Inflatable seat belts. At a glance, that doesn't seem like
such a bad idea after all, particularly for those rear seat passengers who aren't blessed with two huge bags or air right in front of their chest. We're guessing the top brass at Ford feel pretty much the same way, as the outfit has just announced that these very devices will be making their debut in the next-generation Ford Explorer before rolling out across the fleet. Of course, Lexus is also planning to shove these into its ultra-luxurious LFA (which will probably make a grand total of 14 wealthy owners feel really, really safe), but it's tough to tell which vehicle will hit the showroom first. Jump past the break for a vid.
Continue reading Ford's inflatable seat belts headed to Explorer in 2010, other whips in due time (video)
Filed under: Transportation
Ford's inflatable seat belts headed to Explorer in 2010, other whips in due time (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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ford, inflatable, Safety, seat belt, seat belts, SeatBelt, seatbelts, transportation, video
Space is mighty cool and the Earth's atmosphere isn't particularly hot either (most of it, anyway), but when you transition from one to the other a lot of friction can be generated. NASA typically uses gas-generating ablative shields for smaller orbiters and of course everyone is familiar with the silica tiles on the bottom of the space shuttle, but now it's tested a rather more lightweight and compact option: an inflatable shield. It's comprised of layers of silicon-coated kevlar fabric that, at least for this initial test, inflates in 90 seconds and forms a sort of saucer shape that's just perfect for keeping MUFON's phone lines busy. There's a dizzying video of it being blasted out of the atmosphere just after the break, and we think you'll be seeing plenty more of this tech deployed on future martian landers and the like.
[Via
Gizmodo]
Continue reading Video: NASA rockets inflatable heat shield 124 miles up, deploys it successfully
Filed under: Science
Video: NASA rockets inflatable heat shield 124 miles up, deploys it successfully originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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atmosphere, atmospheric entry, AtmosphericEntry, heat shield, HeatShield, inflatable, Inflatable heat shield, InflatableHeatShield, Nasa, Space, video
