Balloons may be a primitive way of air travel, but they have a firm grounding in scientific research. And while the basics of using balloons for flight haven't changed, the materials, payload size, altitudes, etc., have.
NASA has a scientific balloon program at the Wallops Flight Facility, (Wallops Island, VA) (www.wff.nasa.gov/index.html). The agency generally launches up to 35 balloons a year. Payloads carry a variety of instrumentation to gather information on the atmosphere, the Sun, the near-Earth, and space environment and beyond. In addition, NASA is involved in a new project, the Ultra-Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) to develop new materials and design a standard gondola including power, telemetry/command, and an altitude control system. Flights are scheduled to launch in early 2001 and are planned to stay aloft for 100 days or more with scientific payloads of more than a ton.
Another scientific balloon site worth checking out is Boomerang (www.physics. ucsb.edu/~boomerang, which is short for Balloon Observations of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and Geophysics. The data gathered creates images of the early universe.
With LEDs dropping in price virtually every year, automakers have begun employing them, not only on luxury vehicles, but on entry-level models, as well.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
Advantech has launched a new series of motion-control I/O modules to meet the increased demands that come with more distributed industrial systems that require control of a growing number of axes and devices.
Using almost 200 light-emitting diodes in the front and back of the new 2014 CTS, Cadillac designers are showing how LEDs can change the character of a vehicle.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
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A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
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