::++>[Portraits on the Wall]<++::

reporta

2011-04-30T02:13:00.004+05:30

1.1.1 Material Compatibility

F-T jet-fuel blends are considered to be drop-in fuels. At concentrations up to a 50-50 blend, they meet the performance specifications of Jet-A. The use of only F-T fuel (i.e., unblended, 100-percent F-T fuel), would have implications for aircraft fuel systems because of the reduced aromatic content. Certain types of elastomers used as seals in aircraft fuel systems expand in the presence of aromatic compounds found in conventional petroleum–derived jet fuel. If F-T fuel were used, the elastomers would contract, possibly causing fuel leaks. The susceptible Elastomers are nitrile rubber based and fuel additives are being developed to improve seal performance. Additionally, a pure F-T fuel would have reduced lubrication that may promote wear on engine components. Issues with fuel lubrication may also be addressed through the use of additives if required. Because of their paraffinic composition and low aromatic content, pure F-T fuels have a specific energy that is approximately 2 percent higher and an energy density that is approximately 3 % lower than that of typical Jet-A. The increased specific energy means that less fuel weight would be required to fly a given distance. Considering the worldwide fleet of aircraft, commercial aircraft using pure F-T jet fuel would, on average, consume about 0.3 % less energy.

Synthetic fuels produced via F-T synthesis are currently used in aviation, and there is an ongoing effort to certify a generic synthetic fuel as a blendstock for Jet-A. Since 1999, aircraft parting O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, may receive a blend of up to 50 % F-T fuel. This is because synthetic fuels created at the Sasol facility in Secunda, South Africa, have been approved for use by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (2008), provided that the blended fuel has a minimum 8 % aromatic content. The specification of 8 % minimum aromatic content within Defence Standard 91-91, as the UK Ministry of Defence specification is commonly known, is based on a conservative estimate of the amount of aromatic compound that would be needed to ensure adequate swelling in certain seals.

To assist these efforts, a variety of fuel producers and users are testing alternative jet fuels. Qatar Airways, working with Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Shell, Qatar Fuel, and Qatar Petroleum, conducted a test flight of an Airbus A380 operating on a blend of 40 % F-T synthetic jet fuel on February 1, 2008 (Airbus, 2008). Within the past two years, the U.S. Air Force has flight tested a blend of 50 percent F-T jet fuel in a number of aircraft, including the B-52H Stratofortress, C-17 Globemaster III, B-1B Lancer, and F-22 Raptor. Because of these flight tests and other work, the specification for JP-8 has been modified to allow up to 50-% SPK blends with conventional jet fuel. The Air Force has a stated goal of being prepared to meet half of its 2016 U.S. fuel necessities for its continental U.S. operations using blends of synthetic and conventional fuels. Actually using this much fuel as a 50-% F-T blend would require the Air Force to consume approximately 20,000 barrels per day of unblended synthetic fuels.

Though compatibility issues connected with F-T jet fuel have been identified, they are in the process of resolution. When used as a blend with Jet-A, all compatibility issues appear to be resolved, and F-T jet receives a neutral rating. If used unblended, lubrication issues and seal integrity may require that F-T jet fuels have an enhanced fuel-additive package or licensed to use in aircraft without nitrile-rubber seals.

1.1.2 Air-Quality Emissions

F-T fuels have low aromatic content and are nearly sulphur free. For these reasons they have the potential to reduce emissions that degrade air quality near airports. Recent tests show that large reductions in primary emissions are possible using F-T fuels. The definition that is being suggested in recent studies is a synthetic blending component that is comprised essentially of isoparaffins, normal paraffins, and cycloparaffins. Trace materials are pernecessitiested, provided that they are components that normally occur in hydroprocessed jet fuel, including but not linecessitiesed to trace organics, nitrogen compounds, water, and dissolved air.

From measured primary emissions in the exhaust of older-technology, low bypass ratio gas-turbine engines (TF33 engine, which is used in the B-52 aircraft) and turbo-shaft gas-turbine engines (T63 engine, which is used in some helicopters) when burning mixtures of conventional and synthetic fuels. The results are valid for both engine types; indicate that reductions in primary emissions are proportional to the percentage of F-T fuel that was being consumed. Recent tests have investigated the emission characteristics of a CFM56, a modern, high–bypass ratio turbofan engine, when operating on synthetic fuels. The data from these tests demonstrate the primary emission reductions that may be achieved with the use of low-sulphur, low-aromatic alternative fuels, such as those created from F-T synthesis. These reductions also appear to be robust to the vintage and type of gas-turbine technology being used. Efforts to characterize the emissions of other fuels in in-service engines are continuing, being coordinated by CAAFI. F-T fuel received a positive rating for air quality, as both primary and secondary emissions would be reduced by more than 10 percent as compared to the baseline fuel, Jet-A.

1.1.3 Applicability in Commercial Aviation

Because of the high cetane number (a measure of the fuel’s ability to resist pre-ignition) and near zero sulphur content of F-T fuels, they are attractive for automotive diesel applications. Cetane number is not a relevant fuel parameter for turbine engines, and aircraft engines are not equipped with catalytic converters that require the use of ULS fuels. This finding assumes that current regulations connected with air quality at airports are continued and that there are no mandated reductions of greenhouse gas emissions specifically targeted at commercial aviation.

F-T fuels have several characteristics that make them attractive as a jet fuel. Their higher specific energy leads to a small reduction in the amount of energy required to fly a given distance with a given payload and could allow for increased payload capacity. F-T fuels are clean burning, thus leading to increased combustor and turbine life, and their improved thermal stability reduces deposits on engine components and fuel lines. Furthermore, the improved thermal stability of F-T fuels allows fuel-system and engine design improvements to increase operating efficiency. All of the testing conducted to date, which includes a variety of engine designs, suggests that the ultralow levels of sulphur and aromatic compounds of an F-T fuel would lead to a substantial reduction in aviation emissions.

If commercial aviation is required to reduce GHG emissions connected with aircraft operations, F-T jet fuels derived from biomass or a combination of coal and biomass might carry a significant premium. We note that shifting use of potential future F-T fuels from automotive diesel to jet fuel would increase emissions of water vapour during cruise within the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, which would likely increase aviation’s contribution to global warming, although the magnitude of this effect remains highly uncertain.

In summary, we have some evidence that use of F-T fuel in automotive applications is likely to provide greater benefits and demand a price premium over commercial aircraft operations. These include the extent to which F-T fuels will reduce engine maintenance and increase reliability, and how commercial aviation will be required to improve airport air quality or to control greenhouse gas emissions.

1.2 Coal Derivatives

Current CTL capacity is licensed to South Africa, where Sasol operates two CTL facilities producing the energy equivalent of about 160,000 barrels of oil per day. The output is approximately 80 percent FT diesel and 20 percent FT naphtha, though the plants also produce a range of synthetic petroleum products. These plants have been in operation for several decades, and the type of gasifier used in these facilities would be considered obsolete for CTL production today. More relevant to the consideration of CTL today is the base of experience in coal gasification from integrated-gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plants and FT synthesis from recent GTL facilities.

Ancient Technology, Lost

2008-02-09T00:15:00.001+05:30

Excerpt from ‘The Anti-Gravity Handbook’
By D. Hatcher Childress

(Title page of the English translation of Vaimanika Shastra published in 1973)
Many researchers into the UFO enigma tend to overlook a very important fact. While it is assumed that most flying saucers are of alien, or perhaps military origin, another possible origin of UFOs is ancient India and Atlantis.
What we know about ancient Indian flying vehicles comes from ancient Indian sources; written texts that have come down to us through the centuries.
There is no doubt that most of these texts are authentic; many are the well-known ancient Indian Epics themselves, and there are literally hundreds of them. Most of them have not even been translated into English yet from the ancient Sanskrit.
The Indian Emperor Ashoka founded a ‘Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men’: great Indian scientists who were supposed to catalogue the many sciences. Ashoka kept their work secret because he was afraid that the advanced science catalogued by these men, culled from ancient Indian sources, would be used for the evil purpose of war, which Ashoka was strongly against, having been converted to Buddhism after defeating the Kalinga army in a bloody battle.
The ‘Nine Unknown Men’ wrote a total of nine books, presumably one each. Book number one was ‘The Secrets of Gravitation’. This book, known to historians, but not actually seen by them, dealt chiefly with ‘gravity control’.
It is presumably still around somewhere, kept in a secret library in India, Tibet or elsewhere (perhaps even in North America somewhere). One can certainly understand Ashoka's reasoning for wanting to keep such knowledge a secret, assuming it exists. If the Nazis had such weapons at their disposal during World War I. Ashoka was also aware devastating wars using such advanced vehicles and other 'futuristic weapons' that had destroyed the ancient Indian ‘Rama Empire’ several thousand years before.
Only a few years ago, the Chinese discovered some Sanskrit documents in Lhasa, Tibet and sent them to the University of Chandrigarh to be translated. Dr. Ruth Reyna of the University said recently that the documents contain directions for building interstellar spaceships!
Their method of propulsion, she said, was ‘anti-gravitational’ and was based upon a system analogous to that of ‘Laghima,’ the unknown power of the ego existing in man's physiological makeup, ‘a centrifugal force strong enough to counteract all gravitational pull.’ According to Hindu Yogis, it is this ‘Laghima’, which enables a person to levitate.
Dr. Reyna said that on board these machines, which were called ‘Astras’ by the text, the ancient Indians could have sent a detachment of men onto any planet, according to the document, which is thought to be thousands of years old.
The manuscripts were also said to reveal the secret of ‘Antima’; ‘the cap of invisibility’ and ‘Garima’; ‘how to become as heavy as a mountain of lead.’
Naturally, Indian scientists did not take the texts very seriously, but then became more positive about the value of them when the Chinese announced that they were including certain parts of the data for study in their space program!
This was one of the first instances of a government admitting to be researching anti-gravity. The manuscripts did not say definitely that interplanetary travel was ever made but did mention, of all things, a planned trip to the Moon, though it is not clear whether this trip was actually carried out. However, one of the great Indian epics, the Ramayana, does have a highly detailed story in it of a trip to the moon in a Vimana (or ‘Astra’), and in fact details a battle on the moon with an ‘Asvin’ (or Atlantean’ airship).
This is but a small bit of recent evidence of anti-gravity and aerospace technology used by Indians. To really understand the technology, we must go much further back in time.
The so-called ‘Rama Empire’ of Northern India and Pakistan developed at least fifteen thousand years ago on the Indian sub-continent and was a nation of many large, sophisticated cities, many of which are still to be found in the deserts of Pakistan, northern, and western India.
Rama existed, apparently, parallel to the Atlantean civilization in the mid-Atlantic Ocean, and was ruled by ‘enlightened Priest-Kings’ who governed the cities, The seven greatest capital cities of Rama were known in classical Hindu texts as ‘The Seven Rishi Cities.’
According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines, which were called ‘Vimanas.’ The ancient Indian epic describes a Vimana as a double-deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer.
It flew with the ‘speed of the wind’ and gave forth a ‘melodious sound.’ There were at least four different types of Vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders (‘cigar shaped airships’).
The ancient Indian texts on Vimanas are numerous. It would take volumes to relate what they had to say. The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimanas, many of which are still in existence, and some have even been translated into English.
The Samara Sutradhara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimana. There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds.
In 1875, the Vaimanika Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadvajy the Wise, using even older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India.
It dealt with the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightening and how to switch the drive to ‘solar energy’ from a free energy source which sounds like ‘anti-gravity.’
The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with diagrams describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could neither catch fire nor break.
It also mentions 31 essential parts of these vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of Vimanas. This document has been translated into English and is available by writing the publisher: VYMAANIDASHAASTRA AERONAUTICS by Maharishi Bharadwaaja, translated into English and edited, printed and published by Mr. G. R. Josyer, Mysore, India, 1979 (sorry, no street address). Mr. Josyer is the director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Investigation located in Mysore.
There seems to be no doubt that the Vimanas were powered by some sort of ‘anti-gravity’. Vimanas took off vertically, and were capable of hovering in the sky, like a modern helicopter or dirigible. Bharadvajy the Wise refers to no less than 70 authorities and 10 experts of air travel in antiquity. These sources are now lost. Vimanas were kept in a Vimana Griha, a kind of hanger, and were sometimes said to be propelled by a yellowish-white liquid, and sometimes by some sort of mercury compound, though writers seem confused in this matter. It is most likely that the later writers on Vimanas, wrote as observers and from earlier texts, and were understandably confused on the principle of their propulsion.
The ‘yellowish white liquid’ sounds suspiciously like gasoline, and perhaps Vimanas had a number of different propulsion sources, including combustion engines and even ‘pulse-jet’ engines.
It is interesting to note, that the Nazis developed the first practical pulse-jet engines for their V-8 rocket ‘buzz bombs.’ Hitler and the Nazi staff were exceptionally interested in ancient India and Tibet and sent expeditions to both these places yearly, starting in the 30's, in order to gather esoteric evidence that they did so, and perhaps it was from these people that the Nazis gained some of their scientific information!
According to the Dronaparva, part of the Mahabarata, and the Ramayana, one Vimana described was shaped like a sphere and born along at great speed on a mighty wind generated by mercury. It moved like a UFO, going up, down, backwards and forwards as the pilot desired.
In another Indian source, the Samar, Vimanas were ‘iron machines, well-knit and smooth, with a charge of mercury that shot out of the back in the form of a roaring flame.’
Another work called the Samaranganasutradhara describes how the vehicles were constructed. It is possible that mercury did have something to do with the propulsion, or more possibly, with the guidance system. Curiously, Soviet scientists have discovered what they call ‘age-old instruments used in navigating cosmic vehicles’ in caves in Turkestan and the Gobi Desert. The ‘devices’ are hemispherical objects of glass or porcelain, ending in a cone with a drop of mercury inside.
It is evident that ancient Indians flew around in these vehicles, all over Asia, to Atlantis presumably; and even, apparently, to South America.
Writing found at Mohenjodaro in Pakistan (presumed to be one of the ‘Seven Rishi Cities of the Rama Empire’) and still undeciphered, has also been found in one other place in the world: Easter Island! Writing on Easter Island, called Rongo-Rongo writing, is also undeciphered, and is uncannily similar to the Mohenjodaro script. Was Easter Island an air base for the Rama Empire's Vimana route? (At the Mohenjo-Daro Vimana-drome, as the passenger walks down the concourse, he hears the sweet, melodic sound of the announcer over the loudspeaker,
‘Rama Airways flight number seven for Bali, Easter Island, Nazca, and Atlantis is now ready for boarding. Passengers please proceed to gate number..’) in Tibet, no small distance, and speaks of the ‘fiery chariot’ thusly: ‘Bhima flew along in his car, resplendent as the sun and loud as thunder... The flying chariot shone like a flame in the night sky of summer ... it swept by like a comet... It was as if two suns were shining. Then the chariot rose up and all the heaven brightened.’
In the Mahavira of Bhavabhuti, a Jain text of the eighth century culled from older texts and traditions, we read: ‘An aerial chariot, the Pushpaka, conveys many people to the capital of Ayodhya. The sky is full of stupendous flying-machines, dark as night, but picked out by lights with a yellowish glare-’ The Vedas, ancient Hindu poems, thought to be the oldest of all the Indian texts, describe Vimanas of various shapes and sizes: the ‘ahnihotra-vimana’ with two engines, the ‘elephant-vimana’ with more engines, and other types named after the kingfisher, ibis and other animals.
Unfortunately, Vimanas, like most scientific discoveries, were ultimately used for war. Atlanteans used their flying machines, 'Vailixi'. a similar type of aircraft, to literally try and subjugate the world, it would seem, if Indian texts are to be believed.
The Atlanteans, known as ‘Asvins’ in the Indian writings, were apparently even more advanced technologically than the Indians, and certainly of a more war-like temperament. Although no ancient texts on Atlantean Vailixi are known to exist, some information has come down through esoteric, ‘occult’ sources which describe their flying machines.
Similar, if not identical to Vimanas, Vailixi were generally ‘cigar shaped’ and had the capability of maneuvering underwater as well as in the atmosphere or even outer space.
Other vehicles, like Vimanas, were saucer shaped, and could apparently also be submerged. According to Eklal Kueshana, author of ‘The Ultimate Frontier,’ in an article he wrote in 1966, Vailixi were first developed in Atlantis 20,000 years ago, and the most common ones are ‘saucer shaped of generally trapezoidal cross-section with three hemispherical engine pods on the underside.’ ‘They use a mechanical antigravity device driven by engines developing approximately 80,000 horse power.’ The Ramayana, Mahabarata and other texts speak of the hideous war that took place, some ten or twelve thousand years ago between Atlantis and Rama using weapons of destruction that could not be imagined by readers until the second half of this century.
The ancient Mahabharata, one of the sources on Vimanas, goes on to tell the awesome destructiveness of the war: ‘...(the weapon was) a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and flame As bright as the thousand suns rose in all its splendor... An iron thunderbolt, A gigantic messenger of death, Which reduced to ashes The entire race of the Vrishnis And the Andhakas. . . . the corpses were so burned As to be unrecognizable. The hair and nails fell out; Pottery broke without apparent cause, And the birds turned white. ... After a few hours All foodstuffs were infected... ... to escape from this fire The soldiers threw themselves in streams To wash themselves and their equipment...’
It would seem that the Mahabharata is describing an atomic war! References like this one are not isolated; but battles, using a fantastic array of weapons and aerial vehicles are common in all the epic Indian books. One even describes a Vimana-Vailix battle on the Moon! The above section very accurately describes what an atomic explosion would look like and the effects of the radioactivity on the population. Jumping into water is the only respite.
When the Rishi City of Mohenjodaro was excavated by archeologists in the last century, they found skeletons just lying in the streets, some of them holding hands, as if some great doom had suddenly overtaken them. These skeletons are among the most radioactive ever found, on a par with those found at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Ancient cities whose brick and stone walls have literally been vitrified, that is-fused together, can be found in India, Ireland, Scotland, France, Turkey and other places.
There is no logical explanation for the vitrification of stone forts and cities, except from an atomic blast. Furthermore, at Mohenjo-Daro, a well planned city laid on a grid, with a plumbing system superior to those used in Pakistan and India today, the streets were littered with ‘black lumps of glass.’
These globs of glass were discovered to be clay pots that had melted under intense heat!
With the cataclysmic sinking of Atlantis and the wiping out of Rama with atomic weapons, the world collapsed into a ‘stone age’ of sorts, and modern history picks up a few thousand years later. Yet, it would seem that not all the Vimanas and Vailixi of Rama and Atlantis were gone.
Built to last for thousands of years, many of them would still be in use, as evidenced by Ashoka's ‘Nine Unknown Men’ and the Lhasa manuscript.
That secret societies or ‘Brotherhoods’ of exceptional, ‘enlightened’ human beings would have preserved these inventions and the knowledge of science, history, etc., does not seem surprising.
Many well known historical personages including Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Krishna, Zoroaster, Mahavira, Quetzalcoatl, Akhenaton, Moses, and more recent inventors and of course many other people who will probably remain anonymous, were probably members of such a secret organization.
It is interesting to note that when Alexander the Great invaded India more than two thousand years ago, his historians chronicled that at one point they were attacked by ‘flying, fiery shields’ that dove at his army and frightened the cavalry.
These ‘flying saucers’ did not use any atomic bombs or beam weapons on Alexander's army however, perhaps out of benevolence, and Alexander went on to conquer India.
It has been suggested by many writers that these ‘Brotherhoods’ keep some of their Vimanas and Vailixi in secret caverns in Tibet or some other place is Central Asia, and the Lop Nor Desert in western China is known to be the center of a great UFO mystery.
Perhaps it is here that many of the airships are still kept, in underground bases much as the Americans, British and Soviets have built around the world in the past few decades.
Still, not all UFO activity can be accounted for by old Vimanas making trips to the Moon for some reason. Undoubtedly, some are from the Military Governments of the world, and possibly even from other planets. Of course, many UFO sightings are ‘swamp, gas, clouds, hoaxes, and hallucinations, while there is considerable evidence that many UFO sightings, especially ‘kidnappings’ and the like, are the result of what is generally called ‘telepathic hypnosis.’
One common thread that often runs between ‘Alien kidnappings’ and other ‘close encounters of a third kind’ is a buzzing in the ears just before the encounter.
According to many well-informed people, this is a sure sign of telepathic hypnosis.

Poussin: The Enlightened (Mysteriously)

2008-01-31T17:55:00.000+05:30

-Et in Arcadia ego-

Les bergers d'Arcadie (The Shepherds of Arcadia)
By Nicolas Poussin

A popular painting, known for controversy, conspiracy,

cryptic concealment and supposed indication to the location of the Holy Grail.

The Sculpted Twin of the above, part of:

The Shugborough relief, adapted from an engraving of Poussin's "Les bergers d'Arcadie".

On close scrutiny, one can notice that the bas-relief is a mirror-image

of the painted original. At the base of this sculputre, is a long-standing code

(still to be decrypted), which goes:

Snapshots in the Family Album

2008-01-12T23:54:00.000+05:30

Another Brick in the Wall -- Snaphots in the Family Album

(A collage)

AERO India 2007 Pictures Collage

2008-01-12T23:30:00.000+05:30

This collage took me half an hour's worth of photo - editing and cropping

(AERO India :: January, 2007)

da Vinci's

2008-01-12T11:59:00.000+05:30

The Last Supper: Object of one of the longest - standing graphic debates

(Christ with his 12 Apostles / Christ with his companion and 11 Apostles)

- Mural by Leonardo da Vinci