* Posts by annodomini2

1181 publicly visible posts • joined 24 May 2010

NASA wants space washing machine for ISS, Mars bases

annodomini2
Devil

Then sell the rights to say Playboy?

Too rude for the road: DVLA hot list of banned numberplates

annodomini2
FAIL

They missed one

On an 11 plate Skoda Fabia

WA 11 KER

And yes it had a black screw dot between the 11.

US stealth bombers finally get nuke-nobbling super bomb

annodomini2
Mushroom

2500 kg of explosive

So if there's enough room for 2500kg of explosive I'm pretty sure a tactical nuclear warhead would fit in the same space!

LOHAN gets hands on mighty thruster

annodomini2
FAIL

And when the motor fires it'll break the pressure gauge!

What I suggested previously was a second valve (the original design had your layout), that way the pump could be shut off and the valve closed and any leaks in the system could be monitored for, if the vacuum is stable for long enough close the second valve and ignite the motor.

NASA working on nuclear rocket for manned Mars trips

annodomini2

John Smith 19 covered a lot of it, but the basic issues are cost and risk.

$/lb to orbit (Including launcher design and development costs) as the US like to call it, is cheaper on a larger launcher that a smaller one.

Additionally, it's not just launching the pieces, the ISS and Hubble required a lot of human intervention to assemble. So there may be 10 pieces including fuel, but 15-20 launches to get the thing into orbit and ready for it's mission.

As a single stack the launch risk is reduced as the odds of a failure go up with number and frequency.

Also there is a strong risk of collision when on orbit, even automated.

Failure to dock, collision and other factors may result in the elements already launched being useless.

The reason NASA has not had a death in space so far is due to 2 factors:

1. Good risk mitigation.

2. A lot of luck!

Read up on the first moon landing,

My favourite of the mistakes is the design of the exit on the lunar lander, they didn't account for the expansion of the spacesuits due to vacuum.

When they exited onto the surface they caught the switches inside on the control panel, specifically they broke the switch that activated the accent rocket engine to return them to lunar orbit.

They were fortunate in that they were able to activate the system using a pen, but it all very nearly ended in disaster.

UK broadband speeds crippled during 'rush hour'

annodomini2
Thumb Down

Typical,

All statistics and no context, how much of that is affected by the traffic shaping imposed by the ISPs themselves?

LLU and non-LLU?

The provider?

The overall backbone load?

There's probably other stuff aswell.

Fusion boffins crack shreddy eddy plasma puzzle

annodomini2

Missed a bit

Tritium can also be produced from the Deuterium used in Heavy water reactors, but there is the same issue in order to supply fuel to the D-T fusion reactors requires keeping fission reactors online.

annodomini2
Childcatcher

Better get them clones ready! ;)

annodomini2
FAIL

There is more than one type of fusion reactor being developed!

Sustained reaction is not a requirement for energy generation in all reactor types, just net energy production.

I hope this helps Tokamak work, but there may be cheaper solutions arriving soon!

Another new Russian nuclear powerplant comes online

annodomini2
Alert

I get the impression that the western governments have been gambling on getting fusion working and plants online before the current batch expire. And LOST!

Given JET and ITER seem to be never ending black hole money pits, maybe they should have spread bet on different technologies and not relied solely on Tokamak to solve all their problems!

Renault Fluence ZE

annodomini2
Thumb Down

But leccy won't stay where it is either if the current round of providers keep putting the prices up by 15-20% every 6months!

Production electric motorcycle breaks 100 mile range

annodomini2

As it's already electric and the controller can already handle regen then it would just be code.

The only additions would be modifying the controller to support this capability.

The trick with regen is making it proportional, so you don't lose your fillings under braking.

NASA tells Voyager 2 to save its strength

annodomini2
FAIL

Because the ambient temperature around the spacecraft is about -260 deg C and the fuel would freeze if it wasn't heated.

annodomini2

Hydrazine.

Basically as you are in space there is very little resistance so your fuel consumption is determined by the number of manoeuvres you need to make and how quickly you want those manoeuvres to occur.

So if you can wait 2 weeks for the thing to turn around and only do it once every 3 months then very little.

annodomini2

Voyage has 2 sets of control thrusters, they are turning off the primary system to save power, but there will be no backup if the operating one fails.

They roll the ship to perform experiments, then point the dish back towards earth to transmit the results.

Also to compensate for changes in attitude due to external factors, e.g. being hit by micrometeors.

Zuckerberg: 'Make partnerships, not war'

annodomini2
WTF?

Reading between the lines...

"I'm scared and can't be arsed to fight"

FFS grow a pair!

Japan develops powered armour suit for nuke workers

annodomini2
Thumb Up

Aye

And if the radiation fries the electronics, or just a simple failure the robot gets stuck at least it's only the robot that is lost and doesn't put a person inside at greater risk.

NASA: Martians likely lived underground

annodomini2
Coat

So...

More likely that the Tremors 'Graboid' aliens came from Mars??

Record flight is step toward HYPERSONIC SPACE AIRSHIP

annodomini2

The issue may be power consumption, I get the idea they intend to use a higher thrust version of VASMIR, which currently produces 5N of thrust for 200Kw of electrical power, with respectable fuel efficiency.

They will need significantly more thrust than 5N, and so probably significantly more power for the engine.

Maybe they can compromise fuel efficiency to reduce power consumption, but increase thrust.

annodomini2
Boffin

There are significant challenges to be overcome to make this work!

1. Structural integrity

Contrary to the statement made about not needing heat shielding, when accelerating up to orbital velocity there will be a period where the ship will be in the upper atmosphere (as it needs the lift from the helium to maintain the altitude!), at a high but not orbital velocity e.g. 12,000mph.

The atmosphere is not very dense at these altitudes, but at that speed you're covering a huge distance in a small amount of time, compressing the low pressure gas against the ship and causing friction heating. While the temperatures will be lower than those experienced by the shuttle, this still requires protection.

2. Thrust

There will be a transition point, basically there needs to be enough thrust to overcome the aerodynamic drag in the upper atmosphere and also enough thrust to keep the ship up when the velocity is such that it will 'pop' out of the atmosphere and not fall back as it loses buoyancy.

Otherwise it'll just end up skipping along the atmosphere not gaining any speed as it will slow down (And heat up!) as it drops back into the drag of the atmosphere.

annodomini2
FAIL

The magnetic fields themselves aren't heavy, but there are 2 basic flaws in your argument:

1. Something needs to generate that magnetic field, adding weight. Also the bigger and/or stronger the magnetic field required the bigger and heavier the equipment required to generate said field.

2. Magnetic fields won't stop all types of radiation.

Back to the Future DeLorean to go under the hammer

annodomini2

Not that I can find, but the one that does the off road bits in BTTF3 supposedly has a VW Beetle Buggy "off road" chassis, so this may have been fitted with a porker lump.

annodomini2

Going forwards has already been done, albeit by a very small amount (picoseconds, possibly nanoseconds)

And relative to going backwards is easy.

Intel mad for power, but stacked-up dies keep MELTING!

annodomini2
FAIL

It's side by side, not stacked 3 Dimensionally

Apple iPhone 4S

annodomini2

Maybe the metal thieves nicked it!?

annodomini2
FAIL

@nsld

Depends...

With an Iphone, typically the contract is so expensive, no

You still need to pay for calls, texts and data with that:

So the phone costs say £400 retail, or £25 a month on an 18m contract with a free phone (yes they do exist!).

Yes the total is £450, so it's more expensive you say, but if the same minutes, texts and data contract would cost say £15/month

Buying the phone separately and then paying for the contract would cost you £670 not £450.

So the net effect is you save £180 on the phone.

Boffins whip up SELF-WIRING chip

annodomini2
Thumb Up

And as a result hopefully more power efficient than FPGA's

Punters to favour Smart TV over 3D TV

annodomini2

The key will be if they get the online gaming system working, playing full console possibly if PC class games directly from the TV.

However I do agree with the original post in that apps in the smartphone and tablet sense will probably be overkill.

Toyota Yaris 2011

annodomini2

Scrappage

Scrappage scheme ruined it all, government said, we'll give you £2k towards a new car if you trade in a qualifying car.

So dealers put their prices up by £2k overnight, thing is...

When scrappage ended the prices stayed the same or more!

Arduino to add ARM board this year

annodomini2

Horses for courses...

An arduino is for embedded systems, not micro-pc.

annodomini2

Nissan Micra DIG-S

annodomini2

No, they specifically state, "because it's ugly!"

However, I do agree with your point, that they don't factor in cost properly.

When this car's main competitor is the Fiat 500 Twinair and all things being equal, you'd pick the fiat looks-wise over this any day.

annodomini2
FAIL

No

This thing is FUGLY!

Hence why Top gear gave it 7/20

Secondly, unless they've got the weight down by a couple of hundred kilos over the old model, it's still too heavy.

annodomini2

The micra is built here

annodomini2

Fewer cylinders = Fewer parts = Cheaper to make

Because they've come up with algorithms to dynamically balance an engine without needing balancer shafts, they're cheaper to make.

Also if they can share more parts this saves on tooling costs.

e.g. 1.2 3cylinder and 1.6 4 cylinder, same pistons, rods and associated components.

In automotive, if they can save 10p per car on 500,000 cars they will try to.

NASA: Beam me up some power, Scotty

annodomini2

Ah, but...

"Sending enough energy to replace commonly-used present day space propulsion via laser beam would be quite a feat. One of the most powerful lasers in the world that's capable of keeping a beam going for any length of time - Boeing's Airborne Laser Test Bed - can put out only a few megawatts of juice, but (according to El Reg's back-of-a-pint-coaster calculations) it takes about 190 gigawatts to power the first stage of a Saturn V rocket and 4.1GW to make a single Delta IV core rocket go."

That assumes you're also carrying fuel, which for most rockets is about 90% of the mass of the vehicle.

LOHAN to suck mighty thruster as it goes off, in a shed

annodomini2
FAIL

Thrust varies with ambient pressure.

The specifications on the packaging will be for a surface burn.

Additionally if the motor has an external nozzle, this needs to be tuned for higher altitudes.

annodomini2

2nd valve

Will a second valve not be needed to protect the pressure gauge as the motor is ignited?

Resulting pressure spikes may damage the gauge.

NASA unveils its chosen Shuttle successor

annodomini2
FAIL

Tooling

The Saturn V tooling will have been scrapped years ago, while they appear to have let most of the workers go, the Shuttle tooling is probably still sat around.

This would be cheaper than having to re-tool to build the Saturn V Update.

annodomini2

"I do not understand why VASIMR technology has not been deployed yet to the space station at least. It appears to have worked reliably in deep space missions and everything I read tells me it's ready for prime time."

VASIMR hasn't been into space yet, other types of ION engines have. VASIMR has only been tested in hypobaric chambers.

The flight engine was due to go up on the last shuttle launch, but it wasn't finished in time.

annodomini2
Thumb Down

SRB's

To build the SRB's without sections, the fuel grain would need to be cast as one big lump.

I'm not saying the design is perfect, but there are practical reasons for it.

Zalman ZM-VE200 portable virtual Rom drive

annodomini2
Facepalm

Don't forget

to add the cost of the HDD.

Sweden rolls out invisible infrared tank

annodomini2
FAIL

Title we don't need no stinking title

LIDAR

annodomini2

at a guess

Peltiers

What vegetables are best for growing in Spaaace?

annodomini2
FAIL

Hmmm...

Which animal does bacon come from???

Here lies /^v.+b$/i

annodomini2
FAIL

Technically...

We ultimately die by underflow (DNA chops off bits during cell replication)

annodomini2
Coat

Google special

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// Tombstone_Header.h

// ------------------------------

//

// Author: None

//

// Copyright: Google

//

// License: Mine!!!

//

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

IF HeartBeatPresent = True AND BreathingInAndOut = True THEN

Dig me up this f***ing instant

ELSE

Leave flowers and beer below

END IF

ARM vet: The CPU's future is threatened

annodomini2
FAIL

Power efficiency is still critical

1. Portable computing devices e.g. Smartphones, Tablets, laptops etc, even with a 10 fold increase in battery, this either allows for:

a) An increase in performance with no degradation in battery life.

b) Huge increase in battery life (becoming increasing important for many users)

c) Balance of the 2.

If you can halve the power consumption of the chip you can use a smaller battery for the same job, making the device cheaper and lighter.

2. Data and Processing centre's are one of the largest consumers of CPU's, their operating costs are mainly power consumption, batteries are not going to affect this and many studies have recently shown that 10% reduction in CPU and memory power consumption has huge implications for their operating costs as there is much less heat generated and resulting reductions in cooling requirements.

You may see as much as a 30-40% operating cost reduction for an equivalent setup.

annodomini2
Boffin

He missed something...

FPGA's

He talks about a move to dedicated hardware, if designers can achieve this balancing act between CPU's and GPU's as he suggests moving to a device like an FPGA may also be possible.

For dedicated tasks that overload CPU's and GPU's, ASIC's can't be beaten, not even FPGA's can match them for size and power usage.

However, ASIC's by their very nature are inflexible, he mentions putting encryption hardware on the chip, how many times a week do we see on this site. "Some team, somewhere has cracked x algorithm or technique".

An FPGA would allow the majority of the performance of the ASIC, but allow for the update to a new algorithm or technique.

As stated in the article, one of the major costs is verification and once the silicon is set it can't be reworked, in FPGA it can, certain issues can be fixed with firmware updates.

Also not all features are used at once so the device can be reconfigured on the fly to serve the purpose in use at a specific time, reducing silicon area and as a result power consumption, without compromising functionality.

Acer Aspire 5755G 15in Core i7 laptop

annodomini2
FAIL

Re:...ignoring specs again.

There are a lot of high level components in that laptop, I'm not arguing that.

But the device you use most on a laptop is the screen.

This is a business laptop and the screen resolution determines your work area.

Bog standard 1366x768 just doesn't cut the mustard at this price point, if it was 1440x900 or 1920x1080 I may have been more accepting.