Category Archives: Engineering

Orbital ATK Joins Heavy Rocket Race

An artist’s rendition of Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Rocket in flight. Image courtesy Orbital ATK.

Last month, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket made headlines as the first privately built heavy lift rocket to enter space.

Now, Orbital ATK’s Chandler-based Launch Vehicle Division plans to join them.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Chandler-Based Orbital ATK Division To Build New Heavy Rocket

Global Warming and the Future of Wind Power

Predicted wind power changes in North America, 2080-2100. Map courtesy of Kristopher Karnauskas and Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Geoscience, copyright 2017.

Alternative energy sources like wind offer a way to lessen a country’s carbon footprint. But global warming trends could soon change the way the wind blows.

As rapid arctic warming shrinks the heat gap between the North Pole and equator, Northern Hemisphere winds could lose some oomph — up to 40 percent over the next century, depending on region.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Winds Of Climate Change: How Global Warming Could Alter The Wind Power Landscape

NASA, FAA Bring Bring Air Traffic Control into 21st Century

Image by NASA.

Air traffic snarls and communication breakdowns can leave holiday flight plans up in the air. But NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration are working on a system they hope will break the logjam.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
NASA, FAA Partner To Upgrade Air Traffic Control

Energy-Efficient Lights Could be Making Light Pollution Worse

Earth’s city lights. Image by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon/NASA GSFC.

City lights drive back the night a little more each year, disrupting ecological cycles, and the switch from orange-yellow sodium lights to bluish-white LEDs might be making the problem worse.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Artificial Light Pollution On The Rise Globally, LEDs Might Be Making It Worse

The Potential Human Cost of Waiting For Perfect Self-Driving Cars

As companies like Waymo ramp up tests of their self-driving cars in Phoenix, state and federal officials continue to debate when “good” will be “good enough.”

Now, a report from the RAND Corporation says pumping our brakes and holding out for the perfect automated car is a mistake.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Waiting For Perfect Self-Driving Cars Could Cost Lives