Aerospike engines..!

A test firing of twin linear XRS-2200 aerospike engines, originally built for the Lockheed Martin X-33, a next-generation, commercially operated reusable launch vehicle. The aerospike engine is a type of rocket engine that maintains its efficiency across a wide range of altitudes through the use of an aerospike nozzle. A vehicle with an aerospike engine uses 25-30% less fuel at low altitudes, where most missions have the greatest need for thrust.

Photo credit: Marshall Space Flight Center

Today's featured picture

Edward VI of England

A portrait of Edward VI of England, when he was Prince of Wales. He is shown wearing a badge with the Prince of Wales's feathers. It was most likely painted in 1546 when he was eight years old, during the time when he was resident at Hunsdon House. Edward became King of England, King of France and Edward I of Ireland the following year. He was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first ruler who was Protestant at the time of his ascension to the throne. Edward's entire rule was mediated through a council of regency. He died at the age of 15 in 1553.

Artist: Unknown, probably of the Flemish School

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# ...that Nazi Germany's animal protection laws were the first in the world to place the wolf under protection?
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# ...that Norwegian Parliament member Kjell Bondevik was the uncle of Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik?
# ...that Mole rats home through their large burrows using the Earth's magnetic field?
# ...that Messina, Italy, known as Messene during the Sicilian Wars, was sacked by the Carthaginians in 397 BC in retaliation for the attack on Motya by Dionysius I of Syracuse?
# ...that Grey's Anatomy writer Gabrielle Stanton appeared as the character "Gabrielle" in the 1998 film Free Enterprise?

In the news

* Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho (pictured), the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul who was kidnapped in Iraq last month, is found murdered.
* Eliot Spitzer announces his resignation as Governor of New York amidst reports he was a client of an illegal prostitution ring.
* Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on an assembly mission to the International Space Station carrying the first Japanese component and Canada's Dextre.
* The Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi narrowly wins the general election in Malta.
* Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Socialist Workers' Party is re-elected.
* NASA announces evidence of rings around the Saturnian moon Rhea, which would be the first known rings around a moon.

Wikinews – Recent deaths – More current events...

Today's featured article

Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table, and is a highly reactive nonmetallic period 2 element that readily forms compounds (notably oxides) with almost all other elements. At standard temperature and pressure two atoms of the element bind to form dioxygen, a colorless, odorless, tasteless diatomic gas with the formula O2. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe by mass after hydrogen and helium and the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust. Oxygen constitutes 88.8% of the mass of water and 20.9% of the volume of air. All the major classes of structural molecules in living organisms, such as proteins, carbohydrates, and fats contain oxygen, as do the major inorganic compounds that comprise animal shells, teeth, and bone. Another form (allotrope) of oxygen, ozone (O3), helps protect the biosphere from ultraviolet radiation with the high-altitude ozone layer, but is a pollutant near the surface where it is a by-product of smog. Oxygen was independently discovered by Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele in the 1770s, but Priestley is usually given priority because he published his findings first. (more...)

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