Objectivist Mechanical Engineers

[Boydstun 254]

.

Researchers are beginning to put bacteria and viruses to work producing electricity.

[Boydstun 254]

.

Pop-up Fabrication of Microrobots

[moralist 11]

I'm just wondering about other Objectivist mechanical engineers as far as their industry or research area of choice. I'll soon be graduating and pursuing master's studies in mechanical engineering myself, and at this point my ideal industry is small arms (FN, HK, Colt...etc.). So what are you other MechEs doing? Anyone trying to design super efficient engines like JG in Atlas Shrugged or what? Is anyone doing research instead of industry? Any advice for kids like me?

I'm an amateur with no schooling or degree who enjoys mechanical engineering as a hobby. The latest design project I've been working on is this intake manifold on my engine. It's a completely different design from the original manifold...

I think you chose a really cool field where you can truly benefit Americans. Arms are constantly evolving, and engineers are needed to keep pushing the envelope.

Edited December 17, 2012 by moralist

[Boydstun 254]

.

Would Be

Would be the rise to wonder,

. . . . this click-shut night.

To those trains’ risen rumbles,

. . . . this silk tie tight.

Would be to traction motor,

. . . . copper, shellac.

To axles’ bright ten-thousandths,

. . . . castings in stack.

Would be for tons two hundred,

. . . . high cranes glide free.

To locomotive thunder,

. . . . we who would be.

(Copyright 2013 by Stephen C. Boydstun)

Edited January 4, 2013 by Boydstun

[Boydstun 254]

.

Microbattery Advance

[Boydstun 254]

.

After WWII our father worked as a civilian for the US Air Force. We lived outside the base called Tinker. In the 1950’s, we children would hear him and his buddies sometimes muse about distant-future possibilities of ray weapons. In those days, they called them Buck Rogers weapons. Here is a bit of ray weapon attainment today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjXXRfwrHg.

[Boydstun 254]

.

Gotthard Base Tunnel Opens

[Boydstun 254]

.

Plants and the Human Mind to the Rescue

[Reidy 115]

If only Popeye had lived to see this day.

[Boydstun 254]

 

RoBeetle

[Boydstun 254]

OSIRIS-REx grabs asteroid dirt.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Boydstun

[Boydstun 254]

 

The four main engines of NASA’s new megarocket will be test-fired together today in a full-duration first-stage burn. This stage of the rocket has these liquid hydrogen engines plus solid-fuel booster rockets. This is the rocket by which the US aims to return men to the moon.

[merjet 71]

Aw, shucks. It's not nearby. NASA's Glenn Research Center is only 9 miles away. They open it to visitors occasionally and we toured it a few years ago. There are virtual tours here.

We also attended a Science Cafe Cleveland event in February. The speakers were from NASA Glenn Research Center. Speaker David McKissock was hilarious, especially when he talked about working with the Russians. He said the Russians have a very different perspective than Americans.

The Science Cafe has not met the latest few months due to the pandemic. We have much missed going when there are topics like these.

We attended this one a few years ago. The speaker brought a guest, a client with a prosthetic arm, who awed the audience with what he could do with it.

 

Edited January 16 by merjet

[Boydstun 254]

 

NASA finds cause of early shutdown of megarocket 4-engine stationary test.

 

[TommyJo 0]

A very large percentage of NASA's work is outsourced. How likely do you think they will have to abandon the development of their own rocket in favor of a private company? Wouldn't that be the best solution? In case a private company can do it faster and cheaper.

[Boydstun 254]

1 hour ago, TommyJo said:

A very large percentage of NASA's work is outsourced. How likely do you think they will have to abandon the development of their own rocket in favor of a private company? Wouldn't that be the best solution? In case a private company can do it faster and cheaper.

Interesting questions. I don't know. The four major contractors for SLS are linked here. I would bet this much: the rocketry that NASA is itself managing would be without commercial justification without the government funding for the scientific research the payloads make possible.

Private companies also provide the rockets for Defense payloads such as USAF DSX and more secret earth-orbit craft. I don't know and do wonder how much of the money some private companies have for their own space projects is from private investment with hope of (non-governmental sourced) commercial returns and how much is from profits won from government contracts in government space projects.

[TommyJo 0]

I think that at the beginning of its journey, each private space company depends on government orders for more than 70 percent. I think this helps a lot of these companies to earn credibility (or trust). But times are changing. It seems that in the near future, space companies will be able to develop without the help of governments. The more people need services from space (satellites, weather stations, 6g, etc.), the more we will rely on private companies.