The binding on our copy of The Cottage Bee Keeper (New York, 1851) truly is the bee’s knees! #PublishersBindingThursday
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Hey so, I need to know what kinda bird that is cuz I want 20 right now
POLISH FRIZZLE CHICKEN
A Beginner’s Guide to Sustainable Aviation
Do you dream of catching a short flight between cities or journeying across the globe? The aviation industry currently makes up 2-3% of all carbon emissions, but the shift toward electric and hybrid aircraft will help tackle climate change and minimize the environmental impacts of commercial aviation.
Sustainable flight will revolutionize the way we travel. From battery-powered aircraft that reduce fuel consumption, to new lightweight materials that can improve safety and efficiency during flight, here are a few important things to know about the world of sustainable aviation, and what it takes to make air travel cleaner and safer for our planet.
What is Electrified Aircraft Propulsion?
Similar to electric or hybrid-electric cars, sustainable aircraft designs feature electric powertrain systems – the system of components that help propel an aircraft during flight – to help reduce fuel use and emissions. Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) systems let aircraft work using electric motors, and alternative fuels, rather than relying solely on traditional jet engines burning fossil fuels. At NASA, we’re developing innovative EAP technologies ranging from advanced electric machines designed to increase power and performance to new aircraft materials developed to minimize weight and reduce fuel usage.
What are the challenges with electrifying flight?
Unlike electric vehicles on the ground, electrified aircraft face greater challenges when managing weight and heat while they’re running. In order to ensure maximum efficiency and safety, aircraft components must be designed with minimal weight to help reduce the amount of drag slowing the plane down and causing excess fuel burn. Electrified aircraft must also have advanced thermal management systems to help transfer heat effectively, and ensure onboard systems are kept cool to avoid damage.
Our research and development of EAP technologies offer innovative solutions to these challenges. Designed to keep weight at a minimum, aircraft components such as the High Efficiency Megawatt Motor feature advanced technology that enable increased power and efficiency with three times less heat loss and weight than traditional aircraft motors. New material technologies such as electrical insulation also help transport heat more effectively to minimize heat buildup and are made of lightweight materials to ensure efficiency at high altitudes.
What are the benefits of sustainable aviation?
From an environmental perspective, aircraft electrification offers unique opportunities to lower global emissions and minimize reliance on fossil fuels. The introduction of hybrid- or fully electric aircraft will significantly reduce overall fuel consumption by generating power and thrust via electricity and electric motors. Lightweight EAP systems and components can also help improve aircraft efficiency and reduce fuel burn, while using non-conventional, alternative fuels can help reduce harmful emissions. From an economic standpoint, EAP technologies could help strengthen commercial airliner markets with aircraft designed for around 180 passengers. Green technologies can also benefit both airline companies and you when you fly by potentially reducing aircraft maintenance and in-flight energy costs, making air travel more affordable.
When will sustainable flight take off?
To help turn visions of eco-friendly air travel into reality, we’re teaming up with industry to test EAP technologies on aircraft and introduce them to the U.S. commercial aviation fleet no later than 2035.
Under our Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project, we will conduct ground and flight tests using existing aircraft modified with EAP systems to assist in transitioning these technologies into commercial products. Flight demonstrations will also enable us to identify key risks and barriers associated with integrating new EAP systems into commercial airliners and develop new standards for future EAP aircraft as they take to the skies within the next decade.
There you have it: a quick glimpse into the world of sustainable aviation, and the shift towards keeping our skies cleaner and safer. As we embark on this journey, climb aboard and stay up to date on our latest technology developments and future flight demonstrations.
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Space is a Dusty Place!
When you look at pictures of space, do you know what you’re actually seeing? A lot of the time the answer is dust!
HII region seen by Chandra X-ray Observatory
Clouds of dust drift through our galaxy. Telescopes can take pictures of these clouds when stars light them up. Who knew dust could be so beautiful? But it’s more than just pretty – we can learn a lot from it, too!
Stars like our Sun are born in dust clouds. Over time, leftover dust clumps together to help form planets. That makes it a little less dusty.
At certain times of the year, a band of sun-reflecting dust from the inner Solar System appears prominently just after sunset -- or just before sunrise -- and is called zodiacal light.
Credit: Ruslan Merzlyakov/astrorms
But later, objects like comets and asteroids can create new dust by breaking up into tiny rocks. In our solar system, these rocky grains are called zodiacal dust. That’s because it’s mostly visible near the constellations of the zodiac. We can see the hazy glow it creates just after sunset or shortly before dawn sometimes, like in the picture above.
Around other stars, it’s called exozodiacal dust. Try saying that five times fast! It makes it hazy there too, so it can be hard to see distant planets.
Our Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will be really good at seeing how much of this dust is swirling around nearby stars. That will help future telescopes know the best places to look to find planets like Earth!
Roman will also see more distant objects. It will peer inside dust clouds where new stars are bursting into life. That will help our James Webb Space Telescope know where to look to find baby planets. Webb can zoom in for a more detailed look at these young worlds by seeing how they filter their host star’s light.
Roman will see huge patches of the sky – much bigger than our Hubble and Webb telescopes can see. These missions will team up to explore all kinds of cosmic mysteries!
Learn more about the exciting science Roman will investigate on Twitter and Facebook.
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Happy Frog Friday! 🐸
🐸 Gliding leaf frogs (Agalychnis spurrelli) are nocturnal natives of tropical rainforests in Central and South America.
SciArt by J. Green for the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1913). View more in the Biodiversity Heritage Library with thanks to the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives for digitizing.
Watercolor illustrations of flowers from Philip Henry Gosse’s 1844 sketchbook Referenda for Jamaica, rough sketches of plants & animals to help in identification.
Full text here.
Denarius minted by L. Plaetorius Cestianus in the summer or autumn of 42 BCE, from a military mint under the control of M. Junius Brutus and C. Cassius Longinus. The coin celebrates Brutus and Cassius' claim to have liberated Rome by assassinating C. Julius Caesar. On the obverse, the head of Brutus, identified as IMP(ERATOR); on the reverse, the pileus, a cap worn by freed slaves, between two daggers with the inscription EID(IBUS) MAR(TIIS) = "On the Ides of March". Photo credit: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com
New species alert! 📢
Atolla is one of the most common residents of the ocean’s midnight zone. This deep-sea crown jelly is found worldwide and can be abundant in deep water. Its bell has a signature scarlet color and bears one tentacle much longer than the rest. When MBARI researchers spotted a jelly that looked like Atolla, but lacked the telltale trailing tentacle, their curiosity was piqued.
MBARI researchers have published the scientific description of a large new species of Atolla. They’ve named their discovery Atolla reynoldsi in honor of Jeff Reynolds, the first volunteer @montereybayaquarium, MBARI’s education and conservation partner. Learn more about the new species on our website.
Atolla-wwww yeah!!
Gone, but not forgotten! The dodo went extinct in the 1600s, when people and other predators invaded its island home. Mauritius, east of Madagascar, is the only place dodos ever lived.🦤
While the birds died out before photography, their skeletons offer clues to what they were like. For example, this bird couldn’t fly—it had small wings for a bird of its size, its sternum has no keel (the support birds need for flight muscles), and it had thick leg bones made for walking. See this specimen up close in the Hall of Biodiversity!
Photo: D. Finnin/© AMNH
#dodo #musuems #amnh #NaturalHistory #extinction #biodiversity #birds #AnimalFacts (at American Museum of Natural History)
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brigitttt
