Thanks for writing this. I’m an aerodynamicist at one of the Big 3 (Big 2.5 these days) and I always love seeing our craft get exposure!

That’s... gross... and also plausible. I think.

Interesting that this is exactly at seating level... and not anywhere near the fuel storage, baggage compartment, or other explodey things like the oxygen bottles or the fire suppression bottles (which would probably be armed with squibs). And if it was a rupture related to something like a window failure, there…

Sam Debater hit the nail on the head. The amount of energy required to enter orbit of Earth on return from pretty much anywhere would be substantial. It’s likely no more expensive and a lot less risky to just dump the used module and send up a new one for each mission. Also, if you kept the service module thing in…

Ha haa!

I guess calling it a 3 liter turbo car a 330ti wasn’t an option? Because that would have been cool.

Yeah, that’s always step one before even entering the park. Air down in the parking lot and tie down your tool box! You wouldn’t even be able to get out of the parking lot otherwise. We go up to the dunes several times a year, so the only surprise was how quickly the newest and most advanced vehicle in our group…

A friend took his new Cherokee Trailhawk to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes here in Michigan last year and was unpleasantly surprised when the rear diff and transmission overheated, forcing him into FWD half way up a modest hill. So keep that in mind.

I hear that one has a bullet button that lets it kill autonomously without a background check!

Those are semi-auto Assault Knives!

that’s lacist

They do use thrust to achieve flight. A helicopter’s rotor is no different than a propeller on a small plane with the exception of cyclic control (in addition to collective/prop pitch control). The whole “rotor blade is acting like a wing” discussion is referring to the fact that they don’t build force purely by…

... which is why I prefer to drive old cars. The newest car in my fleet is 17 years old (with three pedals) and I have no plans to change that any time soon.

Especially for something they plan to send into a “bullet rich environment”!

Helicopters certainly DO blow air downwards. I know this because I’m an aeronautical engineer. Watch a video of a helicopter hovering over water and you will very clearly see the impingement pattern of the downwash. If they didn’t blow air down, they would be in violation of the laws of physics (Conservation of…

Buy a Ford?! I refuse to let The Man tell me what to do with my life!

A few thoughts:

I’m a blue-badge in Allen Park and this is definitely not a white-collar thing. It’s just at the UAW shops, as far as I can tell. I own an old Jeep, an old Corvette, and an old Mercedes and I’ll be damned if I am going to buy an overweight and overly complex pile of potential problems (which is all new cars are to me).

Welcome to the Internet. You must be new here.

Looks so odd with all the shields and turbos installed...