BA Introduces triple O fuel saving paint to 777-200

British Airways(BA) plans to introduce fuel-saving paint to a Boeing Co. 777-200 after successful trials on an Airbus SAS A318 serving New York and London.

The coating, made by TripleO, reduces debris build up and improves aerodynamics, the London-based airline said in an e- mailed statement. British Airways aims to save more than 100,000 pounds ($150,000) during the testing period, the airline said.

Rising fuel prices have driven airlines to seek new ways of cutting weight and improving efficiency to allow the planes to fly with less fuel. In November, for example, Israel’s El Al signed a contract with privately-held WheelTug, based in Gibraltar, to use electric motors to move aircraft on the ground.

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Lol!! Man found slept in engine intake!

Vietnam authorities fined an airport management company for lax security that allowed a man to fall sleep in the engine intake of an aircraft that was about to take off, an official said Thursday.

The drunk 30-year-old got onto the runway October 14 of Buon Me Thuot airport in the Central Highlands and approached an Airbus 320 that was waiting to take off.

The plane's captain saw the man, turned the engines off and alerted airport authorities. When officials arrived, they discovered the man asleep in the right engine intake.

The flight was delayed nearly an hour and a half.

The Ministry of Transport's Inspection Agency fined Buon Me Thuot Airport 25 million dong (1,250 dollars) for not arranging sufficient security to protect the runway and endangering the safety of planes, said Nguyen Xuan Hao, the agency's chief inspector.

'The incident happened two months ago, but the decision has just been made as it takes time to investigate,' Hao said.

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Airbus beats Boeing 9th yr in a row!

Boeing rival Airbus is set to finish 2011 with a record number of aircraft orders, beating out Boeing for the ninth year in a row.

But analysts say Boeing is poised to gain ground against its European competitor in 2012. That's because of a new product that will be built in Puget Sound.

Airbus is expected to end the year with more than 1,600 aircraft orders, compared with just over 900 for Boeing. That'll give Boeing its lowest market share ever against the Toulouse-based Airbus.

Airbus' surge is due in large part to the popularity of its revamped A-3-20 neo jet. The updated version of Airbus' workhorse model features new energy-efficient engines that promise 15 percent fuel savings. Boeing waited to see if the market responded to that idea before jumping in with its own version, the re-worked 737 MAX.

Analysts say Boeing's delay let Airbus get a jump on that lucrative market. But the new product is picking up speed and is expected to boost the American planemaker in the coming year.

Boeing recently committed to building the 737 MAX in the Puget Sound area as part of a new contract with its machinists' union.

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PLUTO may contain Hydrocarbon!

Hubble Telescope in orbit

Pluto's surface could contain complex hydrocarbon and nitrile molecules which may be responsible for giving the planet its ruddy color, according to the findings of Hubble Space Telescope's Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.

The highly sensitive instrument aboard the NASA telescope discovered the strong ultraviolet-wavelength absorber on Pluto's surface, providing new evidence on the presence of complex hydrocarbon and/or nitrile molecules lying on the planet's surface.

According to a paper recently published in the Astronomical Journal by researchers from Southwest Research Institute and Nebraska Wesleyan University, such chemical species can be produced by the interaction of sunlight or cosmic rays with Pluto's known surface ices, including methane, carbon monoxide and nitrogen.

"This is an exciting finding because complex Plutonian hydrocarbons and other molecules that could be responsible for the ultraviolet spectral features we found with Hubble may, among other things, be responsible for giving Pluto its ruddy color," said SwRI's Dr. Alan Stern.

Evidence of changes in Pluto's ultraviolet spectrum compared to Hubble measurements from the 1990s was also discovered by the research team. The changes may be related to differing terrains seen now versus in the 1990s, or to other effects, such as changes in the surface related to a steep increase in the pressure of Pluto's atmosphere during that same time span.

"The discovery we made with Hubble reminds us that even more exciting discoveries about Pluto's composition and surface evolution are likely to be in store when NASA's New Horizons spacecraft arrives at Pluto in 2015," Stern added.

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More on GRAIL mission

GRAIL stands for The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory is the NASA mission to moon after apollo series, no its not manned, but this time to study the lunar body on detail in search of its origin, gravity and subsurface properties.

Heres more on it!

Artists perception of GRAIL Twin orbiting moon

Over the New Year’s weekend, a pair of spacecraft the size of washing machines are set to enter orbit around it in the latest lunar mission. Their job is to measure the uneven gravity field and determine what lies beneath — straight down to the core.

Since rocketing from the Florida coast in September, the near-identical Grail spacecraft have been independently traveling to their destination and will arrive 24 hours apart. Their paths are right on target that engineers recently decided not to tweak their positions.

“Both spacecraft have performed essentially flawlessly since launch, but one can never take anything for granted in this business,” said mission chief scientist Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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OLLO!

Sorry guys been off with exams!!! nw over yay!

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