Ditto for 495 around DC, at least when traffic hasn’t slowed to a crawl. On my early morning commutes, the left lane is moving at 75+. I’ve been passed by state troopers multiple times while going 70-75mph. They don’t seem to pull people if traffic is moving well, as long as you’re not driving like a lunatic.

I originally came here to leave a snarky comment about how gimmicky this thing looks. But after reading through the article... I’m actually quite impressed. It’s a pretty clever mechanism and seems really useful.

Yesss.. great points!

Yeah I’m gonna agree here. There are plenty of merges like this in the DC area where you’ll be backed up for miles if you don’t utilize an extra wide lane like that one.

Yes, but drag losses still pale in comparison to the energy requirement for accelerating up to orbital velocity.

There is a savings, but it is surprisingly tiny. Most of the energy provided by a launch vehicle goes into accelerating up to orbital velocity, not orbital altitude. For reference, the ISS in LEO is going ~7.6km/s, or 17,000 mph.

The Stratolauncher essentially takes the place of an expensive, normally non-reusable first stage

That part was hilarious... I guess he panics? Thinks he can jump the wall?

Jesus... you couldn’t run this $90K machine through the carwash before taking the pics?

The fender flare on the back could have been done better. I think the back looks worse, not better.

I agree (as a biased Audi A4 owner... If you’ve found a clean and ageless design, no point in cramming all the latest car design trends in it every year.

True, I should have said everyone who plowed into the back of someone else is at fault. (Assuming they were not pushed by someone behind them).

Always wondered what the inspiration for this sound effect was.

The reality is that they’re all at fault. In low visibility, you should drive at a speed that allows you to come to a full stop within your range of visibility.

Aaaand how often do those guys shoot themselves in the hand?

Also doesn’t help that most rockets have a thrust-to-weight ratio only slightly greater than 1.0 on the pad, when they’re full of fuel.

Can you even buy pickup trucks in manual anymore? Don’t think I’ve seen a truck younger than 10yrs with a stick. Yet another reason why I will probably never buy a truck.

No doubt it’s looks and probably drives great... but I feel like the only people who will buy it are the ones who are rich enough that buying a $200,000 car is no more financial burden than a $20,000 car.

I drove a RHS manual on my honeymoon to Scotland and had a blast. The shifting was pretty easy to get the hang of. My only struggle was that I had a tendency to drift close to the edge of the road; instead of wanting to go in the right lane, my brain just wanted me to be in the left side of the lane.

I lived in the BVI till I was 7, and the drivers were crazy enough that I can still remember them.