Now, Swiss pilot André Borscherg is attempting the world’s first manned 24-hour flight in a solar-powered aircraft, which began this morning when he took off in the Solar Impulse HB-SIA.
The plane, which is equipped with 12,000 solar cells on its wings, will attempt to fly both during the light of day and the dark of night. If this mission is successful, it will be the longest and highest flight ever made by a solar plane.
This year, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (a.k.a the “money factory”) is all about the Benjamins. The new $100 bill was unveiled this April, and it looks to be much flashier than its predecessors. But this bill, the most technologically advanced the country has ever printed, was specially engineered not only to look cool but also to discourage criminal copycats.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs), also known as roadside bombs, are the deadliest threat facing U.S. troops in the Afghanistan War and they are the weapon of choice for many insurgent groups.
To better protect U.S. troops from IEDs, civilian mechanics at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama have built the Assault Breacher Vehicle – a 64-ton tank nicknamed “the Shredder.”
Is Spider Man’s wall-climbing ability impossible outside comic books? One 13-year-old certainly didn’t think so. Hibiki Kono of Cambridge, England has created his own wall-scaling suction device for a school project using recycled vacuum cleaners. Check it out:
One of the greatest challenges and sources of opportunity for modern engineers is thinking up ways to repurpose the waste material that pervades our planet. Many organizations are already finding clever ways to tackle this issue. For example, every year the PBS show Design Squad holds a “Trash to Treasure” competition, which challenges students to design something useful produced from waste materials. Now meet Waste for Life, a non-profit coalition of students, designers, and engineers who are working in Argentina and Lesotho to upcycle waste into usable materials:
We previously reported that the world’s first solar-powered blimp is planning to cross the English Channel.
