Is it true that the Space Shuttle smelled quite bad when ground crews got aboard after a flight to clean and unload?
I worked as a Flight Crew Systems engineer for Lockheed Space Ops and then United Space Alliance, supporting over a hundred missions. Because some of my group took…
How can US Navy carriers that were built 3-4 decades ago be better than Chinese Navy carriers built just 2-3 years ago?
Love this question and I’ll throw my hat into the ring here. The question, for the benefit of the uninformed, is the following: Why is this ship that…
If a nuclear powered aircraft carrier was sunk in deep sea water, would the reactor be cooled enough by the sea, or would it explode?
The only time a nuclear reactor actually exploded was in Chernobyl. It happened because the operators broke a cardinal rule on thermal spectrum nuclear reactors: You NEVER, EVER…
For how long do I have to aim a laser at the moon to see a dot?
There are two possible questions here. The first is simply how long would it take for a laser to travel to the moon and back. The moon is…
What is the scariest flag to see flying on a ship?
The signal flag Lima “I have contagious disease onboard”. Not influenza, but yellow fever, cholera, plague, Ebola or something as nasty. Almost as bad are signal flags Alfa – Juliet…
How do submarines handle medical emergencies like a ruptured appendix when they’re deep underwater or in remote locations?
Approximately 1973, a USS Will Rodgers (SSBN 659B) crewman had a ruptured appendix roughly midway thought our patrol. The mission was a nuclear deterrent patrol, meaning 3 months…
Why do LED bulbs still burn out very frequently, aren’t they going to last over 10 years?
Because you are using them wrong. But it’s not your fault… Allow me to explain: For roughly ever, we used incandescent bulbs, that work by getting hot. That’s…
Why are bears the only animal that there is a panda version of? Why are there no panda donkeys?
Because this isn’t a panda at all: This is a panda: In 1879 a researcher named Alphonse Milne-Edwards examined a giant panda skeleton and decided that it was…
Why does Europe have a voltage of 220V, Japan has 100V, and North America has 110V? Is 220V better, more dangerous, or more efficient? Why doesn’t the world converge into a more unified voltage?
Back in the early 20th century Edison experimented extensively to find the ‘sweet spot’ voltage for incandescent lamps. That is, most lumen’s vs filament life. He settled on…
Does a CPU get weaker over time?
No. CPUs don’t get weaker with age – They run or they die. Generally a CPU works or it doesn’t., Partial failures are rare – The chips themselves don’t…