July 16, 2019
GUINNESS MAKES IT OFFICIAL
Since getting the first glimpse of it last month at the Paris Air Show, the world has known GE’s latest jet engine, the GE9X, as the largest commercial jet engine in the world. Designed for Boeing’s new 777X wide-body jet, the front fan on this baby is 11 feet in diameter, larger than the entire fuselage of some other Boeing planes. But the engine’s not just the biggest — it’s also the most powerful, as measured by engine thrust. And that’s a stat you can take to the bank: It was bestowed upon the GE9X last week, at a ceremony at GE Aviation’s Ohio headquarters, by no less than Guinness World Records.
One for the books: “While we didn’t set out to break the thrust Guinness World Records title, we are proud of the engine’s performance,” said David Joyce, president and CEO of GE Aviation, who called the achievement “a testament to our talented employees and partners who design and build outstanding products for our customers.” The record was broken during an engineering test on Nov. 10, 2017, when the GE9X’s thrust clocked in at 134,300 pounds — not too far off the 188,000 pounds of thrust required in 1961 to send a human into orbit for the first time. The record comes, too, as GE Aviation celebrates another milestone: 100 years in business.
Read more here about GE Aviation’s journey to jet-engine preeminence.
ROCKET PLAN
In the fast-approaching future, small satellites will reach orbit without even rocketing off from the ground. Some will launch from beneath the wings of an airplane already flying tens of thousands of feet above the earth’s surface. Such an orbital delivery system could be quicker, faster and more accurate for the right space probes — and it just came a little closer to being a reality. Last week, in the first successful “drop test,” a 70-foot rocket streaked across the skies above California’s Mojave Desert after being released at 35,000 feet from Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl “flying launch pad,” a modified Boeing 747-400 powered by four GE CF6 jet engines. Since it was a drop test — the test rocket’s engine didn’t ignite — the rocket was meant to fall to the ground rather than shoot into space.
Giving satellites a wing up: “What a moment: @virgin.orbit have released our fully built, fully loaded LauncherOne rocket from Cosmic Girl for the first time,” wrote company founder Sir Richard Branson on Instagram just hours after the launch. It was a big step in a years-long journey. In 2018, Cosmic Girl’s chief pilot, Kelly Latimer, told GE Reports, “We hope to open access to space for companies or organizations who want to put small satellites into orbit by making launch affordable and flexible.” After last week’s test launch, Latimer declared herself satisfied: “The release was extremely smooth, and the rocket fell away nicely. This was the best kind of test flight sortie from a test pilot’s perspective — an uneventful one.”
Now that Virgin Orbit knows the rocket can successfully detach from the plane, the next step is getting it into space. Learn more here about the company’s out-of-this-world ambitions.
CYPRESS BRANCHES OUT
Last week, the Turkish renewable-energy operator Borusan EnBW Enerji announced an order for 27 Cypress wind turbines — GE Renewable Energy’s largest land-based wind turbine. The first one set down roots in Holland earlier this year, and the wind turbine “platform” continues to spread its canopy. Or, rather, spread its blades: The rotor uses three revolutionary blades that can be transported and assembled from two pieces, allowing the diameter of this machine to stretch a stupendous 158 meters. That’s about the same length as a midsize New York City skyscraper turned on its side — all the better to capture wind and convert it to electricity. The new order, which marks the first sale for the Cypress in Turkey, will provide enough capacity to power the equivalent of 190,000 homes in that country. Manar Al-Moneef, president and CEO of onshore wind for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, said, “Borusan EnBW Enerji is one of the biggest investors in wind energy in Turkey, and we are thrilled to be working together and help our customer reach its renewable energy goals.”
The wind is at their backs: Also last week, GE Renewable Energy announced that it had been selected to provide 81 onshore wind turbines to power the 220 MW Potegowo Wind Project in northern Poland. Peter Wells, onshore wind CEO for Europe and sub-Saharan Africa at GE Renewable Energy, said the deal is a chance to “reiterate our commitment to bring sustainable green electrons to the Polish grid.” When completed, the project will be one of the largest wind farms in Poland and will bring GE Renewable Energy’s installed base in the country from 580 MW to a whopping 800 MW. The wind farm is expected to help save 480,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
Learn more here about how wind is changing the energy landscape — in Europe and beyond.
COOLEST THINGS ON EARTH ?
1. One-Two Punch Against HIV
A team of researchers completely removed “replication-competent” HIV from genomes containing the virus in living animals, pointing one way toward a possible cure.
2. How’s The Water?
At the University of Missouri, researchers demonstrated a quick, low-cost technology for determining whether water is safe to drink — and they did it by using a repurposed laser tattoo-removal machine, among other unlikely tech.
3. Strengthening The Spine
Scientists at the University of Michigan developed an “EpiPen for spinal cord injuries”: a fast injection of nanoparticles that might forestall paralysis.
Read more about this week’s Coolest Things on Earth here.
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“The technologies I’ve worked on are out of this world. I never have a dull moment.”
— Ted Ingling, general manager for the GE9X engine program
Quote: GE Reports. Image: GE Aviation.
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