From article, (In advance of issuing a call for formal proposals, NASA is priming the scientific community to begin thinking about what set of scientific instruments should be included on a lander. Ultimately, ten proposals will be selected to proceed to a competitive concept study, which carries funding of $1.5 million for each selected group, who will have a year to submit their technical proposals.
How would you design a robot to probe Europa’s deep dark waters from a landing site on the icy surface above? That’s the primary framing question for any competitive design concept. NASA will only select proposals that address specific scientific goals—namely, to look for evidence of life and a habitable environment in Europa’s ocean.
What instruments would you include? Ground-penetrating radar to survey structures in the moon’s crust? Chemical detectors to sniff for water vapor and other volatiles that may seep up from the ocean? Motion sensors to measure the movements of floating ice? Sensitive microphones to listen for any sounds penetrating the ice from below? NASA has issued just the right challenge to get imaginations churning….)
NASA eyes a possible landing on Jupiter's Europa
Monday, May 29, 2017
Russia is starting to produce its own Commercial Jet Planes again, but will flying cars, eat into this global market, in the near future?
From article, (By Gleb Stolyarov and Jack Stubbs
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia completed the maiden flight of its new MS-21 medium-range passenger plane on Sunday, its first foray into mainline commercial aircraft since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Russia has fought hard to shake its Soviet reputation for old and creaking aircraft flown by inexperienced crews. Flag carrier Aeroflot last year earned its fourth star from independent ratings website Skytrax, ranking it alongside major European and Middle Eastern competitors and ahead of big U.S. carriers such as Delta and United.
President Vladimir Putin called Irkut General Director Oleg Demchenko to congratulate him and his employees with what the Kremlin called "a significant event".
The twin-engine plane will be built in two variants: the Ms-21-300 which will have 160-211 seats, and the MS-21-200 which will have 130-165 seats. Production is expected to start in the next two years and state media have said numerous contracts with domestic and foreign carriers have already been agreed.
Unannounced, new Russian passenger plane completes maiden flight
Irkut said it so far had "firm orders" for 175 planes, all of which had been prepaid. State defense conglomerate Rostec, which is headed by close Putin ally Sergei Chemezov, said it had agreed to purchase 85 aircraft and 50 of them would be leased to Aeroflot.
UAC President Yury Slyusar said he estimated global demand for the new MS-21 models at around 15,000 aircraft over the next 20 years. "I'm sure the airlines will appreciate our new aircraft," he said.)
Me, "What this shows is that the Global Commercial Passenger Jet Industry still finds more and more demand from passengers. needing to go some place, and as a result keeps on buying planes.
Will this continue if Flying cars come into the market in the near future? It's definitely something to think about. Remember, people take different modes of travel because of convenience, and price. Would just hopping into the family flying car as opposed to going through security at airports and dealing with all the rules and fees involved with flying, make the commercial passenger Jet extinct?"
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