Da Mario se gepraat…

EN hier is ons by Vrydag….

Skoenlapr het gister gevra ek moet asseblief volgende post oor “hot chicks in space”, so hier is dit.  Nadat ek so bietjie gaan soek het, is dit wat ek kon opspoor…..

 … julle like?

Blogger meeting

Vanaand is dit Ostendo se blog-meeting, so die van julle wat ons wil join, wees so vanaf 19:00 vannaand by Paddy’s in Randburg.  Dis ‘n oop meeting en daar is gewoonlik skrywers van seker maklik 15 verskillende blogs teenwoordig.  Daar word egter selde besigheid gepraat…. die hoofdoel is FUN.  Die van julle wat te ver is, stuur vir my ‘n foto van jouself en ons drink ‘n dop op jou!

X-48B BLENDED WING BODY RESEARCH AIRCRAFT TAKES FIRST FLIGHT

EDWARDS, Calif. — NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., provided critical support for the first flight July 20 of the X-48B. The 21-foot wingspan, 500-pound remotely piloted test vehicle took off for the first time at 8:42 a.m. PDT and climbed to an altitude of 7,500 feet before landing 31 minutes later. The Boeing Co. of Seattle developed the blended wing body research aircraft.

Boeing’s Phantom Works designed the X-48B flight test vehicles in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, to gather detailed information about the stability and flight-control characteristics of the blended wing body design, especially during takeoffs and landings. The Boeing blended wing body design resembles a flying wing, but differs in that the wing blends smoothly into a wide, flat, tailless fuselage. This fuselage blending provides additional lift with less drag compared to a circular fuselage, translating to reduced fuel use at cruise conditions. Since the engines mount high on the back of the aircraft, there is less noise inside and on the ground when it is in flight.

Three turbojet engines enable the composite-skinned, 8.5 percent scale vehicle to fly up to 10,000 feet and 120 knots in its low-speed configuration. The aircraft is flown remotely from a ground control station in which the pilot uses conventional aircraft controls and instrumentation while looking at a monitor fed by a forward-looking camera on the aircraft.

In these initial flights, the principal focus is to validate the research on the aerodynamics and controllability of the shape, including comparisons of the flight data with the extensive wind-tunnel database. Later studies will be conducted to provide a detailed understanding of this unique aircraft shape and a knowledge database to enable a future full-scale design.

Two X-48B research vehicles were built by Cranfield Aerospace Ltd., in Bedford, England, in accordance with Boeing requirements. The vehicle that flew on July 20 is Ship 2, which also was used for ground and taxi testing. Ship 1, a duplicate, completed extensive wind tunnel testing in 2006 at the Full-Scale Tunnel at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. Ship 1 will be available for use as a backup during the flight test program.

For more information about the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov