http://www.rhci-online.net/radiogram/radiogram.htm

https://github.com/GyanD/codexffmpeg/releases/tag/2023-03-05-git-912ac82a3c

set MyFiles=*.flac *.fla *.wav *.aif *.mp4 *.mp3 *.mp2 *.aac *.ogg *.m4a
for %%a in (%MyFiles%) do ffmpeg -i "%%a" -y -lavfi showspectrumpic=s=1920x1080:color=fiery:gain=.7:fscale=lin:orientation=0:saturation=1:mode=combined:legend=enabled:start=0:stop=8000 "%%~na.jpg"

RSID: <<2025-02-14T00:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>


Welcome to program 389 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:42 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:53 MFSK32: Comets found outside our solar system
  7:39 MFSK64: Planned large airship would move cargo*
14:38 MFSK64: This week's images*
27:15 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image(s)


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From Phys.org:

Astronomers announce largest collection of comets found outside
our solar system

by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
February 11, 2025

For the first time, astronomers have imaged dozens of belts
around nearby stars where comets and tiny pebbles within them are
orbiting.

This result reveals regions around 74 stars spanning a wide range
of ages—from those recently formed to others billions of years
old—showing how comets play a role in the formation of stars and
planetary systems. The study is published in the journal
Astronomy & Astrophysics.

To find evidence for comets outside our solar system (called
"exocomets"), astronomers turned to two facilities that detect
particular bands of radio waves. Because of the size of the dust
and rocks in these belts, this type of light is particularly good
at finding and imaging these structures.

The Submillimeter Array (SMA) is an eight-dish array of radio
telescopes near the summit of Maunakea in Hawaii, which is
operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory as part of
the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA). The
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a 66-dish
array in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile.

A joint program between SMA and ALMA dubbed REASONS (REsolved
ALMA and SMA Observations of Nearby Stars) marks a significant
milestone in the study of exocometary belts because its images
and subsequent analysis reveal where the pebbles and the
exocomets are located.

In these regions, it is so cold (-250 to -150 degrees Celsius)
that most compounds including water are frozen as ice on these
exocomets. The astrophysicists are, therefore, observing where
the ice reservoirs of planetary systems are located.

"Exocomets are boulders of rock and ice, at least a kilometer in
size, which smash together within these belts to produce the
pebbles that we observe here with the ALMA and SMA arrays of
telescopes," said Luca Matrà of Trinity College Dublin in
Ireland, and previously a Submillimere Array Postdoctoral Fellow
at the CfA, who led the study. "Exocometary belts are found in at
least 20% of planetary systems, including our own solar system."

The Kuiper Belt is an example of a cometary belt in our own solar
system. Located far beyond the orbit of Pluto, some scientists
think the Kuiper Belt is the source of water for the inner solar
system where Earth is located, delivered through comets billions
of years ago.

The new gallery shows a remarkable diversity of structure in the
belts. Some are narrow rings, while others are wider and could be
categorized more as "disks" than "belts."

Moreover, some of the 74 exocomet systems have multiple rings or
disks and some of those are "eccentric," meaning not a circular
orbit but more like an oval. This provides evidence that yet
undetectable planets or perhaps moons are present and their
gravity affects the distribution of pebbles in these systems. ...

Full text:
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-astronomers-largest-comets-solar.html
 

Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...


 

RSID: <<2025-02-14T00:37Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>
 

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From New Atlas:

Expansive 32-propeller airship looks to return hydrogen [fuel
cells] to the skies

By C.C. Weiss
February 6, 2025

Imagine a massive high-tech helium balloon that stretches well
over an NFL football field in length, has more cargo capacity
than an Airbus Beluga XL, and produces multi megawatts of power
for nearly three dozen propellers. That's definitely a flying
whale. And it's actually years in the making, as French startup
Flying Whales has been fleshing out the concept for over a
decade. Hopes are that this mind-blowing vessel will someday
transform cargo transport by connecting population centers with
remote, virtually inaccessible parts of the world, moving
important goods and materials without touching the ground.

Having grown up quite accustomed to seeing the Goodyear Blimp
hovering over football and baseball games, I never realized just
how rare airships actually are in the 21st century. In fact,
Goodyear's small fleet is among a mere 10 operational blimps in
the world, according to a 2022 article by Fox Weather. A more
commonly cited figure puts the worldwide number at 25, with only
about half of them still operating.
More Stories

Both figures state "blimps," soft-sided airships that rely on gas
for their structural form, but since the modern Goodyear fleet
actually includes semi-rigid vessels, we'd surmise that the
number applies to airships at large, whether soft, semi-rigid or
rigid in form. So figure a dozen or fewer airships still in
operation ... across the entire world.

Frankly, that's a small fraction of the number I would have
expected, but owing to the infamous Hindenburg hydrogen disaster
of 1937, the cost and difficulty of sourcing safer helium, and
the existence of more practical alternatives like airplanes and
drones, airships have all but gone extinct.

The 21st century has brought on a passionate call for airship
revival and reinvention as a modern-day means of green mobility,
for both cargo and passengers. The thinking is that a dirigible's
lighter-than-air design ultimately uses far less energy than
traditional aircraft when it comes to getting and staying in the
air and can be a useful tool in cutting the massive carbon
footprint of global shipping and passenger transportation,
especially when coupled with low- or zero-emissions propulsion.

Some of the new-generation designs even propose bringing back
hydrogen as the lift gas. Flying Whales isn't going down that
path at the moment, but its roadmap does include the use of
hydrogen fuel cells down the line.

Flying Whales is, of course, one of the startups working on an
airship of the future, a task it's been at since 2012. It first
proposed its Large Capacity Airship 60 Tonne (LCA60T) as a means
of pulling renewable wood out of remote logging sites and has
since expanded its vision to other potential use cases.

The company has stuck with the idea of moving cargo, not
passengers, to and from difficult-to-reach roadless, portless
parts of the world and now pitches possibilities such as
supplying materials for energy construction projects, providing
humanitarian aid, delivering cargo containers from land or ship,
and even dropping temporary modular hospitals in places lacking
reliable healthcare. The quick video below puts some visuals
behind those ideas.

Flying Whales estimates that running the LCA60T would cost as
little as one-fifth the cost of using a current-gen cargo carrier
aircraft like the Airbus Beluga.

As currently planned, the LCA60T would stretch well longer than
the 302-ft (92-m) Airlander 10 or 407-ft (124-m) Pathfinder 1
airship projects, measuring 656 feet (200 m) from nose to tail
and swelling out 164 feet (50 m) in diameter. Its 315-ft-long
(96-m) cargo hold would be used to carry up to 132,000 lb (60,000
kg) of goods per trip, while 6.3 million cubic feet (180,000 cu
m) of helium would be tasked with lifting the whole shebang up to
10,000 feet (3,000 m) in the air.

Structurally, plans call for a skeletal frame featuring a
lattice-style construction of composite beams supported by metal
joints. Flying Whales estimates that over 49 miles (80 km) of
composite beam will feature in a single LCT60A. The frame will be
sandwiched between the 14 non-pressurized helium cells inside and
a specially developed outer skin that assists with aerodynamics
and structural integrity. Those helium cells will use an array of
temperature, pressure and humidity sensors to maintain proper
lift through the variable conditions of air travel.

The huge cargo hold will be built as a structural compartment in
the belly of the ship, with a dual sliding door system for
loading and unloading cargo via hydraulic cables without the
vessel having to land. This functionality will eliminate the need
for any expensive, complex landing infrastructure.

Flying Whales is targeting a top speed of 54 knots (63 mph/100
km/h) using 32 propeller drives capable of a combined 5,360 hp
(4,000 kW). Its initial prototype will use a combination of
high-voltage lithium-ion batteries and turbine generators to keep
those electric propeller drives spinning, but the company
ultimately plans to slash localized emissions with hydrogen fuel
cell power generation.

This week, British electric motor startup Evolito announced that
it will be supplying electric motors for the LCA60T project. A
spinoff of Yasa, Evolito is focused on creating lightweight,
power-dense axial flux motors for aerospace applications and will
supply its D250 motors to Flying Whales. Each LCA60T will use 32
of the 308-hp motors to drive the lines of propellers running up,
down and across its outer skin.

Flying Whales plans to begin flight testing in 2027, but that
timeframe could quite easily get pushed back with a project of
this magnitude. The company has been very busy, and its newsroom
is filled with announcements and photos of new technical and
strategic partnerships, funding procurements, event attendance,
and technological progress. In late January, it began wind tunnel
testing the specially coated Diatex ultralight polyester textile
that will serve as the LCA60T's outer skin.

Of course, another overarching reason for the 20th century demise
of the airship: the sheer expense of building and running them.
Flying Whales has already raised over US$300 million of public
and private funding, according to PitchBook, and is still a
couple years out from testing a prototype ... at best. Whether
its airship ultimately ends up an economic boon or boondoggle
remains to be seen ... although the same can be said of many
other visionary startups, airship and otherwise.

So long as these ambitious startups are operational, though,
we'll certainly be watching and waiting for someone to fulfill
the grand vision of giant drivable balloons creating a cleaner,
more worldly means of cargo and people transport.

Source: Flying Whales

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/flying-whales-5000-hp-airship/


Image: Artist's rendering of the Flying Whales airship ...

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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

This week's images ...


A swan flies with the rising sun in the background, in Weihai,
Shandong province, China, on February 6.
https://tinyurl.com/29xx3sg4 ...

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A barn owl flies over grassland near Deal in Kent, England,
January 30, 2024. From The Atlantic's annual Superb Owl
pictorial. https://tinyurl.com/2xj92pfm ...

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A common silverline butterfly rests on a flower in New Delhi.
https://tinyurl.com/2dm6vy3g ...

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A winter rose in a London garden. https://tinyurl.com/2avxmpqa
...
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Kashmiri fishermen during sunset at the Dal Lake, in Srinagar,
Kashmir. https://tinyurl.com/2ddok8b3 ...

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Snow in SE Washington DC, February 11.
https://tinyurl.com/2d6t42mg ...

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Our painting of the week is "Blue Train" by Besik Arbolishvili
(Georgian). https://tinyurl.com/2236beny ...

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Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...




 

RSID: <<2025-02-14T00:57Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>

This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 ...


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I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.

 

RSID: <<2025-02-14T11:30Z MFSK-64 @ 15770000+1500>>
 

Wladimir "Wally" Tax of The Outsiders and Tax Free was born on
February 14, 1948.

He died in 2005.


Sending Pic:178x250;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Tax

Please report your decode to themightykbc@gmail.com.