Free Republic

Epic, hugely successful first high-altitude test of Starship. The belly flop maneuver test of Starship's aerodynamics was especially impressive. So very much to build on here for the Starship program.

For decades, physicists, engineers and mathematicians have failed to explain a remarkable phenomenon in fluid mechanics: the natural tendency of turbulence in fluids to move from disordered chaos to perfectly parallel patterns of oblique turbulent bands. This transition from a state of chaotic turbulence to a highly structured pattern was observed by many scientists, but never understood. For decades, physicists, engineers and mathematicians have failed to explain a remarkable phenomenon in fluid mechanics: the natural tendency of turbulence in fluids to move from disordered chaos to perfectly parallel patterns of oblique turbulent bands. This transition from a state of chaotic...

ADOLF HITLER'S PLOT TO BOMB NEW YORK Newly discovered papers reveal the Nazis’ most bizarre plan – sending manned rockets into space to attack America. The head of the Luftwaffe Hermann Goering banged his fi st on the table in anger. He needed a dynamic new scheme to catch the Fuhrer’s eye. In the warped world of the Third Reich, competition between the German army and the German air force – the Luftwaffe – was fierce. Under Adolf Hitler’s power-crazed dictatorial leadership senior Nazis vied and tussled for infl uence throughout the Second World War. At the end of 1941,...

For those who are bored with hang-gliding or find skydiving just too dull, a Swiss airline captain has devised the ultimate aerial thrill: flying like a bird. Thanks to high technology and nerve, Yves Rossy has come closer than anyone to realising the ancient dream of soaring free, flitting through the sky, guided only by the body. As well as a crash helmet he wears a small pair of wings and four tiny jet engines. As he skims the Alps at up to 187mph (300km/h), the only thing that the former fighter pilot has come up against so far is...

TEHERAN: Iran successfully tested a "super-modern flying boat" yesterday and the land-to-sea Kowsar missile that military analysts say is designed to sink ships in the Gulf, state media reported. The tests came in the middle of the country's Gulf war games that started on Friday. State radio said the Kowsar could evade radar and that its guidance system could not be scrambled. The Defence Ministry was not immediately able to give details of a "flying boat" that was shown on television. The small propeller-driven aircraft floated on a trimaran hull until it took off and flew low over the surface...