Land Speed Project to Capture the Imagination
Reported by Miles Shepherd in the UK
Lord Drayson, Minister of State for Science and Innovation, launched The BLOODHOUND Project, a three-year mission lead by Richard Noble OBE to create a land speed record car capable of achieving 1,000mph. Noble led the Thrust SSC project which captured the Land Speed Record when Andy Green drove the jet cart to 763 mph at Black Rock desert in Navada.
The new project, called Bloodhound SSC, is aimed not just at breaking the record which has stood since 1997. One of the primary aims is to inspire future generations to take up careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by showcasing these subjects in the most exciting way possible. This supports the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) new three year cinema and television campaign due to be launched in November which will demonstrate the breadth and variety of careers open to science and maths students.
Drayson,(pictured left, courtesy AmericanLeMans) a well known motor sports enthusiast and participant, said the project would result in tangible scientific developments that will benefit all, for example in areas such as fuel efficiency and safety and which could be used in the cars we drive in the future.
The project is a collaboration between university and industrial partners. An aerodynamics team at Swansea University, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, will lead the modelling side of the project. Meanwhile, the University of the West of England will lead the engineering side and produce the first scale model of the car. The actual Bloodhound SSC car will be constructed at a specially designed visitors centre at the university. The project is expected to run for three years.
BLOODHOUND SSC (super sonic car) will be driven by Wing Commander Andy Green who set the current record of 763mph (1228kmh) at the controls of ThrustSSC on 15th October 1997. If the new vehicle achieves its target of 1,000mph (Mach 1.4) it will mark the greatest incremental increase in the history of the World Land Speed Record; it will also exceed the low altitude speed record for aircraft (c.994mph).
However, it is known that a number of other teams are also planning an assault on Thrust SSC's mark. "There are three cars out there right now with varying degrees of credibility and at various stages of advancement," said Green.
The 12.8m-long, 6.4-tonne Bloodhound will be expected to travel faster than a bullet fired from a handgun. Its 900mm-diameter wheels will spin so fast they will have to be made from a high-grade titanium to prevent them from flying apart. The car will accelerate from 0-1,050mph (1,690km/h) in just 40 seconds; and at its maximum velocity, the pressure of air bearing down on its carbon fibre and titanium bodywork will exceed 12 tonnes per square metre.
The BLOODHOUND Project is a private venture. Government is part funding the three year education programme but not the build and running costs of the car. These costs will be covered by sponsorships. Founder sponsors include Swansea University, STP, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Serco and the University of The West of England.
The plan is to complete the car during 2009 and achieve the 1,000 mph record by 2011.
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Boston's Big Dig Project featured on Jim Lehrer's NewsHour in USA
The Boston Central Artery/Tunnel Project, dubbed the "Big Dig" by Bostonians, was a featured story on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on 24 October. In the final segment of a series investigating the health of the nation's infrastructure, Ray Suarez of the NewsHour reports on this project -- the most expensive single highway project in the U.S. that has cost more than $14.6 billion. The Ray Suarez segment can be seen online at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/transportation/july-dec08/bigdig_10-24.html.
The Bid Dig is the largest and most complex urban transportation project ever undertaken in the United States. The project is the result of more than 30 years of planning and 12 years of construction to replace the elevated section of Interstate 93 Central Artery through downtown Boston with a much wider underground highway and to extend the Interstate 90 turnpike to Logan Airport via a third harbor tunnel. Among the only other transportation projects on this large a scale were the Panama Canal and the Channel Tunnel.
The project comprises 161 lane-miles of interstate highway--over half of it underground. Its host of civil engineering firsts include the world's widest cable-stayed bridge, the deepest underwater connection in North America, state-of-the-art freeway segments built only inches above 19th century public transit railways, and an unprecedented ground-freezing program to stabilize Boston's historic soils during construction. The project has been widely recognized through dozens of awards for engineering excellence and aesthetics. For additional background information on the project, visit http://www.bechtel.com/boston_central_artery.html.
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URS-Led Team Selected to Manage Yucca Mountain Project
by US Department of Energy
URS Corporation announced on 30 October that a team led by the Company has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Yucca Mountain Project in Nevada. The team would manage a scope of work with a maximum value of approximately US$2.5 billion, if all options are exercised. The performance based, cost-plus award-fee contract will cover a five-year base performance period, with an additional five-year option.
The URS-led team, USA Repository Services, LLC, includes the Washington Division of URS, Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure, Inc., and AREVA Federal Services, Inc. USA Repository Services, LLC, will be responsible for completing the detailed design of a nuclear waste repository, defending and updating a license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), operating Yucca Mountain facilities prior to the NRC's Construction Authorization, and supporting construction management and operation of the Yucca Mountain repository.
Tom Zarges (pictured), President of URS' Washington Division said: "We are very pleased to have been selected for this project, which is vital to the future of nuclear power and energy independence for the United States. URS has a long history of supporting the DOE, and has managed many successful projects including the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the nation's only operating deep geological nuclear waste repository. USA Repository Services, LLC, will bring together top talent from all three companies, with an unequaled track record designing and licensing nuclear facilities. We look forward to continuing our important work with the DOE."
URS Corporation (NYSE: URS) is a leading provider of engineering, construction and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies around the world. The Company offers a full range of program management; planning, design and engineering; systems engineering and technical assistance; construction and construction management; operations and maintenance; and decommissioning and closure services. URS provides services for power, infrastructure, industrial and commercial, and federal projects and programs. Headquartered in San Francisco, the Company operates through three divisions: the URS Division, the EG&G Division and the Washington Division. URS Corporation has more than 50,000 employees in a network of offices in more than 30 countries (www.urscorp.com).
Source: URS Corporation
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US$ 150 Million financing approved for Oil and Gas Field
Development Project in Tunisia
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB), through its Private Sector section, has approved a loan of US$ 150 million to finance the Hasdrubal Oil and Gas Field Development Project in the Gulf of Gabes, in Tunisia.
The Hasdrubal project involves the construction of a stand-alone, concurrent gas, condensate, and oil system in the Gulf of Gabes, in 62-meter water depth approximately 100 km from the coast. Exploitation of the Hasdrubal field has only recently become viable due to prevailing high oil prices and improved estimates of available reserves.
The project will include: i) Six offshore horizontal development wells for commercial production ("First Gas") and drilling of additional wells for gas and oil (“Project Completion"); ii) a wellhead platform (the "Offshore Platform") for production from offshore wells; iii) a 100 km, 18-inch diameter, sub-sea pipeline to transmit co-mingled production stream from the wellhead platform to the onshore processing plant (the "Multi-Phase Pipeline"); iv) a 16-km pipeline from the Onshore Terminal to the Ben Sahloun delivery point ; v) LPG facilities consisting of LPG processing facilities at the Onshore Terminal, LPG storage tanks at Gabes, and iv) two separate LPG pipelines for butane and propane (collectively, the "LPG Facilities").
(photo: Hasdrubal onshore refinery)
The Hasdrubal project has been described as a timely priority by the Tunisian Government and is well aligned with the AfDB’s Country Strategy for Tunisia. It will help satisfy the growing national demand for gas and the projected supply gap that now strains the country’s foreign exchange reserves due to imported energy products. The project will also have a positive contribution to Tunisia’s trade balance through the generation of foreign exchange and savings from import substitution.
This project is in line with the Bank's Private Sector Operations (PSO) Priorities which emphasize the development of infrastructure and natural resources as a catalyst for sustainable economic growth. In addition to being closely aligned with the Bank’s assistance strategy for Tunisia, the Hasdrubal project will provide sectoral diversification and a significant learning opportunity in a relatively low-risk environment; all of which are consistent with the private sector strategy for middle-income countries.
During the drilling and construction phases, the project will create 1,200 local jobs. In addition to these direct economic benefits, the project is expected to have a substantial incremental impact by enhancing Tunisia’s competitive physical infrastructure. The public-private partnership (PPP) financing structure is a first for Tunisia in the infrastructure sector and should help develop future project finance transactions in the country.
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GTRI Executive Delivers Keynote Speech at 22nd
IPMA World Congress on Project Management in Rome
Reported live from the IPMA World Congress in Rome
The second day of the 22nd IPMA World Congress on Project Management in Rome, Italy on Monday 10 November 2008 began with a keynote speech by Mr. Peter Tensmeyer, Deputy Director for the Office of North and South American Threat Reduction in the GTRI program office. Kicking off the day at 9:00 a.m., Mr. Tensmeyer presented a summary of the management of one of the world’s most important security programs, the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI).
The GTRI is a global program financed by the U.S. government that includes portfolios of projects in countries around the world, with a critical global mission – to protect society from the malevolent use of nuclear or radiological materials that could be used in an improvised nuclear device (IND) or radiological dispersal device (RDD), commonly referred to as a radiological “dirty bomb.” The program involves the cooperation and coordination of governmental bodies, contractors and project teams in more than 100 countries.
The formal title of Mr. Tensmeyer’s speech in Rome was “Project Management techniques applied to a worldwide challenge: Reducing the Global Threat of Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism.” Pete described the scope of the GTRI program, some of the results achieved to date, and difficulties ahead. He focused on management challenges, mentioning some of the technical and management concepts and tools being implemented on the program.
This was an exciting speech, as Mr. Tensmeyer described how modern professional project management is being used to protect society from the threat of nuclear terrorism. This was also apparently the first time that this program has been presented to the world’s project management professional community. Approximately 1,000 participants listened to Mr. Tensmeyer’s address at the Palazzo dei Congressi in Rome. At the end of his speech, Pete thanks the project management professional community for developing the concepts and approaches now being used for managing this important global program.
The local host organizations for the ROMA 2008 World Congress – Project Management to Run – are the Italian Project Management Academy and the Italian National Association of Industrial Plant Engineering (ANIMP). The President of ANIMP is Mr. Fabrizio Di Amato; the President of the Italian PM Academy is Mr. Roberto Mori; the Congress Chairman is Mr. Luigi Iperti; and the Project Manager for IPMA 2008 is Mr. PierMarco Romagnoli. For registration, schedule and other information, visit the conference website at www.ipmaroma2008.it.
Founded in 1967 and registered in Switzerland, the International Project Management Association (IPMA) is the world’s oldest project management professional organization. IPMA is an international federation of more than 45 national PM societies in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. IPMA’s Annual World Congress is one of the largest and most important gatherings of project management authorities and leaders each year. The president of IPMA for 2008 is Veikko ValilaM; president-elect for 2009/10 is Brigette Schaden. Additional information about IPMA is available at www.ipma.ch.
Reported live from Rome by David Pells and Nelson Soucek who were covering the IPMA world congress for PMForum, along with a number of PMForum global advisors and international correspondents.
NASA'S Shuttle Endeavor Launches on Home Improvement
Mission to International Space Station
Space shuttle Endeavour with its seven-member crew successfully lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA at 7:55 p.m. EST Friday(0:55 a.m. GMT Saturday morning) on a mission to repair and remodel the International Space Station.
Endeavour's STS-126 mission is carrying to space about 32,000 pounds, including supplies and equipment to double the crew size from three to six members in spring 2009. The new station cargo includes additional sleeping quarters, a second toilet, a water reclamation system and a resistance exercise device.
The mission's four planned spacewalks will focus on servicing the station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints, which allow the outpost's solar arrays to track the sun. The starboard SARJ has had limited use since September 2007.
Shortly before launch, Commander Chris Ferguson (pictured) thanked the teams that helped make the launch possible. "It's our turn to take home improvement to a new level after 10 years of International Space Station construction," he said. "Endeavour is good to go."
Joining Ferguson on Endeavour's 15-day flight are Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Donald Pettit, Steve Bowen, Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Shane Kimbrough and Sandra Magnus. Magnus will replace current station crew member Greg Chamitoff, who has lived on the outpost since June. She will return to Earth on Discovery's STS-119 mission, targeted for February 2009.
Created in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is America’s focal point for research, development and exploration of outer space. In 2005, the US President and Congress committed the United States to exploring the solar system and beyond: completing assembly of the International Space Station, flying the new Crew Exploration Vehicle by 2014, returning astronauts to the moon by the end of the next decade, and sending human missions to Mars and beyond. For over 50 years, NASA has been leading the world in the development and usage of advanced program and project management. Additional information about NASA programs and projects can be found at www.nasa.gov.
ISRO "gives India the moon"
Reported by Raju Rao in Chennai
ISRO - the Indian Space Research Organization - has successfully left India's footprint on the moon by crash landing a probe.
In the words of ISRO Chairman, Madhavan Nair - "Just as we had promised, we have given India the moon" (a reference to what grandmothers usually promise children to pacify and cajole them!)
When the 35-kg box-like scientific instrument crashed on the Moon on Friday night, India became the fourth country in the world to have put a probe on lunar soil. The other countries/agency which had done it earlier were Russia, the United States, Japan and the European Space Agency.
The person in charge of the moon mission is M Annadurai (photo),
Project Director – Chandrayaan -1
Mr Annadurai has spent more time working on India’s space missions than on any other job. Having obtained a masters degree in engineering from the PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, he joined ISRO in 1982.
Prior to the present appointment, Annadurai was in Charge of India's National Communication satellite (INSAT) missions as the Mission Director. He has also served as the Associate Project director, for GSAT-3-EDUSAT. He was the member secretary of the task team that prepared Chandrayaan-1 project report.
Earlier Annadurai had stated on Oct 22nd during the launch of Chandrayaan-1 "Our baby is on its way to the moon. It will reach its destination in the next 15 days." .Now that it is a great success he will be a happy man and so will many Indians along with him for this achievement.
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Space Agencies Worldwide Celebrate International Space Station’s
10th Anniversary
The International Space Station turned 10 years old on 20 November 2008. Nations around the world joined NASA and the United States with marking a milestone in space exploration, celebrating the 10th birthday of this unique research laboratory in space.
Now the largest spacecraft ever built, the orbital assembly of the space station began with the launch from Kazakhstan of its first bus-sized component, Zarya, on Nov. 20, 1998. The launch began an international construction project of unprecedented complexity and sophistication.
The International Space Station is a venture of international cooperation among NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and 11 members of the European Space Agency, or ESA: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. More than 100,000 people in space agencies and contractor facilities in 37 U.S. states and throughout the world are involved in this endeavor.
"The station's capability and sheer size today are truly amazing," said International Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini. "The tremendous technological achievement in orbit is matched only by the cooperation and perseverance of its partners on the ground. We have overcome differences in language, geography and engineering philosophies to succeed."
Only a few weeks after the U.S.-funded, Russian-built, Zarya module was launched from Kazakhstan, the space shuttle carried aloft the Unity connector module in December 1998. Constructed on opposite sides of Earth, Unity and Zarya met for the first time in space and were joined to begin the orbital station's assembly and a decade of peaceful cooperation.
Ten years later, the station's mass has expanded to more than 627,000 pounds, and its interior volume is more than 25,000 cubic feet, comparable to the size of a five-bedroom house. Since Zarya's launch as the early command, control and power module, there have been 29 additional construction flights to the station: 27 aboard the space shuttle and two additional Russian launches.
One hundred sixty seven individual representing 14 countries have visited the complex. Crews have eaten some 19,000 meals aboard the station since the first crew took up residence in 2000. Through the course of 114 spacewalks and unmatched robotic construction in space, the station's truss structure has grown to 291 feet long so far. Its solar arrays now span to 28,800 square feet, large enough to cover six basketball courts.
The International Space Station hosts 19 research facilities, including nine sponsored by NASA, eight by ESA and two by JAXA. Cooperation among international teams of humans and robots is expected to become a mainstay of space exploration throughout our solar system. The 2005 NASA Authorization Act recognized the U.S. orbital segment as the first national laboratory beyond Earth, opening it for additional research by other government agencies, academia and the private sector.
"With the International Space Station, we have learned so many things -- and we're going to take that knowledge and apply it to flying to the moon and Mars," said Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, now aboard the station. "Everything we're learning so close to home, only 240 miles away from the planet, we can apply to the moon 240,000 miles away."
(photo: STS-126 Commander Chris Ferguson and Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke mark the 10th anniversary of the International Space Station with a special message. Credit: NASA.)
To take a virtual tour of the International Space Station and learn more about the current mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station.
Source: NASA news release on November 17, 2008
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£22 Billion Sellafield Transfer Completed to Schedule
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), Britain's national body responsible for the clean up and management of the UK's legacy reactors, has announced today that it has completed one of the largest and most complex public procurement programmes when the shares in Sellafield Ltd transferred from British Nuclear Fuels Ltd to a specially created private sector consortium - Nuclear Management Partners Ltd. Today's news signals the successful conclusion of a two-year competitive process by the NDA to secure a world-class parent body for Sellafield Ltd, held in accordance with EU procurement rules.
As announced in October, when the Transition Agreement commenced, Nuclear Management Partners Ltd (NMP) will own the shares in Sellafield Ltd for an initial period of 5 years with possible extensions up to 17 years, subject to periodic reviews. The value of the work covered is worth £1.3bn in its first year and over the full lifetime of the contract approximately £22bn.
Today’s news signals the successful conclusion of a two-year competitive process by the NDA to secure a world-class parent body for Sellafield Ltd, held in accordance with EU procurement rules. Energy and Climate Change Minister Mike O’Brien said: "This is an important milestone in tackling the UK’s civil public nuclear legacy. The Government established the NDA to get to grips with the legacy after decades of inaction. We are using competition to bring in world class expertise to clean up sites in the most efficient way. Stephen Henwood, Chairman of the NDA added: “Today is the culmination of enormous effort to successfully complete, on schedule, not just the NDA’s biggest and most significant competition, but a public sector procurement of vital importance to UK PLC.
Tom Zarges, Chairman of NMP said: "NMP is delighted to have secured this contract after a very rigorous selection process. We are committed to working in partnership with the NDA, the workforce, the supply chain and the local community to realise our shared vision, and to make the Sellafield sites world class operational and decommissioning centres of excellence."
Nuclear Management Partners, Ltd, is lead by URS' Washington Division and includes the French nuclear giant AREVA and UK based project and engineering consultancy AMEC plc. At the Sellafield sites, NMP will be responsible for management and operation services, including commercial operations, waste management, support services, decontamination and decommissioning and new construction projects. Sellafield is one of the largest and most complex nuclear sites in the United Kingdom, storing and treating nuclear waste from both the UK's military and civil nuclear programs.
Under the contract, the consortium will manage and operate, on behalf of the NDA, the reprocessing and waste storage facilities at Sellafield, the former nuclear power stations Calder Hall and Windscale (all in West Cumbria), the Capenhurst nuclear site and an Engineering Design Center at Risley in Cheshire.
URS Corporation (NYSE: URS) is a leading provider of engineering, construction and technical services for public agencies and private sector companies around the world. The Company offers a full range of program management; planning, design and engineering; systems engineering and technical assistance; construction and construction management; operations and maintenance; and decommissioning and closure services. URS provides services for power, infrastructure, industrial and commercial, and federal projects and programs. Headquartered in San Francisco, the Company operates through three divisions: the URS Division, the EG&G Division and the Washington Division. URS Corporation has more than 50,000 employees in a network of offices in more than 30 countries (www.urscorp.com).
AREVA, formed from a number of French nuclear entities in 2001, is a world energy expert and offers its customers technological solutions for highly reliable nuclear power generation and electricity transmission and distribution. It claims that it’s 71,000 employees are committed to continuous improvement on a daily basis, making sustainable development the focal point of the group’s industrial strategy.
AMEC plc is a FTSE 100 company based in UK with an annual revenues of over £2.3 billion. AMEC has major operations in the UK and Americas and work internationally for customers from the Arctic to Australia, employing over 23,000 people in more than 30 countries worldwide. From scientists and environmental consultants, to engineers and project managers, AMEC claim that it is their people who drive their success.
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