by David Todd | Apr 17, 2015 | On a Lighter Note, Seradata News, Technology
So keen are the boys at the US Air Force Research Laboratory on the UK firm Reaction Engines’ SABRE (Synthetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine) heat exchanger technology (this writer is a shareholder) that they are apparently willing to do anything to get their hands on...
by David Todd | Mar 20, 2015 | On a Lighter Note, Science, Seradata News
An eclipse of the Sun occurred on the morning of 20 March 2015 which was visible as a 100% total eclipse for those eclipse changers who braved the cold and the polar bears in Svalbard, west of Norway. There was even an 84% partial eclipse visible in Southern England,...
by David Todd | Mar 6, 2015 | commercial launch services, Military space, On a Lighter Note, SpaceX
Struck by increased completion from SpaceX, hindered by Russian restrictions on the Atlas V’s RD-180 engine being used for military launches, and aware that its Delta IV was, excepting its “Heavy” version, too costly to be competitive, the United...
by David Todd | Feb 23, 2015 | Apollo, NASA, On a Lighter Note, Technology
NASA often likes to mention how its programmes have given the world new technologies – most noticeably in the fields of new materials and digital computing. Among the spin-offs it remains rather coy about is a hi-tech lubricant, developed for the Space,...
by David Todd | Jan 16, 2015 | On a Lighter Note
In a bid to scupper the attempt of Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), to be elected MP for South Thanet in Kent, left-of-centre comedian Al Murray will stand for the seat in the May general election. He is doing so in...
by David Todd | Nov 24, 2014 | exploration, On a Lighter Note, Seradata News
After a “Basil Fawlty-style” hotel manager in Blackpool imposed a fine on a couple for writing a bad review about his hotel on Trip Advisor (apparently this fine was allowed by the hotel’s small print, but public opinion, along with the threat of Trading...
