The Columbia disaster of January 2003 was not only the second total loss of a space shuttle and crew, it also sounded the death knell for the whole space shuttle program. The reason being was that the shuttle had always been a work in progress and that after 31 years …
How do you Escape from an Exploding rocket? – Launch Escape Systems
Strapping your self into a tiny capsule on top of what essentially controlled a large controlled explosion is one of the hazards of being an astronaut but if things go really wrong then is nice to know there is an escape system of some sort to get you out of …
How Long Can the B-52 Continue in Service?
Imagine a Sopwith camel biplane which first saw service in 1917 during the first world war and then using the same aircraft in combat missions right up until the last days of the Vietnam war in 1975. That’s a service life of 58 years which also spans a massive change …
C-5 Galaxy – The USAF’s Heavyweight Champion of the Air
It’s been the heavyweight workhorse of the United States airforce since 1970, moving everything from emergency food relief to main battle tanks and even other aircraft and pretty much everything else in between. It’s also the only ever plane to carry and launch a full-sized intercontinental ballistic missile in the …
How Safe is Nuclear Transportation?
Every day tens of thousands of shipments of radiative materials are made by road, rail, air and sea around the world with everything from the smoke detectors that contain americium-241 to the refurbishment of nuclear warheads but how safe is the transporting of these materials either from accidental damage or …
Why Can’t We Find MH370?
It’s been six and a half years since Malaysian Airlines MH370 disappeared on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China with the presumed loss of all 239 onboard. And yet despite the most expensive air and sea search in aviation history and launching a whole raft of conspiracy theories, only …
Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne, possibly the best attack helicopter never made
In the 1960s and in response to a competition run by the US Army to find an Advanced Aerial Fire Support System during the Vietnam war, Lockheed, in their first major foray into building helicopters, created possibly the best attack helicopter of the 20th century. Ten prototypes were built and …
How Prepared Are We For A Carrington Level Solar Storm?
Preparedness is one of those attributes which has been sorely tested in recent times and in many ways has been found wanting but there are many bullets out there with our name potentially on them, one of which we have touched on before, namely solar storms and the CME or …
How Stealth Changed Modern Warfare
The advantage that Stealth technology has bestowed on those countries which use it is hard to underestimate and it has changed the way warfare is conducted but it’s not just aircraft which use it, ships, vehicles even troops can use varying types of technology help hide from detection, this is …
Will Directed Energy Weapons be the Future?
They have been seen in science fiction for a hundred years and go by many names, heat rays, death rays, lasers, masers, phasers, disrupters and e-bombs, but they are all effectively directed energy weapons and in theory they could be the ideal weapon that works at near the speed of …