Free Republic

The U.S. Air Force is taking a serious look at overhauling the nearly 60 year-old B-52 bomber—including a new engine for the ancient plane. The question is not whether it makes sense, but why it hasn’t been done before. The answers include poor planning, budgetary procedures that defied economic logic, and at least one bone-headed accounting error. The B-52 first entered service in the mid-1950s. Putting new engines on the “Buff,” or Big Ugly Fat (cough) Fella, became a possibility after 1978, when the commercial airplane business launched two modern engines, the Rolls-Royce RB.211-535 and the PW2000. Unlike the first...

We’ve grown accustomed to senseless liberal logic insinuating that anything that has to do with the color spectrum is somehow racist or racially charged, however; the most recent attack by The Guardian filth-spiller, Tracy van Slyke, is so stupid it just made me chuckle. Check out what she said about the demonic Thomas the Tank Engine. From The Guardian: For the record, all the “villains” on Thomas and Friends are the dirty diesel engines. I’d like to think there was a good environmental message in there, but when the good engines pump out white smoke and the bad engines pump...

Nearly six months after announcing that SpaceX would be testing Raptor engine components at NASA's Stennis Space Center, a ribbon cutting ceremony this past Monday officially unveiled the newly refurbished E-2 test stand. SpaceX has been working on the Raptor methane-fueled rocket engine since 2009. The new engine, a reusable engine is destined to be used in future versions of the Falcon Heavy and in the long term for the notional SpaceX Mars Colonial Transporter. Testing is set to begin within the coming days after the E-2 test stand activation is completed a spokesperson for SpaceX confirmed to SpaceRef. SpaceX...

As Turkey makes progress in its national fighter jet program, the most challenging issue remains the engine for the planned aircraft. The program contains the design, development and production of an indigenious fighter jet as Swdish Saab is under contract for pre-conceptual design As Turkey’s defense procurement officials and aviation engineers work day and night to finalize one of the three draft models for what will be the country’s first indigenous fighter jet, they face a most critical challenge: Should Turkey select a jet engine and build an aircraft based on that engine; or should it select an aircraft and...

The body of my lawn mower broke. Totaled. I purchased a new lawn mower. But I now have a 6.25 HP Briggs & Stratton engine that runs as good as the day it was bought. So what do I do with the engine? (It seems such a waste to get rid of it)

Frankfurt Motor Show: Germans learn a stunning truth.

ETH researchers redesigned the conventional diesel engine of a VW Golf to run on 90% natural gas. Credit: Tobias Ott / ETH Zurich Video at link. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed an internal combustion engine that emits less than half the CO2 compared to a regular engine without compromising performance. This corresponds to fuel consumption of less than 2.4 l per 100 km. This natural gas-diesel hybrid engine is based on a system of sophisticated control engineering. The global energy markets are changing. New extraction methods are tapping into oilfields and natural gas deposits that have been inaccessible until...

What happened to DOGPILE Search Engine ? http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/home is NOT connecting, and it displays the following message. "You tried to access the address http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/home, which is currently unavailable. Please make sure that the web address (URL) is correctly spelled and punctuated, then try reloading the page."

Bear with me, LI readers – I’m a little bit of a geek, so I find stories like these exciting. It might not be of interest to everyone, but I do think there’s one point about it that will resonate with all of you. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos started Bezos Expeditions (as well as the space exploration venture Blue Origin) out of his “passions for science, engineering, and exploration.” Bezos, like so many others, watched Apollo 11′s launch from his television as a child in 1969. Days prior, the mission began when five F-1 rocket engines fired together in a...

A British Airways jet carrying 75 passengers was forced to perform an emergency landing at Heathrow today with smoke and flames pouring from one engine. Eye-witnesses reported seeing a fire in the right-hand engine of the Airbus 319 as it was forced to land just minutes after it took off at 8.17am bound for Norway’s capital Oslo. Residents on the Heathrow flight path said there was an "almighty blow-out" from the aircraft as it flew at just a few thousand feet above them. BA said the jet, which is now being examined by investigators, had developed a "technical fault". Suggestions...

Hey all! Figured i'd throw up the build we are working on! Another LS12 build We're currently in the process of building this one, the crank is almost done and finished the cam earlier today. Found this 1471 littlefield blower laying around so we decided to make a new intake for the next step. Have several already completed blocks layin around so this is the first one we've built that we're going to be putting in our own car! Plan is for this one to go in a Datsun 240z. I'll update when we get further!

Brace yourselves: Researchers at University of Huntsville in Alabama say they are using "Dilithium Crystals" in a new fusion impulse engine that could cut the travel time to Mars down to as little as six weeks, not the six months it takes now. Txchnologist, an online magazine sponsored by General Electric, talked to team member and aerospace engineering PH.D. candidate Ross Cortez, he said "The fusion fuel we're focusing on is deuterium [a stable isotope of hydrogen] and Li6 [a stable isotope of the metal lithium] in a crystal structure." "That's basically dilithium crystals we're using," he said (Snip) The

Volvo Trucks unveiled last week its plans to launch a 13-liter heavy-duty natural gas engine featuring Westport high pressure direct injection (HPDI) technology. The engine, marketed under the “Blue Power” designation, is scheduled to launch for the North American market in 2014. The engine’s advanced high pressure diesel ignition technology will provide significant fuel efficiency gains compared with current natural gas products. Combined with the company’s previously announced offering of compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered Volvo VNM and VNL model daycabs, the new engine will provide customers with a complete range of natural gas-powered transportation solutions. Volvo is also testing another...

What is it? Orbital,non-reciprocating internal combustion engine. Piston/Cylinder structured Adaptable to all liquid or gaseous fuels Ultra efficient Patent # 7721687B1; & Patents Pending

Raw power!

You can buy anything on the internet – even, until recently, a rocket engine. NASA has since confiscated the engine, which contains technology that could form the basis of missiles as well as spacecraft. But the incident highlights security concerns at the space agency . Called the RL-10, this type of engine powered NASA's Saturn-I rocket in the 1960s. That was a precursor to the larger Saturn-V, which took astronauts to the moon. In a recent report, NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG) described how in July, it confiscated an RL-10 from a man who had put the engine up...

Eurojet offers Korea chance to join consortium By Jung Sung-ki Korea has a chance to join a European military engine consortium for joint manufacturing, development and marketing. The offer is conditional to the country deciding to power its new-generation aircraft with a European engine, according to a key executive from Eurojet Turbo GmbH. Eurojet is a four-nation military aerospace engine consortium involving the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and Germany. The consortium has already secured orders of 1,500 EJ200 engines internationally and expects hundreds more, according to Paul Herrmann, Eurojet’s vice president-sales, as India and other nations are considering buying Eurofighter...

A gallery of electric and hybrid vehicles on display at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany. Prototype and production hybrids and electric cars debuted this week at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, Germany. Car manufacturers showed off sportier designs—and some outlandish models. The i8, shown here, is BMW's first plug-in hybrid sports car. It can reach 62 miles per hour in 4.6 seconds, has a top speed of 155 mph, and can achieve 87 miles per gallon. It weighs 3,200 pounds. A version of the car will probably be on sale by the end of 2013. Credit: Internationale...

Rolls Royce Merlin 1/5 scale model by Barrington Hares

China defense industry faces homemade engine troubles Wednesday, July 20, 2011 By Robert Karniol, The Straits Times/Asia News Network SINGAPORE -- China can send a man into space and a rocket into lunar orbit but, paradoxically, its defense industry cannot build a top-end aircraft engine. Or an engine sophisticated enough to power advanced surface ships and armored vehicles. But this broad statement requires a caveat: China's defense industry can indeed design, develop and produce propulsion systems for relatively simple military platforms — certain transport aircraft, patrol boats, some types of main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers. But high-performance combat...