Monthly Archives: January 2015

art presentarion- retro futurism

By: john wright

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art presentarion- retro futurism - Video

No matter which way you slice it, the new Zumwalt-class destroyer is one of the most futuristic ships in the world. That sort of futurism isn't limited to its operations on water. It starts even while it's being built, as they basically snap the whole thing into place like Lego bricks.

The USS Michael Monsoor, named after a US Navy SEAL killed during the Iraq War when he jumped on a grenade to save his teammates and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, is currently under construction at Bath Iron Works in Maine. Modern warships aren't entirely built from the keel up, as in traditional shipbuilding. Instead, huge sections of the ship are fabricated in blocks on land, and then attached together.

That's basically what you're seeing here. In the Michael Monsoor's case, the deckhouse, as the big sticking-up bit is known, was manufactured in Mississippi, then placed on a barge and shipped up to Maine for final assembly, where it was placed on top of the rest of the hull.

The deckhouse of the ship itself isn't made out of super-hardened steel, as you would find on a destroyer of old, but rather a carbon fiber-balsawood (yes, balsawood, the same as you find on model airplanes) composite. Carbon fiber itself is incredibly strong, and by using it in the deckhouse up top, it saves a ton of weight and lowers the center of mass in the tumblehome hull design. The carbon fiber-balsa combination also resists corrosion and adds to the boat's already considerable stealthiness, which are two huge factors in building a ship of the future.

Despite the lightweight construction, the deckhouse still weighs about 1000 tons, making this an incredibly impressive lifting job in its own right. But once everything was in place and the deckhouse was up in the air, the only thing left to do was slide the rest of the 610-foot-long ship underneath it. And then, you know, install all the radars, antennas, and everything else that goes inside it, and integrate it all together.

But from the sounds that the Navy is making, it appears as if it's all going well. Expect to see the USS Michael Monsoor in commission in 2016.

Update: We've changed the headline to reflect a slight wording issue. In Navy terms, the "head" is the toilet. The deckhouse is not a giant toilet, despite our wildest dreams.

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Watch The Deckhouse Of The Most Futuristic Ship Drop Into Place

Concept art for Firefly's first launch system. (Credit: Firefly Space Systems)

Texas-based Space startup Firefly Space Systems announced today that the company has signed a Space Act agreement with NASA.

Founded in January 2013, Firefly is focused on building a reusable launch system that is geared towards the small satellite market. Its first rocket, Firefly Alpha, is planned to be able to lift 453 kg into low Earth orbit and is slated to launch in 2017. It will be followed by its second system, Firefly Beta, which will be able to deliver 1114 kg to low Earth orbit.

The reason why Firefly exists is that if you look at emergence of space companies, you can see that a large number of them are smallsat companies, Fireflys VP of Business Development Maureen Gannon told me. That growth in the smallsat market is really what were seeing as opportunity for our company.

One big area where Firefly aims to be competitive is cost. According to Gannon, the company is targeting a launch cost of $8-9 million. By contrast, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch costs $61.2 million.

Four years from start to launch is an aggressive schedule for any space company. Thats one area where the agreement with NASA comes in. Under this agreement, NASA and Firefly have agreed to collaborate on the engineering and design of the Firefly Alpha system. This includes areas of technical consultation, engineering services, and concept/design reviews, according to a press release. (However, theres no financial aspect to the agreement.)

The other way that Firefly is trying to reach its goal is by shifting the normal process through which rockets are developed. To that end, the company has partnered with ANSYS, which makes physics-based simulation software for engineering firms.

Our simulation software allows companies to develop in a different way, Rob Smith, ANSYSs Aerospace and Defense Industry director told me. The old way was to come up with an idea, sketch it, prototype it and test until it breaks. Its expensive and time consuming.

Firefly has been able to use the simulation software, which runs on the Texas Advanced Computing Centers Stampede supercomputer, to speed up their development process.

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Firefly Space Systems Inks Space Act Deal With NASA