January 2006 ISSUE
world watch
Europe Launches Galileo GPS Satellite
BY GAIL HELGASON
Freelance Writer
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GIOVE-A mated with Fregat launcher upper stage. – photo courtesy of the European Space Agency |
In late December the European Union launched its first Galileo satellite, deemed a major step in Europe’s largest space program. Reuters reported that a Soyuz rocket in Kazakhstan launched the 590-kilogram satellite, named Giove-A, for Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element.
The program is designed to end Europe’s reliance on the global positioning system run by the United States military. In January the satellite’s first signals made it home.
The Galileo program aims to be in service by 2008 and to deploy 30 satellites. It potentially offers greater precision to civilians than the U.S. GPS system, which provides geographical location services that cover everything from driver assistance to search-and-rescue.
Grease is Good
While the thought of kitchen grease makes most of us think of large plumbing
bills, a California water treatment plant is transforming it into energy. Civil
Engineering (Reston, Va.) reports that grease from local restaurants in Millbrae,
Calif., bypasses the collection system and is instead trucked to the water pollution
control plant in Millbrae.
Once there, the grease is added to the plant’s anaerobic digesters where it is transformed into methane, used to fuel a microturbine and generate electricity for the plant’s use.
The $5.5-million project is expected to pay for itself in 20 years, based on 2004 energy prices.
White-Knucklers
Take Note
Engineers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are working to take the trauma
out of airline turbulence, according to Mechanical Engineering (New York). The
problem up to now has been in predicting the behaviour of rough pockets of air.
But researchers have come up with what they think is a more precise mathematical formula than the ones used in the past. This could result in better predictions of weather patterns and movements in water.
Charles Meneveau, a professor of mechanical engineering, says the formula solves the small but important puzzle of “intermittency” — very abrupt changes in the speed of a moving fluid. The research involved tracking two particles through a turbulent flow and developing an equation to describe their movement.
China Checks Floods
China has installed a new flood control system, which officials hope will give
residents living near the Yangtze River up to seven days’ warning of flooding.
Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.) reports that the system uses water-level and
rainfall meters installed at 70 locations along the river.
Information from the meters and forecasts are then analyzed through more
than 100 computer models.
It’s important work for people of the area. The last major flood on Yangtze,
in 1998, left more than 3,000 dead.
Deepwater Port
Is World’s Largest
The first phase of construction of the world’s largest container port has
been completed in Shanghai, reports the Engineering News-Record (New York). Chinese
contractors have reclaimed 26 million cubic meters of land in the Qiqu archipelago
to build the port at the mouth of Hangzhou Bay.
Gritty Truth
About Beach Sand
Geologists in California have come up with some surprising news about where beach
sand comes from. Up to now, the common view has been that 90 per cent of the
sand along the central and southern California coasts was deposited by rivers.
Not so, according to Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.). Two independent research teams at the University of San Diego have concluded that erosion from coastal bluffs accounts for as much as 50 per cent of the sand.
Nuclear is Nice?
The closer you live to a nuclear power plant, the more likely you are to like
them. That’s the conclusion of a first-of-its-kind public opinion survey,
Power Engineering (Tulsa, Okla.) reports.
The survey found that 83 per cent of Americans who live near nuclear power plants favour them, and 76 per cent are willing to have a new one built near them.
The survey commissioned by the Nuclear Energy Institute randomly selected 1,100 Americans living within 16 kilometres of 64 nuclear power plants.
‘Wondrous’ Engineering
For Italian Trade Fair
A new trade fair in Italy, the Fiera Milano, is being hailed by Civil Engineering
(Reston, Va.) as “the most ambitious European construction project undertaken
in recent years.”
The Milan centre features 345,000 square metres of exhibition space, covered with a glass-and-steel canopy bringing light to even the darkest part of the facility. Engineers incorporated unique funnels in the canopy that control any deformation in the roof structure caused by temperature fluctuations.
The result is being termed meraviglioso (wondrous).
Vietnam Tunnels Far
Vietnam has recently completed the longest highway tunnel in southeast Asia,
reports Civil Engineering (Reston, Va.). The Hai Van Pass is 6,280 metres long,
and it tunnels under an area known for its landslides and washouts.
The design incorporated a new Austrian tunneling method using “shotcrete,” a process that has concrete projected or “shot” under pressure onto the surface.