Dec 27
The comedian will ring in 2019 in Las Vegas with rappers Lil Wayne and Big Sean.
Dec 27
SpaceX’s futuristic Starship interplanetary craft may embody the golden age of sci-fi in more ways than one: in addition to (theoretically) taking passengers from planet to planet, it may sport a shiny stainless steel skin that makes it look like the pulp covers of old.
Founder and CEO Elon Musk teased the possibility in a picture posted to Twitter, captioned simply “Stainless Steel Starship.” To be clear, this isn’t a full-on spacecraft, just part of a test vehicle that the company plans to use during the short “hopper” flights in 2019 to evaluate various systems.
As with most Musk tweets, this kicked off a storm of speculation and argument in the Twitterverse.
The choice surprised many because for years, modern spaceflight has been dependent on advanced composite materials like carbon fiber, which combine desirable physical properties with low weight. When metal has been required, aluminum or titanium are much more common. While some launch components, like the upper stage of the Atlas 5 rocket, have liberally used steel, it’s definitely not an obvious choice for a craft like the Starship, which will have to deal with both deep space and repeated reentry.
As Musk pointed out in subsequent comments, however, stainless steel has some advantages versus other materials when at extremely hot or cold temperatures.
This is a special full-hardness steel alloy mentioned as being among the 300 series of high-strength, heat-resistant alloys — not the plentiful, pliable stuff we all have in our kitchens and buildings. Musk also mentioned another “superalloy” called SX500 that SpaceX’s metallurgists have developed for use in the Raptor engines that will power the vehicle.
So why stainless? It’s likely all about reentry.
Many craft and reusable stages that have to face the heat of entering the atmosphere at high speed use “ablative” heat shielding that disintegrates or breaks away in a controlled fashion, carrying heat away from the vehicle.
It’s unlikely this is a possibility for Starship, however, as replacing and repairing this material would necessitate downtime and crews wherever and whenever it lands, and the craft is meant to be (eventually) a quick-turnaround ship with maximum reusability. Heat shielding that reflects and survives is a better bet for that — but an enormous engineering problem.
Scott Manley put together a nice video illustrating some of these ideas and speculations in detail:
Musk said before of the Starship (then still called BFR) that “almost the entire time it is reentering, it’s just trying to brake, while distributing that force over the most area possible.” Reentry will probably look more like a Space Shuttle-esque glide than a Falcon 9 first stage’s ballistic descent and engine braking.
The switch to stainless steel has the pleasant side effect of making the craft look really cool — more in line with sci-fi books and comics than their readers perhaps ever thought to hope. Paint jobs would burn right off, Musk said:
You can’t expect it to stay shiny for long, though; it may be stainless, but like a pan you left on the stove, stainless steel can still scorch and the bottom of the Starship will likely look pretty rough after a while. It’s all right — spacecraft developing a patina is a charming evolution.
Details are still few, and for all we know SpaceX could redesign the craft again based on how tests go. Next year will see the earliest hopper flights for Starship hardware and possibly the Super Heavy lower stage that will lift its great shiny bulk out of the lower atmosphere.
The technical documentation promised by Musk should arrive in March or April, but whether it will pertain solely to the test vehicle or give a glimpse at the craft SpaceX intends to send around the moon is anyone’s guess. At any rate you should expect more information to be spontaneously revealed before then at Musk’s discretion — or lack thereof.
Dec 27
The new Land Rover Defender will be released in the US and Canada, the automaker has confirmed today, giving fans of the iconic SUV something to look forward to – and a reason to be patient. The next-generation Defender won’t be fully revealed until 2019 at the earliest, Land Rover says, but the eagle-eyed might catch a glimpse of one … Continue reading
Dec 27
Dec 27
The 26-year-old actress sang a song to her mother, who died in 2016 at the age of 60.
Dec 27
SpaceX’s futuristic Starship interplanetary craft may embody the golden age of sci-fi in more ways than one: in addition to (theoretically) taking passengers from planet to planet, it may sport a shiny stainless steel skin that makes it look like the pulp covers of old.
Founder and CEO Elon Musk teased the possibility in a picture posted to Twitter, captioned simply “Stainless Steel Starship.” To be clear, this isn’t a full-on spacecraft, just part of a test vehicle that the company plans to use during the short “hopper” flights in 2019 to evaluate various systems.
As with most Musk tweets, this kicked off a storm of speculation and argument in the Twitterverse.
The choice surprised many because for years, modern spaceflight has been dependent on advanced composite materials like carbon fiber, which combine desirable physical properties with low weight. When metal has been required, aluminum or titanium are much more common. While some launch components, like the upper stage of the Atlas 5 rocket, have liberally used steel, it’s definitely not an obvious choice for a craft like the Starship, which will have to deal with both deep space and repeated reentry.
As Musk pointed out in subsequent comments, however, stainless steel has some advantages versus other materials when at extremely hot or cold temperatures.
This is a special full-hardness steel alloy mentioned as being among the 300 series of high-strength, heat-resistant alloys — not the plentiful, pliable stuff we all have in our kitchens and buildings. Musk also mentioned another “superalloy” called SX500 that SpaceX’s metallurgists have developed for use in the Raptor engines that will power the vehicle.
So why stainless? It’s likely all about reentry.
Many craft and reusable stages that have to face the heat of entering the atmosphere at high speed use “ablative” heat shielding that disintegrates or breaks away in a controlled fashion, carrying heat away from the vehicle.
It’s unlikely this is a possibility for Starship, however, as replacing and repairing this material would necessitate downtime and crews wherever and whenever it lands, and the craft is meant to be (eventually) a quick-turnaround ship with maximum reusability. Heat shielding that reflects and survives is a better bet for that — but an enormous engineering problem.
Scott Manley put together a nice video illustrating some of these ideas and speculations in detail:
Musk said before of the Starship (then still called BFR) that “almost the entire time it is reentering, it’s just trying to brake, while distributing that force over the most area possible.” Reentry will probably look more like a Space Shuttle-esque glide than a Falcon 9 first stage’s ballistic descent and engine braking.
The switch to stainless steel has the pleasant side effect of making the craft look really cool — more in line with sci-fi books and comics than their readers perhaps ever thought to hope. Paint jobs would burn right off, Musk said:
You can’t expect it to stay shiny for long, though; it may be stainless, but like a pan you left on the stove, stainless steel can still scorch and the bottom of the Starship will likely look pretty rough after a while. It’s all right — spacecraft developing a patina is a charming evolution.
Details are still few, and for all we know SpaceX could redesign the craft again based on how tests go. Next year will see the earliest hopper flights for Starship hardware and possibly the Super Heavy lower stage that will lift its great shiny bulk out of the lower atmosphere.
The technical documentation promised by Musk should arrive in March or April, but whether it will pertain solely to the test vehicle or give a glimpse at the craft SpaceX intends to send around the moon is anyone’s guess. At any rate you should expect more information to be spontaneously revealed before then at Musk’s discretion — or lack thereof.
Dec 27
Microsoft Office. Do people still use Microsoft Office? People with kids and school projects maybe? Anyway, if you still use Office, you can buy a year’s subscription to Office 365 Home (with licenses for up to six people) for its usual $100 today, and Amazon will toss in a $50 gift card. The deal is only available…
Dec 27
Netflix drops the first trailer for 'Black Mirror: Bandersnatch'
Posted in: Uncategorized
Dec 27
Epic Insists Their Game Store Will Not And Do Not Share User Data
Posted in: Uncategorized
As some of you might have heard by now, Epic has recently chosen to launch its own storefront where it will play host to their own games as well as games belonging to other developers. We imagine that the company is probably trying to take on the likes of Valve’s Steam platform, which at the moment is more or less the de facto store for PC gaming.
However it seems that Epic’s store has come under some controversy where due to the wording in its terms of service, some believe that by agreeing to it you would essentially allow your user information to be shared with other companies. This includes companies such as Tencent who owns a minority stake in Epic.
The good news is that these worries appear to be unfounded. Epic’s founder Tim Sweeney has since replied to the post on Reddit where he denies that this will happen. “Epic does not share user data with Tencent or any other company. We don’t share it, sell it, or broker access to it for advertising like so many other companies do. I’m the founder and controlling shareholder of Epic and would never allow this to happen.”
He also explained why the terms of service was worded as such. “The language related to sharing data with the parent companies refers to Epic Games Inc. It’s a US-based company. This language exists because when you buy an Epic game in certain territories (like Europe), the seller of record is our local (e.g. European) subsidiary company for tax purposes, but the data is ultimately stored by Epic Games Inc.”
Epic Insists Their Game Store Will Not And Do Not Share User Data , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Dec 27
Retro games are hot right now with all sorts of devices out there from Nintendo, Sony, and others. Check out this miniature version of Galaxian from My Arcade.
The Handheld Galaxian arcade cabinet is about 6.75″ tall and has a 2.75″ LCD screen. The cabinet artwork is inspired by the original full-size arcade cabinet of yore. The system has integrated audio, with sound effects from the original game. It has a D-pad with a joystick in the center moves your ship side to side, while a button on the right side shoots your weapons.
It’s powered by four AA batteries or a microUSB cable so you can play it anywhere. The Handheld Galaxian Arcade game is $39.99 on Amazon. You can also get mini versions of Galaga, BurgerTime, and CaveMan Ninja: Joe & Mac.
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