deicer

With the latest delay, I will reiterate two things I have said. I believe it will 'return' to earth empty, and I wouldn't strap my keister into it. https://www.dw.com/en/boeing-starliner-return-to-earth-delayed-again-no-date-set/a-69444346 Boeing Starliner return to Earth delayed again, no date set NASA and Boeing have decided to indefinitely postpone the return of the Starliner spacecraft from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth, NASA said in a statement on Friday. The two-astronaut mission, known as Crew Flight Test (CFT), was set to return to Earth on June 26. It had been initially set to last about eight days but was later extended. When will Boeing Starliner return to Earth? "We are taking our time and following our standard mission management team process," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program. The mission managers are assessing future return options following the station's two planned spacewalks on Monday, June 24, and Tuesday, July 2, according to NASA. "We are letting the data drive our decision making relative to managing the small helium system leaks and thruster performance we observed during rendezvous and docking," Stitch said, assuring that the Starliner is performing well in orbit while docked to the space station. According to NASA's statement, the crew "is not pressed for time to leave the station since there are plenty of supplies in orbit, and the station's schedule is relatively open through mid-August."

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1180223436448263

Strike action off the table, for now. https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/westjet-and-unionized-mechanics-agree-to-resume-talks-strike-action-is-off-the-table-1.2087426 WestJet and unionized mechanics agree to resume talks; strike action is off the table The threat of strike action by unionized mechanics at WestJet has been dropped after both sides agreed to return to the bargaining table. An overnight statement says the air carrier appeared before the Canadian Industrial Relations Board to discuss arbitration options with its Aircraft Maintenance Engineers and Tech Ops employees. CIRB officials say more information is needed from both sides before deciding whether arbitration is the best way to reach a first-time collective bargaining agreement. In the meantime, both parties have jointly agreed to return to the bargaining table and continue working towards a resolution. Union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative deal last week and voiced opposition to the airline's request for arbitration.

I still think the odds are fairly even that the capsule is going to return empty.

Maybe it's because the majority of manufacturers are selling more? What industry wouldn't want to be selling 50 to 80% more?

While I find that interesting as well, it seems more punitive to enforce the fine rather than incarceration.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/zero-emission-vehicle-registrations-jump-53-per-cent-in-the-first-quarter-statcan-1.2085305 Zero-emission vehicle registrations jump 53 per cent in the first quarter: StatCan Significantly more Canadians were driving zero-emissions vehicles in the first quarter compared with a year ago. Statistics Canada says zero-emission vehicle registrations jumped 53 per cent in the first quarter year-over-year. The federal agency says 46,744 new zero-emission vehicles were registered in the first quarter, making up 11.3 per cent of total new vehicle registrations. The agency says battery electric cars made up 73 per cent of total zero-emission vehicle registrations, while plug-in hybrids were at 27 per cent. Overall, the agency says new vehicle registrations were up 16.6 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter, but were down 3.1 per cent compared with the fourth quarter of 2023.

So the article basically says it isn't because of the vehicles, it's the lack of charging stations for people who can't charge at home. Here's a website with a pretty comprehensive map for charging stations across Canada. Lots in cities, fewer in rural locations, but growing. https://chargehub.com/map/#/en/map

http://continentaldiesel.com/typo3/index.php?id=2&L=1 https://www.deltahawk.com/engines/ https://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft-diesel-aircraft-engines-revolution/

Follow the facts and not the fossil fuel company narrative. https://www.iea.org/news/massive-expansion-of-renewable-power-opens-door-to-achieving-global-tripling-goal-set-at-cop28 Massive expansion of renewable power opens door to achieving global tripling goal set at COP28 World added 50% more renewable capacity in 2023 than in 2022 and next 5 years will see fastest growth yet, but lack of financing for emerging and developing economies is key issue The world’s capacity to generate renewable electricity is expanding faster than at any time in the last three decades, giving it a real chance of achieving the goal of tripling global capacity by 2030 that governments set at the COP28 climate change conference last month, the IEA says in a new report. The amount of renewable energy capacity added to energy systems around the world grew by 50% in 2023, reaching almost 510 gigawatts (GW), with solar PV accounting for three-quarters of additions worldwide, according to Renewables 2023, the latest edition of the IEA’s annual market report on the sector. The largest growth took place in China, which commissioned as much solar PV in 2023 as the entire world did in 2022, while China’s wind power additions rose by 66% year-on-year. The increases in renewable energy capacity in Europe, the United States and Brazil also hit all-time highs. The latest analysis is the first comprehensive assessment of global renewable energy deployment trends since the conclusion of the COP28 conference in Dubai in December. The report shows that under existing policies and market conditions, global renewable power capacity is now expected to grow to 7 300 GW over the 2023-28 period covered by the forecast. Solar PV and wind account for 95% of the expansion, with renewables overtaking coal to become the largest source of global electricity generation by early 2025. But despite the unprecedented growth over the past 12 months, the world needs to go further to triple capacity by 2030, which countries agreed to do at COP28. Solar PV and onshore wind deployment through 2028 is expected to more than double in the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil, compared with the last five years. Prices for solar PV modules in 2023 declined by almost 50% year-on-year, with cost reductions and fast deployment set to continue. This is because global manufacturing capacity is forecast to reach 1 100 GW by the end of 2024, significantly exceeding demand. By contrast, the wind industry (outside of China) is facing a more challenging environment due to a combination of ongoing supply chain disruption, higher costs and long permitting timelines, which require stronger policy attention.

Do you think they are taking the time to arrange alternate transport for the two astronauts meaning they would have the Starliner capsule return empty?

In keeping with the D-Day anniversary, here is an archive photo of the valve-timing gears from the Bristol Hercules radial engine. This was a 14-cylinder two-row radial sleeve aero engine produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1939. It powered the Bristol Beaufighter heavy fighter, and was commonly used on British bombers at the time. This engine was designed on drawing boards, using manual drawing instruments and 2D orthogonal projections. No 3D solids, no CAD simulations to check for geometric interference.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/03/15/analysis/high-gas-prices-some-canadians-are-filling-under-35-cents-litre High gas prices? Some Canadians are filling up for under 35 cents a ‘litre’ Gasoline prices are surging. That's forcing owners of gasoline-burning cars to pay a lot more to drive around. In some areas of Canada, gasoline now costs more than $2 a litre. Canadians who own electric-powered vehicles (EVs), however, are filling up for less than 35 cents per "litre equivalent." The reason EVs are so much cheaper to fuel is because they only require a quarter as much energy to drive them around. A rough rule of thumb for comparing fuel prices is that two kilowatt-hours (kWh) in an EV provides the same driving energy as one litre of gasoline does in a gasoline-burner. (See the endnotes for all the geeky details.) My chart below lets you compare the current costs of filling up with gasoline versus electricity in major cities across Canada. Those tall red coin stacks show the average price for gasoline in each city right now. The short gold coin stacks show the local price for the litre equivalent of two kWh of electricity for an EV. For example, the bars on the far left show that in Vancouver, it currently costs nine times more to drive with gasoline than with electricity. And since all of B.C.'s gasoline is imported, a lot of the money spent at the pump leaves the province. In contrast, filling EVs with made-in-B.C. electricity keeps those energy dollars and energy jobs in the province. In many other cities — like Calgary, Toronto, Moncton and St. John's — gasoline currently costs seven times more to drive on than local electricity. The biggest winners in Canada right now are EV drivers in Quebec. As the chart shows, charging an EV at home in Montreal costs around 13 cents per litre equivalent. Oh, and as a very nice bonus, Quebec's electricity is also 700 times less climate-polluting to drive on than burning gasoline. (Yes, 700 times cleaner … see endnotes for details.) Despite electricity being many times cheaper and cleaner for Canadian drivers, only three per cent of the new passenger vehicles bought in Canada last year were all-electric EVs. That's five times fewer than the number Europeans bought. It's also fewer than Americans bought. It's even below the global average. The reason our peers in many other nations are choosing electric over gasoline far more often is because their governments introduced policies that make EVs the better choice for them. These policies are helping their citizens lock in a future of lower fuel costs, less deadly air pollution and declining climate emissions. If Canada's federal and provincial governments want to provide the same benefits to Canadians, they know how to do it. For example, Canada could adopt the policy package that has worked so spectacularly well in Norway — where 80 per cent of the new cars Norwegians buy now are all-electric EVs. If that northern oil-exporting nation can do it, surely ours can, too. ********* Endnotes 2 kWh for an EV = 1 litre gasoline. This is the rough rule of thumb I used in this article to compare fuel costs. Here's the data and math: One litre of gasoline — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says a litre of gasoline contains 8.9 kWh of heat energy, but that just 20 per cent of that energy ends up turning the wheels. The rest is lost in friction and waste heat. That means each litre of gasoline supplies 1.8 kWh of driving energy (math: 8.9 kWh x 20% = 1.8 kWh). A litre equivalent in electricity — EVs are far more energy-efficient. The EPA says that 88 per cent of the electricity put into an EV makes it to the wheels. So, to deliver a "litre equivalent" of 1.8 kWh in driving energy to the wheels requires fuelling an EV with two kWh from the grid (math: 2 kWh x 88% = 1.8 kWh). CO2 from filling up in Quebec — Burning a litre of gasoline emits 2,350 grams of carbon dioxide (gCO2). Quebec's electricity emits 3.4 gCO2 to generate the litre equivalent of two kWh for an EV (see Canada's National Inventory Report, Part 3). That makes gasoline 700 times more climate-polluting to drive on than Quebec's electricity. Gas prices — The gas prices in my chart are per-litre averages for each city on March 10, according to the popular GasBuddy.com. Electricity prices — The electricity prices in my chart are the average cost in each city for two kWh (a litre equivalent), according to Hydro Quebec's "2021 Comparison of Electricity Prices in Major North American Cities" report. Fuel costs for average Canadian passenger vehicle — The average new car in Canada will burn 28,000 litres (21 tonnes of gasoline) over a 200,000-mile lifespan. At $1.50 per litre, the gasoline bill would add up to $42,000. At $0.14 per kWh, the electricity to drive an equivalent EV would cost $8,000.

f you needed an idea of the amount of flak the Germans put up against the paratroopers and gliders on D-Day, here’s Captain Thomas Francis Mantell Jr DFC C-47. `Vulture’s Delight' was a C-47 Glider tug assigned to the 96th Troop Carrier Squadron, despite the heavy damage and only having one engine, Mantell completed his mission and returned safely.