China's new Space shuttle?

 The race for Space is now on!

The peoples republic of China has launched its third secret Space shuttle mission in the last year and this craft is believed to be remotely controlled, but it could be manned? 

Meanwhile it is not known what the mission is for as yet and with the block on the Internet by the United States it perhaps will be some time!

During this operation the U.S. cancelled two flights that of the DragonX and its own year long X-37 missions, one again does not know why, but later both were launched into orbit!

Many other countries now are in the possession of ballistic missiles such as Iran and N-Korea and despite what they have achieved on their own they too will want to do similar to what has been done, if not go further a field as what India has done in getting to Mars and the Sun!

Mono-Rails?

Viability?

Many nations around the world today have invested in the novelty of having their own version of the Mono-Rail system based on those 19thCentury wonders of Germany?

But until recently they have not been as viable apart from an easy way to transit airports and the fad of many a Sci-Fi film! It is the development in Mumbai India that is now leading the way in the first serious points development that will now at last put the mono-rail back as a serious alternative to rail and underground?

China wants a simpler system to move people over ground and various designs have come to the fore, apart from their own mono-rails and levitating railways? The future, here and in Japan look brighter and many other nations are now copping on to the viability of the system!

The Motorbike. Two.

Today?

The role of the motorbike is far from over today, as it was yesterday? It is now one of the fastest machines on the surface, with top quality racing at all levels and its just that we do not see enough of the sport on TV?

Motorbikes have been adapted for Paramedic work in Israel and the U.S.A., these are the first responders to various situations? Nearly every police and paramilitary force in the world uses the motorbike for traffic and escorting  duties because of their flexibility.

Italy, Japan, Brazil, India, Australia and Russia still make some serious top quality machines for civil and military use. Some nations have copied British and U.S. designs and successfully adapted them

Today's machines are either top end or mass produced and in many nations in the developing world, such as India they are used for every imaginable use? China has moved on to advanced technology in the first mass produced electric battery powered machines, in fact there is no end now to the use and viability of this machine and its other various components, such as the scooter, scrambler and motorcycle.

Even the military are still using motorbikes in the communications role, despite the Internet and many other advanced forms of communications, we may not but others are.

The Motorbike. One.

A passion on two wheels!

The Motorbike has an interesting history and has been around over 100 years, its first hey day was perhaps World War-I (1914-18), when it was devised for dispatch riding and went on twenty-five years later to be an invaluable tool in military intelligence.

The concept was to motorise the bicycle and many original ideas are actually being re-invented today as we move into battery power over that of petrol. Racing bikes did develop better motorbikes between 1919-1939, but there was a plethora of makers, who took up their tooling after 1945.

Apart from the famous names of today Britain was one of the worlds leading producers and much of the 1950's technology went out to India, while the United States is most famous for the Harley. The motorbike of rockers and Hells Angel's chapters, or the road riders of many great motion movies.

Military Trucks. Part-Two.

Ever Changing World.

Most of the trucks that we looked at in Part-One of this series of articles have all over the years been in the process of standardisation for their compatibility to fit the NATO Lockheed Hercules C-130 transport aircraft.

But now we will take a look as what is available around the world and how they have either been exported or licensed built in other nations since, the break up of the old Soviet Warsaw Pact block in the 1990's. 

The Czech Tatra T815 Kolos has been exported to India, while the 6X6 Tatrapan Armoured car was developed for the Slovak army.

Brazil is to soon replace its ageing Engesa EE-50 truck and variants, while it is still in Service in Angola. Western Star is the main producer for the Canadian armed forces, while the Austrian Styr is built in Canada under licence.

Space Exploration. Part-One.

New Discoveries.

I don't know about you! But I am fascinated by Space exploration from the Moon landings to this day I like to follow all the press releases from NASA, the Russians and the Europeans ESA. plus now we have the new additions of China and India to also view.

Since July Pluto the furthest out planet has been reclassified as a planet, after it was discovered to have a 80 km thick methane atmosphere by the New Horizons probe. The plutonian system has also five moons, while on Pluto moving ice shelves were also discovered.

Ceres in the asteroid belt has some strange bright spots and a pyramid shaped mountain. Recent closer flybys have revealed more of them, but still no explanation to what they might be? 

Meanwhile ESA images from Philae on a hurtling comet has revealed mass water ejections, as it nears the Sun. The Mars Rover Curiosity has discovered silica deposits and has had to back track its route up Mount Sharp.  This discovery rises the possibility greatly in the search for fossils

Last of all Russians trusted Progress robotic supply ship has softened relations between it and the United States. because there is now no other alternative way to supply the ISS, International Space station.

Tugboats. Part-Three.

Gas/Oil Rig Support Tugs.

These are perhaps some of the largest tugs that are in operation today around the world, they perform the moving of Rig platforms from builder shipyard to deployment for drilling in their various fields. Recently two tugs of this class came from the west of Ireland Bellmullet Gas field to Swansea Bay, the Mainport Ash and the Sentinel Star.

In recent filming one can compare the sizes of these vessels compared to the local Svitzer tugboats who deal with Bulk Carriers in and out of the Port Talbot roads, serving the TATA steel works.


This is where the money is today in tugboat work from large shipping to the oil and gas industry. I noticed in a recent TV programme that India was still using the older steam tugboats, that Britain had in the 1950s. 

Meanwhile some of the former Svitzer Tugs have now been sold to the Ukraine and are operating in the Black Sea from Odessa.

Battling with Tecnology.

New things to Learn.

They say that it is 'hard to teach an old dog new tricks? I would have to agree with that claim. Tecnology will always move on, but people will always be slow to catch up with it. In the United Kingdom the governemt wants people to be digitaly minded and yet many regions have declined to teach children basic computer programming. Old folk remain very limited to understanding anyway.

These past weeks the tourist space plane crashed in the States, but no one is giving up. NASA lost their rocket and we are promised that within the next five to ten years most cars in Europe will be electric.

Politics has forced changes in space and in relation to fuel at the moment, but I expect that in ten years we will see many changes while the machines of today will remain. The esential systems in place to supply ISS (International Space Station) will continue, the Electric car may not be a success as hoped for since power cuts could be a serious disadvantage. Sir Richard Branson will be nearer to his vision of space tourism.

China, India, Iran and Nigeria will be the new kids on the block in relation to space exploration, bases on the Moon and stations in space!

New Nations in Space.

China, India and Japan.

Japan landed a probe on a meteor, China has sent a man into space and a rover to the Moon, while on a first attempt India has reached Mars. These are some of the achievements of the new space ager's, there are many other nations such as Brazil, Iran, Israel, North-Korea and Pakistan who have regular military satellite launches and test their inter-continental ballistic missile programmes.

America, Russia and Europe are now being side-lined in space exploration, but there will always be a demand for many nations to visit the International space station. As technology progresses and the possibility of commercial flights come nearer, there will be more people wanting to achieve firsts.

Nigeria wants to be the first African country to joint the space race this century and by the end of it many more achievements such as bases on the Moon and Mars, if not further afield will have been made.