“That all 379 passengers and crew aboard Japan Airlines Flight 516 survived after the airliner collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft in Tokyo on Tuesday is a miracle — but an explicable one, with valuable lessons.”
From Axios.
01 / 05
3 Reasons Why Everyone Aboard Japan Airlines Flight 516 Survived
“Help may at last be on the way for the Nepali Sherpas who carry heavy loads for foreign climbers through treacherous sections of the world’s tallest peak.
When the main climbing season begins next month on Mount Everest, expedition companies will test drones that can ferry loads as heavy as 35 pounds in the high altitudes, bring back ladders used to set the climbing routes, and remove waste that is typically left behind.
Goods that would normally take seven hours to be transported by foot from Everest’s base camp to Camp I can be airlifted within 15 minutes. By lightening the Sherpas’ burdens, drone operators hope that the chances of fatal accidents — which have risen as climate change has accelerated snowmelt — can now be reduced.”
From New York Times.
“Stratospheric balloon company Sceye recently completed a feat that heralds the increased use of a new layer of the atmosphere for human exploration, the company told Axios exclusively.
Why it matters: The company’s helium-filled balloons can serve as an observation platform that occupies a niche between drones flying at lower altitudes and satellites orbiting above the planet.
This makes them attractive for Earth-observing applications, including climate-related monitoring and research.”
From Axios.
“When the experimental XB-1 aircraft broke the sound barrier three times during its first supersonic flight on 28 January, it did not produce a sonic boom audible from the ground…
the XB-1 took advantage of a physics phenomenon called the Mach cutoff. Because sound moves more slowly at higher altitudes, an aircraft breaching the sound barrier at those heights will produce a boom that cannot reach the ground – if the boom moves downward, the increasing speed of sound will deflect it, pushing its shock waves upward instead.”
From New Scientist.
“A prototype of a passenger jet designed to succeed the supersonic Concorde broke the sound barrier for the first time on Tuesday above the Mojave Desert in California.
Why it matters: Exceeding Mach 1 speed — 770 miles per hour — is an important milestone in the quest by Boom Supersonic, a Denver-based startup, to resurrect high-speed air travel 22 years after the Concorde retired.”
From Axios.