When testing numerical predictions regarding performance of aircraft, wind tunnels are still the next best thing to actual flight. EU-funded researchers improved the accuracy of test measurements with important implications ...
Engineering
Oct 4, 2012
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Animals that move backwards usually require a lot of energy, so Nir Sapir from the University of California Berkeley, USA, was surprised when he realized that hummingbirds execute this maneuver routinely. Wondering how hummingbirds ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 27, 2012
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(Phys.org)—An airplane's vortex generators, which look like small fins on its surface, improve the plane's aerodynamics similar to the way in which the dimples on a golf ball improve the ball's aerodynamics: by delaying ...
Although the wind may blow smoothly onto a wind turbine, it comes out the other end shredded into a complex collage of whorls, large and small. In a wind farm, the turbulent wake generated by the first row of turbines drives ...
Energy & Green Tech
Sep 3, 2012
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Launching rockets is no easy or inexpensive task. Developers must consider the ground support infrastructure, fuel elements and flight hardware itself; not to mention the safety of everyone involved.
Space Exploration
Aug 27, 2012
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(Phys.org)—Many researchers studying superconductivity strive to create a clean, pure, perfect sample, but a team of physicists found that some flaws might hold the key to a material's unique abilities.
Superconductivity
Aug 23, 2012
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(Phys.org) -- A low-cost laser sensor that can quickly and accurately measure the velocity of commercial passenger aircrafts could complement existing sensors and help prevent fatal aeroplane crashes, say University of New ...
Engineering
Aug 3, 2012
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(Phys.org) -- Traveling 300 million miles through deep space to reach the planet Mars is difficult; successfully landing there is even harder. The process of entering the Red Planet's atmosphere and slowing down to land has ...
Space Exploration
Jun 8, 2012
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A new motor has been installed in the Oran W. Nicks Low Speed Wind Tunnel, replacing a 900RPM, 1,000-horsepower synchronous motor from Allis-Chalmers that was surplused by the U.S. Navy back in World War II.
Engineering
May 28, 2012
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(Phys.org) -- NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., completed wind tunnel testing for Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorn, Calif., to provide Falcon 9 first stage re-entry data for the company's ...
Space Exploration
May 24, 2012
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