This is a very wild idea to me and I don’t think that many people would get behind the idea of an aircraft powered by a conventional nuclear reactor. However, if it were a new kind of nuclear energy that produces little radiation the support for a massive aircraft powered by a reactor using low energy nuclear reaction or LENR technology might make such an aircraft possible. LENR has been researched for decades and according to NASA Langley energy expert Joe Zawodny experimental evidence has proven LENR might be an extremely clean energy source.

The hope is that a LENR reactor might be fitted inside an extremely large aircraft that would stay in flight on a semi-permanent basis. The aircraft would fly using its LENR power plant with a normal chemical fuel reservoir for backup energy. The aircraft in the concept drawing above has two landing strips on its back. The flying machine has such a massive size that other normally sized aircraft could take off from the ground, land on the back of the giant LENR aircraft and then fly close to their destination.

Once near their destination the conventional aircraft could take back off from the back of the giant LENR machine and then land on the ground. The thought is that an air transport scheme like this could save 40% of the fuel required for a conventional flight on a 1000km route and on a longer 10,000km route; the savings could be as high as 85-90%. That sounds pretty good to me, but we have a long way to go before a LENR aircraft can prowl the skies. The main problem is that so far no LENR device has been demonstrated that can be turned on and off at will.

[via Aviationweek]

EADS has a large cash cushion of some EUR12 billion that it can dip into if necessary to help customer airlines of its Airbus division if they experience financing difficulties. But Gallois said this facility will be used sparingly. “We’re not bankers,” he said, noting that in the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 the company had set a ceiling for such financing aid of EUR1 billion but this had never been reached. At that time, state-backed export credit financing agencies stepped in to ease the financing crunch, helping to finance about one-third of Airbus deliveries during that period, compared to about one-fifth at present.

 

“We are prepared to make an effort as regards financing our sales, but only in a reasonable way,” he said. “We can increase our efforts, but there are limits that we can’t cross,” he went on.

 

Rival plane maker Boeing Co (BA) recently called on cash-rich Middle East banks and investors to plug a potential financing shortfall of its aircraft as European banks reel from the region’s sovereign debt crisis.

 

Dubai-based Emirates Airline’s president Tim Clark told Dow Jones in late September that some French banks that have long helped fund its huge aircraft investment program are showing signs of retreating in the face of the region’s sovereign debt crisis.

 

Recent speculation about a possible liquidity crunch at some big French banks traditionally involved in aircraft finance–something that the banks and others have denied–has raised questions over their near-term role in the sector.

His assessment of the economy?

Vatikan-Rom-Triple-Screen-Wallpaper (Triple-Screen-Wallpaper)

Date: So 04 Okt 2009 15:10:21 CEST

Vatikan-Rom-Triple-Screen-Wallpaper (Triple-Screen-Wallpaper)

Without a doubt the most popular size of laptops are the 15.4″ models. These models often bridge the gap between performance and mobility. This time of year we see a drastic increase in laptop sales, especially the 15.4″ models. I’ve been lucky enough to get a hold of the HP Pavilion DV6415US notebook. This is a popular and inexpensive 15.4″ that you’ll see all over college campuses. In this article I’m going to give it a quick review. First though lets pop the hood and take a look at a few of the basics.

Hardware:

Processor: 1.86 GHz Intel Pentium T2130 dual-core

Storage Space: a 160 GB (Serial ATA) hard disk

RAM: 1 GB of RAM (expandable to a 2 GB max)

Optical Drive: a CD R/RW with integrated 8x LightScribe DVD -/+ burner

Dimensions: 14.0″ x 10.1″ x 1.5″ and weighs in at about 6lbs.

Graphics Accelerator: Integrated Intel GMA 950 video card

This notebook has a decent batter life of about a 2hr average, and of course that depends on how hard the notebook is running. This notebook has a nice processor in the 1.8Ghz Intel however this is limited by the lack of RAM. In my opinion Vista needs at least 2GB of RAM to operate smoothly. In fact a number of the visual features of Vista are disabled on notebooks with less than 2GB of RAM. The hard drive is decent however I would have liked to see something larger. The size is nice, about average and the weight is OK at 6lbs.

Connectivity:

3 2.0 USB ports (The gold standard in peripheral connectivity use with the likes of mice, keyboards, printers, and iPods)

Integrated Wireless

1 FireWire port (these ports are used for high speed data transfer typically between digital camcorders or other compatible PCs)

1 Ethernet port (so that this notebook can dial up an internet connection)

1 VGA port (this is a typical monitor connection)

1 S-Video port (this is used as a typical projector connection, and sometimes a compatible TV)

1 ExpressCard slot (to add temporary hardware like a Bluetooth adapter or cellular modem)

2 audio out (digital compatible) / 1 microphone input

5 in 1 memory card reader (these slots allow users to directly insert the memory from their mobile devices into the notebook)

1 Integrated Modem (this allows this notebook to dial up an internet connection)

No surprises in the connectivity of this notebook. The bottom line though I would certainly consider a RAM upgrade. Although it is a relatively inexpensive process this is unfortunate because no one wants to buy a notebook and immediately upgrade it. This notebook has less than average performance and would likely disappoint with the slow boot times and occasional system lag. Does it make up for it in the mobility department? Not in my opinion, and certainly not for $869 which is the current online price at a number of retailers. I would wait on this notebook to reduce in price which may occur around early August when the high season hits. Until then I would look around.

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