. At first as a high volume passenger jet - which met a luke warm/cold reception (due to the need for airports to reconfigure to handle the different shape - as well as the fact that only a small percentage of the passenger's would have windows).

But the design attracted interest from the US DOD - whose requirements for windows - doesn't rank very high up in the design criteria. Think about it. I could see 3 different uses for this airframe;

- tanker - jet fuel doesn't care if can see out a window or not
- cargo - ditto about cargo/troops
- stand-off weapons carrier - maybe 4-6 internal rotary launchers

Just like a flying wing - the whole body is part of the airfoil. Providing what I would guess is great lift - and combine that with 3 modern turbo fans (like on the new Dreamliner) - this thing probably gets great fuel economy. Leading to either a seriously long range - or a long loiter capacity.

(I will have to admit - that this thing must be day glow on a look down radar)

It will probably start life as either the tanker or the cargo plane - but don't be surprised if the Air Force requirement for a Long Range Strike aircraft takes a serious look at the X-48B.

For more information - take a look at the following stories;
- Boeing's press release (pictures)
- AP Story posted to CNN/Money
- Wired News (pictures)
- Murdoc Online (pictures)

[UPDATE - September 16th - It looks like other people are thinking the same thing about the BWB being something that the DOD is interested in. Over on Defense Tech - http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003724.html]

[UPDATE - December 12th - here is a link to some more pictures of both the flying prototype and the model in the wind tunnel. Over at CNET - http://www.news.com/2300-11397_3-6207999-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg]

[UPDATE - December 20th - here is a link to a brief article in Popular Science - to see what a MIT/Cambridge designed BWB Passenger aircraft would look like - from Feb 2007 - http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/6d915d1eb5370110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html]

It's too late?

Well, it might be too late for any peaceful options to deal w/ Iran's peaceful (wink wink nudge nudge) nuclear program.

If not too late - then the clock is definitely ticking.

News reports out today - show new digging in a MOUNTAIN site - outside of the Natanz facility.

Digging that wasn't there six months ago.

But enough of my intro - here are the links (2nd includes the unclassified overhead that the media is using);

- Washington Post
- Arms Control Wonk

Links - week ending June 1st

Some of the links that caught my eye last week - that might be worth looking at;

- Canadian Dollar approaching parity w/ US Dollar

- Russian Nuclear Waste dumping a 'ticking bomb'

- Early picture of Prototype UCAV-N

- New memory card standard (up to 2 TB in size)

- Boeing - to snap or not to snap

- Iraq - troops saving Hanoi Jane her seat

(I have time on my hands today working on stuff - I am sitting in a jury room downtown, waiting to be called. It is either this - or let my brain explode watching Jim Carrey in 'Fun with Dick and Jane').

Is our currency changing?

[I never know the right way to title these things. I almost want to title the post w/ the premise, and then you are scratching your head trying to figure out what I am talking about - for a couple of screen's worth. But then it would be like 'Connections' in trying to figure out how what I am talking about relates to the Title].

Back in February, the latest attempt by the US Mint to release a Dollar coin - and get it accepted and used - started.

And in the space of a couple of weeks - it has had some major Quality Control issues.

What with some calling them the 'godless coin' because the phrase 'In God We Trust' is missing from the edge of these coins (that wasn't the only thing missing - so was the mint mark (that denotes the coin was struck in either Philly or Denver)).

And then there are the ones that apparently came out of Denver - missing anything on the front or back of the coin. But they got the edge info (the above missing 'In God We Trust' and the mint mark - hence knowing that they came out of Denver).

Why is the Mint fascinated by a Dollar coin? Well - based on the amount of money that the Mint has made on the State Quarters - they decided to take the next step. Make money? Yes - because the Mint is ahead of the game when people get these Quarters (and these Dollar coins), and just put them in piggy banks or coin albums. That money is affectively out of circulation. There is a term for it - but I just can't remember and/or find it at this point.

And there is always the debate that coins last longer than bills, but depending on the cost of metals - this isn't always true. The current surge in nickel (the raw material) prices actually means that the nickel's face value is less than the metals that are making it up (Remember - defacing - or melting US coins down - is still a crime).

I think the Mint needs to come up w/ a fancy slogan or term for the Dollar Coin. Because when everyone thinks of a Dollar - they think of a greenback (which is one of the few US bills that is still mostly green). The Canadian's were quite successful - I think it was unintended - by naming their 'dollar' coin the 'Looney' - based on the bird on the coin. And then they came out w/ a 2 'dollar' coin - which was termed a 'Tooney' (at least by my Canadian relatives - on my wife's side).

So what should we call this new US Dollar coin? How about the 'Geep'? Yeah - for 'Gold President'? Or should we give in to the call of our childhood, and call them Gold Pieces.... because the people in power now - are those of same people that enjoyed D&D when they were kids.