The World's first 'space station of the sea'.

It looks more like the Starship Enterprise sinking in the sea - but this huge vertical vessel could be the future of ocean exploration.

Called the SeaOrbiter, the huge 51m (167ft) structure is set to be the world's first vertical ship allowing man a revolutionary view of life below the surface.

Although currently only a prototype its inventor Jacques Rougerie thinks his international oceanographic station will soon be setting sail.
 

Mr Rougerie wants the ship to be a space station for the sea giving scientists an insight into the little-known world under the sea.

'At the moment, they [oceanographers] can dive only for short periods before they have to be brought back to the surface. It is as though they were taken to study the Amazon jungle and then helicoptered away again after an hour,' Mr Rougerie told The Times.

'SeaOrbiter will provide a permanent mobile presence with a window to what is under the surface of the sea.”

The architect, whose home and office are houseboats, wants to launch half a dozen of the vessels.
At the moment he says he has half the €35million (£32million) that it will cost to build the first one, and is confident of finding the rest.

The SeaOrbiter would also be a useful tool for studying the link between global warming and the oceans.

Mr Rougerie, 64, said: 'It’s only in the last 50 years that we have found out that there are seasons under water, with plants flowering, with deserts, forests and an intense life.

'The food and medicines of the future will come from the ocean. We’re now starting to realise that oceans have a major role in the fragile equilibrium of our planet.'
When it does first set sail, there will be six crew members, six scientists and six more people on board - these may be astronauts training in extreme conditions or doctors studying submarine human behaviour.
The SeaOrbiter will drift silently across the ocean - navigation tools, communications equipment and a lookout deck will rise above the surface of the sea.
Under the water level, there will be a pressurised deck for divers to undertake daily missions over a period of months.

'There will be a gym, because it’s very important to practise sport, entertainment with a video player above each bunk, and nice food. I’ll do the cooking myself and I’m a good cook,' Mr Rougerie added.

The ship's anti-collision system is based on the one used by the international space station.

Mr Rougerie is confident that the ship will be built. 'A year ago, it was 50-50,' he said. 'Now I would say it’s 90 per cent certain.'

The project was mentioned by President Sarkozy in a keynote speech this summer and has won the backing of companies such as DCNS, the shipbuilder

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech

World 1st Spaceline -Space Ship Two.

Virgin Galactic, a company owned and established by Richard Branson's Virgin Group in order to create the world's first commercial spaceline, has unveiled the designs of the Space Ship Two and White Knight Two carrier aircrafts. Space Ship Two is designed to carry six tourists and two pilots into sub-orbit, reaching a speed of just over 3 times the speed of sound and climbing to altitudes of over 360,000 feet. White Knight Two, an all-carbon composite aircraft, is designed to carry and launch Space Ship Two when reaching a height of around 50,000 feet. Commercial space travel never seemed this close.

"Your journey to space will be one of incredible contrast and sensory overload. From the spaceport to 50,000ft, you will be in the spacecraft attached to the mother ship, a specially designed jet carrier aircraft. It will be a time of anticipation and perhaps contemplation of what's ahead. Then the countdown to release, a brief moment of quiet before a wave of unimaginable but controlled power, surges through the craft. You are instantly pinned back into your seat, overwhelmed but enthralled by the howl of the rocket motor and the eye- watering acceleration which, as you watch the read-out, has you travelling in a matter of seconds, at almost 2500mph, over 3 times the speed of sound", tease Virgin Galactic

Only three days of training will be required before taking this journey. Unlike NASA's manned shuttles, Space Ship Two will be air launched at 50,000 feet from the mother ship White Knight Two. According to Virgin Galactic, this system should make the trip safer and harm the environment less. In addition, Space Ship Two's rocket propellant system will not have separate solid and liquid rocket boosters/engines but rather a single hybrid rocket motor. The rocket's motor will combine two key elements - a 'fuel' element and an 'oxidiser' element, which will be non-reactive and non-toxic.

Space Ship Two is based on the Ansari X Prize winning technology of Space Ship One, the world's first privately developed and funded manned spacecraft, which was piloted successfully into Space three times. Today, Space Ship One can be found at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.

Space Ship Two has a unique wing feathering system, which eliminates the risks involved in re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. That is done by folding the wings while in Space, providing a "feather" effect that gives the spaceship extremely high drag for reentry. Decelerating for reentry at a higher altitude means that there is no significant heat buildup during re-entry.

The construction of White Knight Two (WK2) is currently close to completion. It is powered by four Pratt and Whitney PW308A engines and is capable of launching Space Ship Two into sub-orbital Space flight. Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Galactic, added " we are all very excited about the prospect of being able to develop a bio-fuel solution for the Space launch system and we are looking forward to working with Pratt and Whitney and Virgin Fuels to trial an appropriate bio mix for the PW308A engines that will be powering our new carrier aircraft.”

Initially, tickets will be sold for $200,000. Virgin Galactic seeks to reduce the price as much as possible, to allow more people to enjoy the Space travel experience.

TFOT previously covered the design of the first commercial spaceport, scheduled to be built in New Mexico, U.S.A. TFOT also reported on Genesis II, another milestone in the commercialization of outer space, which brings us a step closer to realizing the dream of a space hotel within the next decade. The possible use of space money also seems closer than ever - The Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination (QUID) is a new revolutionary currency created especially to be used in Space.

More information on Space Ship Two and White Knight Two can be found on Virgin Galactic's Website.
 
Read more: http://www.thefutureofthings.com/

Fears of a Dubai Debt Crisis

Fears of a debt crisis afflicting the emirate of Dubai have scared stock markets and stoked fears of a new financial crisis.

So what is going on?

Nakheel, one of the state's main developers, and its parent state company, Dubai World, this week made a desperate request to suspend all repayments on nearly £36bn of loans .This leaves the Dubai economy burdened by £49bn of debts.
The revelation sent tremors through markets by seeking to delay repayment on much of its debt, raising fears of a massive default in Dubai. Dubai World is asking creditors to give it breathing space on the loans so it could continue work on projects already under construction.
The fear is, if creditors do pull the plug, Dubai will soon resemble an enormous abandoned building site, with a knock-on effect on the already fragile global economy, and Britain in particular.

How did it get to this?
While Dubai's ruling family, the Maktoums, have done their utmost not to broadcast the fact, times have been tough in Dubai since the property bubble burst and residents saw the stock market collapse and their investments tumble by more than 70%.

More than £300bn of planned development projects have been cancelled or put on hold.

How does this affect us outside Dubai?

The fortunes of Dubai and the UK are alarmingly intertwined. Dubai owns ports and ferries group P&O, budget hotel chain Travelodge and a 20.56% stake in the London Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, the UK has invested an estimated £3bn in Dubai and the crisis has meant that UK companies are thought to be owed more than £400m by debt-riddled Dubai firms. Investors are trying to claw back some of the £200m invested in the property market, which has seen house prices fall by as much as 50% last year

Is that all?

No. Concerns over the British banking industry's exposure to Dubai's debt sent shockwaves through the stock market, which saw a 3% drop on Thursday. Standard Chartered, a specialist in lending to Asia, which has racked up commitments of around £7.5bn in the United Arab Emirates - or 7% of its loan book, according to NCB Stockbrokers. HSBC has around £9.6bn of exposure to the UAE, representing 2% of its loan book.

Meanwhile, the UK's recovering commercial real estate market could be scuppered if the Dubai government was forced to hold a firesale of its international real estate. That leaves property companies such as British Land and Land Securities vulnerable.

Probably not. Strategist Richard Batty of Standard Life says Dubai's woes look fairly 'innocuous' in a global scale.

Banking analyst Simon Willis of NCB said: 'For the UK banks and European banks overall impairments (from Dubai) shouldn't be a major factor, though you can never say never.

More grave perhaps is the signal it sends on the underlying health of the global economy and the knock-on effect on asset prices. The oil and gold prices have both plummeted in the last couple of days.

As Willis of NCB says, 'More important is the issue of growth expectations going forward, and the fear of further chickens coming home to roost in various corners of the world.'

What about the human angle?

David Beckham, Michael Schumacher, Rod Stewart, Brad Pitt, Michael Owen and West Ham's Kieron Dyer are all invested in the luxury Palm Jumeirah development.

Never mind all that, I said the human angle?

More than 100,000 Brits have bought second homes in Dubai — many of whom will be regretting it sorely now prices have plummeted.

In recent months, more than a quarter of expats have been forced to leave as jobs and bank balances have evaporated. Some have sold off their possessions in 'everything must go' garage sales.

And the migrant construction workers?

Work will be thinner on the ground, but many might say that's not a bad thing.

Hundreds of thousands of Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans were lured to Dubai by the promise of construction work with a daily wage of $4 and the hope of a better life for their families back home.

For years, they have worked 12-hour shifts in the blistering 45c heat, risking their lives. Site safety, although improved, is still woeful, with dozens of workers falling to their death from buildings each year, overcome by heatstroke.

According to an industry insider: 'There's a rule that no one must work outside if temperatures hit 50c. The trouble is, however hot it becomes, official records never register it as 50.'

How will this all wind up?

The world is waiting to see if Abu Dhabi (Dubai's oil-rich neighbour and the capital of the United Arab Emirates) will come to the rescue once again — it has already bailed out Dubai with $10bn this year.