Tag: replaces
BBC Radio 2 fans confused as new voice replaces Steve Wright for afternoon slot
NASA replaces Artemis 1’s leaky fuel seals
NASA has completed a critical repair of its next-generation Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. On Friday, engineers replaced the leaky seal that forced the agency to scrub its most recent attempt to launch Artemis 1. On September 3rd, a fitting on one of the fuel lines to the SLS began leaking hydrogen. Ground crew at Kennedy Space Center tried to troubleshoot the problem three times, only for the leak to persist and force NASA to call off the launch attempt. On Friday, engineers also replaced the seal on a 4-inch hydrogen “bleed line” that was responsible for a smaller leak during an earlier August 29th launch attempt.
Engineers have replaced the seals associated with the hydrogen leak detected during the #Artemis I launch attempt on Sept. 3. The teams will inspect the new seals over the weekend and assess opportunities to launch: https://t.co/dT8A4UEkvdpic.twitter.com/xXzwbYOxMp
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) September 9, 2022
With the new gaskets in place, NASA plans to conduct a fueling test to verify they’re working as intended. The dry run will see engineers attempt to load the SLS with all 736,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and oxygen it would need during a regular flight. NASA hopes to successfully complete that test as early as September 17th. “This demonstration will allow engineers to check the new seals under cryogenic, or supercold, conditions as expected on launch day and before proceeding to the next launch attempt,” the agency said.
On Thursday, NASA announced it was targeting September 23rd for another go at putting Artemis 1 into space, with September 27th as a backup. Whether it can make those dates will depend on next week’s fueling test and a decision from the US Space Force. Flight regulations require that NASA test the battery of Artemis 1’s flight termination system every 20 days. That’s something it can only do within the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building. The Space Force previously granted the agency an extension on the 20-day deadline. NASA has now asked for another waiver.
Lincoln’s Concept Car Replaces Steering Wheel with Mouse-Like ‘Controller’
A video on CNN explains that “the fully autonomous vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals,” emphasizing that it’s a “concept car” — a show piece. (“It’s not set for production and won’t be sold to customers.”) But yes, it’s an electric car that replaces the steering wheel with what Lincoln is calling a “chess piece controller,” a hand-held, car-shaped piece of crystal that sits on a table in the center of the car. Drivers “grab it and move it around and move the actual vehicle,” Kemal Curic, Global Design Director for Lincoln Motor Company, tells the Drive. (The table-top surface apparently functions like a kind of map, with the hand-held piece acting as an avatar.) Or as the Drive puts it, “Remember being a kid and pushing a toy car around on a city rug? Lincoln designers do.”
The site ultimately concludes that the designs “really speak to one’s natural instinct of movement. As humans, whenever we want to move something we just pick it up and move it; so why should our cars be any different…? [C]oncept cars don’t have to make sense. They just need to be a cool representation of our wildest ideas.”
In addition, CNN explains, “Because the car drives itself, the front row seats can be turned to face the rear passengers.”
There’s other futuristic features. CNN’s video shows what Lincoln is calling “smart wheel covers” which fully encase the tires while offering a decorative electric light show (which doubles as a battery indicator). Even the floor is a massive digital screen, and there’s also a full-length hinged glass roof — an upper canopy which according to Engadget “can project realistic animated scenes onto the floor and ceiling.”
“Unfortunately many of the ideas presented here will inevitably be cut, going the way of Mercedes’ awesome, Avatar-inspired trunk hatch wigglers.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.