Oh wait! I Know!

This is a V1 Buzz bomb, built by Nazi Germany in 1944. Politics aside, it seems a little unusual to base your new technology on designs nearly 70 years old.

This really is a poor design for several reasons. First is their choice for propulsion. A jet engine will provide speed, but it comes at the price of extra weight and fuel consumption. Piston engines may not be very modern looking, but they sip fuel like a Prius. A jet engine this size on the other hand averages about 4 miles per gallon of gas. If we assume that the UAV has a 50 gallon fuel tank, we know that the UAV only has a range of about 100 miles. (Remember it has to fly somewhere AND return).

Second, jet engines are pretty heavy. The more the engine weighs, the less fuel and ordinance the UAV can carry, this in turn means range and lethality are reduced. This weight could have been somewhat offset by using an elliptical wing design which would generate more lift than their current swept back wings. Swept back wings look neat, and are useful when flying at high speeds and performing high speed maneuvers, but at low speed, they are just plain inefficient. Additionally, Iran could have used a lifting body design instead of just using round bodies and blunt noses.

The really sad part of this is that the Iranians know all this and are doing a pretty bad job of covering up that their newest UAV is a lemon. They claim the Karrar (Persian for “striker”) can fly 620 miles, this means it would require a fuel efficiency of 12.4 miles per gallon. (About the same as my old truck, oddly enough).

On top of that they claim it can carry a single 500 pound bomb, or two 250 pound bombs. While their simple math skills are flawless, they shoot themselves in the foot by claiming it can carry four cruise missiles. Even the most advanced short range cruise missiles weigh about 1400 pounds. The type of cruise missiles the Iranians would have access to like older Russian or Chinese missiles weigh upwards of 1-2 tons!

The icing on the cake is that this poor little UAV doesn’t even have landing gear. It is entirely possible that they plan on skidding the Karrar in on its belly, but that’s a lot of wear and tear to put on a small, light structured vehicle every time it flies.

Being an engineer I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this design. It’s obvious that whoever built it either didn’t know what they were doing or had unrealistic specifications forced upon them. If a single young American aerospace engineer can pick their design apart, maybe they would be better off not throwing a party.

Gizmodo reported recently on a really interesting finding from the world of Aerospace. Scientists using the Hubble Telescope have discovered a new, unidentified object in space.

Wired Magazine has a really fascinating story on the discovery of Dakota, only the fifth and best preserved mummified dinosaur ever found.

From the placebo effect to the Kuiper cliff, New Scientist takes a look at 13 scientific phenomena that just don’t make sense.

And finally this week, looking for new apps for your iPhone? Check out Reality Pod’s list of the Top 10 Engineering Apps on the iPhone.

Waldo: Hi my name is Waldo.
Classmate: Really? My name is Waldo too!
Waldo: Wow that’s odd, but I’m really smart at math.
Classmate: Me too, I was the smartest person in my high school.
Waldo: Oh… wow… Well, nobody knows more about planes than me!
Classmate: I don’t know, I know a lot too.

This conversation repeated itself over and over again throughout my first semester. Everyone I met was brilliant at math, was the smartest person at their school and loved space and air planes as much as me. At first it was exciting, but after a few weeks of tough classes I began to doubt myself. It seemed that no one was having trouble but me, and that somewhere in the transition from high school to college I had lost my identity.

Where’s Waldo books were always about finding the person who stood out from the crowd. If you’re reading this, I can just about guarantee that you stood out too. You probably have a knack for science, perhaps math comes to you a little more easily than for others. Tearing apart machines and putting them back together is fun, and you have a good eye for detail.

(Ed. Note: In editing this for Craig I discovered that Where’s Waldo is actually known as Where’s Wally in most of the Western world, and is only known as Where’s Waldo in the US and Canada. The metaphysical ramifications of this are staggering. If his name is actually Wally, and we spent our childhoods finding Waldo, then we really never found either of them, did we?)

The final Waldo book contained a “Land of Waldos” page were all of a sudden Waldo didn’t stand out from the crowd anymore. If this hasn’t happened in your college career, just wait, it will. You’re going to find that everyone around suddenly has defined their individuality the same way you have, math, science, and machines. All the things that made you so special before won’t seem to matter all that much.

It’s important to remember that you are still unique, you have final just found the place where you belong.

Here’s a couple of tips for regaining your individuality:

• Take up a hobby (partying doesn’t count) Find something non-technical on campus and get involved.
• Exercise. Working out will force your body to release endorphins making you feel better. It also helps to shut your mind off every once in a while.
• Take non-technical courses. Forget about statics and dynamics for a few hours, it’s been shown that liberal arts classes can improve creativity.
• Talk to your peers, they may seem like you on the surface, but dig a little deeper to find out what separates you.

In a few semesters you will look around and find half the people you knew as a freshman will have transferred somewhere else or to an easier degree, those that remain will be some of the best friends of your life.

In the most delicious story of the week, we bring you a look into how flavors are created and developed for Jelly Belly Jellybeans.

From the weird and creepy files comes this story about a parasitic fungus that has been controlling zombified ants for nearly 50 years.

ScienceDaily takes a look up to the sky and wonders… could the moon be shrinking?

And finally, mechanical engineering students from, where else, UC San Diego have successfully embedded an onboard computer into a surfboard. Surf’s Up… exactly 3.72 meters SE.

Wait… can we have a birthday for something that doesn’t exist yet? Can an idea blow out birthday candles? To be honest it will probably be another 50 years before the world is ready to even start building a space elevator.

Most of us like to believe that the idea of a space elevator is something the general public doesn’t know about. It generally tends to make us feel superior. A few years ago that was probably true, only hardcore science fiction novels and Popular Science ever mentioned the idea, but lately it has been getting some recognition from pop culture and a few blockbuster video games.

And there is good reason for it, in theory a space elevator could reduce what is known as:  “The price to orbit.”

The title is pretty self explanatory: how much money it will cost you to get anything, satellites, junk, human remains, etc in to orbit. Currently that price is hovering right around $10,000 per pound. That may seem like a lot but just 10 years ago that price was closer to $50,000 per pound.

If an elevator was ever built the price could be as low as $10 per pound (some people have argued it could be under a dollar, but when even a decent iTunes song is $1.29 I highly doubt it.) I was tempted to write a giant discourse on what a space elevator is and what technology would need to be involved, but then realized Wikipedia already has a fully formed article on the topic so I will direct you there instead: Penthouse Level Please!

What’s really important is that large companies like Microsoft are keeping the 21st century tower of Babel dream alive. This weekend they will be holding an entire conference on space elevators and the technology and politics of one.

Personally I think a space elevator would make an excellent new “Apollo Programesque” mission for NASA. It’s a goal with long term pay-off both in space travel and in the commercial sector in terms of the new technologies it would create. Additionally we have a very good idea of the technology we would need to invent to accomplish it.

So how bout it NASA?

With the shuttle making its last flight this year and Ares on the indefinite hold, it’s not like you have anything better to do… right?

A Moment of Science from the India Public Media once and for all answers the question… why does Diet Coke float while Coke sinks?

Atlantic Wire tackles a somewhat controversial subject when they ask… what have we really learned from the Human Genome Project?

This amazing video from the Max Planck Institute proves that engineers really can make anything from anything, as we see a robotic arm converted into a Ferrari F1 Racecar simulator!

Finally this week, CBS News takes a look at the efforts of a group of Engineering Students from around the world who have gathered together in Tokyo in an attempt to build an elevator to outer space.

When all else fails, look to the Simpson’s.

Humanities’ ventures into space could be summed up in two words: Lisa & Ralph. Lisa is a gifted student and everyone looks at her expecting her to excel. When she doesn’t everyone is shocked. For Ralph, it’s a good day when he hasn’t ingested something jagged.

Lisa, is of course, the American Space program. Over the decades America has built a reputation for excellence. Time and again America has pushed humanity further and further out into space. Taking on seemingly impossible feats and overcoming them with dazzling success. Apollo, Viking, Voyager, Space Shuttle, Hubble, Spirit & Opportunity, and the list could go on. But this post isn’t about Lisa. I’m here to talk about Ralph.

Russia is like poor little Ralph. Somehow he manages to hang on and stay in the same class as Lisa, but he’s the butt of everyone’s jokes, and not much is expected of him. Likewise it seems Russia only makes the news when something goes afoul.

“Me fail English? That’s unpossible.”

The other day I engaged a fellow student in a grad school course over the direction of America’s space program. (Which I am wholly in favor of) Inevitably he said “You don’t want to leave it up to Russia do you?”

It seems he’s not the only one who feels Russia is a little too Ralph Wiggumesque. In this article, a Russian author has expressed concern that Russia is losing self-esteem because all their space program is becoming known for is hauling cargo to the ISS, and launching private satellites.

My first thought was to come to the defense of the Russian space program. After all, they have stellar safety record, continued to single handedly support the ISS while the Space Shuttle wasn’t flying post-Columbia, and have been launching numerous private satellites.

“And, when the doctor said I didn’t have worms any more, that was the happiest day of my life!”

But the truth of the matter is that they haven’t pushed any boundaries. They haven’t done any ground breaking science in the last several decades. Russia has gotten very good at launching things into orbit, but outside that what have they done?

Sorry Ralph, you may be the best paste eater to ever live, but at the end of the day all that gets you is a stomach full of paste.

K Exchange: How did you get involved with researching PMMA skylights?
Professor Christopher Batich: About 15 years ago I was asked to act as an expert witness in a case involving a skylight fatality, and found out how they age and weaken with time.  Each year since then I have seen similar accidents reported, and have kept intending to write an article about them.  This opportunity permitted me to get this information out.

KX: Do you feel like the types of accidents you’re mentioning, falls through skylights, are underreported? Do people have a false sense of security with PMMA skylights because they appear to be safer than glass?
CB: I do think that this is an under reported injury, since there is a penalty sometimes in reporting it.  There is certainly a false sense of security among some people.  For instance, a high school student stood on a skylight to take a picture a few years ago.  She fell through and died.

KX: You mention in the article that, in spite of being dangerous, these skylights conform to OSHA standards. Now that more is known, why do you think OSHA hasn’t taken an updated look at PMMA skylights?
CB: I would like to send them a copy of this article and see if they can help change the situation.  They have lot’s more to do than resources, so this may help them.

KX: In your article, the proposed solution was to enforce the requirements of safety screens over the skylights, would mandatory replacement of the PMMA skylights after a certain time reduce risks by eliminating the skylights that have become brittle?
CB: We have not done much research on solutions, since most of my work is on medical devices funded by NIH.  We could if we had funding to do so.  I like the idea of a mandatory replacement policy, but not sure how it would be monitored.

KX: Thank you  for speaking with us Professor, is there anything else you’ve looked at in conjunction with this you’d like to mention?
CB: Thanks!  As far as similar issues, I’d like to see someone should look at degradation of car headlights now that they are plastic instead of glass.  I bet lighting is impaired.

We would like to thank Professor Batich for taking his time to answer a few questions for us. If you’d like to learn more about the dangers of Polymethylmethacrylate skylights, please visit http://engineeringcases.knovelblogs.com/2010/07/08/polymethylmethacrylate-skylights-can-weaken-and-become-more-brittle-in-sunlight/

Scientists at The Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Germany have reached a breakthrough that allows them to see electronics moving around an atom in real time.

Apparently tired of measuring the tides on Earth, scientists at Caltech have turned their attention towards measuring the changing lake depths on Titan.

ENR takes a look at how rising costs are affecting the UK’s attempts to build offshore wind power generators.

And finally this week, what did you think scientists and engineers looked like when you were a kid? 33 7th graders were asked to draw scientists before, and after a trip to Fermilab.

• Being stuffed in lockers
• Swirlies in the bathrooms
• Ignored by girls

But eventually we move past all that and became inspired engineers. Now, we have our chance to recreate the most hallowed (or horrifying) of high school events:

The school dance.

Across the pond, in Farnborough England, a massive international air show is taking place. Aerospace companies from across the globe eager to make a good impression are putting on their best dresses, doing their hair, and hoping that they don’t get stuck with a corsage needle by an over eager customer.

The Popular Girl
Remember the popular girl back in school? I’m talking about the one that seemed to do no wrong and was popular for no apparent reason. Sure she was pretty, but there was just something about her that got everyone’s attention. If this girl was to some how grow to several hundred feet long, sprout wings and jet engines, she would be Boeing’s new 787.

Forget for a moment that the aircraft is behind in its production schedule, People are still lining up outside of airports just to get a glimpse of the new plane. With the 787, the fasting selling plane ever, Boeing can seem to do no wrong.

The New Girl
The 787 may be on everyone’s radar, but there’s another girl that’s turning heads too. Airbus is showing off their new A400M at Farnborough, and they are hoping to make a big splash with it. I’m calling it the new girl, because while she is pretty enough to take the homecoming queen crown, no one really seems to know her and nobody wants to hang out with her except for her parents who drove her there or maybe one of the teachers chaperoning the dance.

Mix this together the with lack of A400M sales and Airbus lack of additional product and the A400M isn’t going anywhere.  Airbus needs to milk every last drop out the plane. Guess they better save the dress, they may be wearing it again next year.

The Weird One
Being an engineer today, there is a very good chance you were the weird one at the school dance. It’s ok, you’re among friends here, we were the weird ones too.

Of course a school dance / air show wouldn’t be complete with out the weird plane. In this case, I give you the Bluebird: A 1Kg UAV launched by a pneumatic air gun. It can fly for about an hour and carry a payload about the size of my ego on prom night.

So put on your tuxes gentlemen, and ladies break out the gowns, it’s going to be a great time. Drop a line in the comments below with your best/worst high school dance story and what you’re looking forward to hearing about at the show!