- Former CEO Bob Chapek Calls Leadership Tenure ‘Three Years of Hell,’ Upcoming Trips to Walt Disney World May Be Eligible for $1000 Dining Card Promo, & More: Daily Recap (9/6/23) WDW News Today
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- ‘Demoralized’ ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro reportedly considered leaving Disney over Bob Chapek’s decisions Awful Announcing
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Tag Archives: trips
NY’s fix for Onondaga Lake Parkway truck-bridge crashes will change daily trips for thousands – syracuse.com
- NY’s fix for Onondaga Lake Parkway truck-bridge crashes will change daily trips for thousands syracuse.com
- Liverpool neighbors concerned about traffic with changes coming to the Onondaga Lake Parkway CNYcentral.com
- NY to reduce lanes on Onondaga Lake Parkway in new attempt to keep trucks from hitting low bridge syracuse.com
- NYSDOT offers multiple solutions to Onondaga Lake Parkway problem WSYR
- Onondaga Lake Parkway to be temporarily reduced to 1 lane; other measures aimed to prevent bridge collisions Spectrum News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
American Airlines Deletes First Class on International Trips
Flying overseas in business-class or better is one of those things — like getting the Good Seats at the game — that, once you’ve done it, it’s hard to go back to coach or the bleachers. Some luxuries, you will convince yourself, are worth paying for. According to The Wall Street Journal, one such option — first-class seats on international American Airlines flights — is soon going away. American says this decision was made, in part, to add more business-class seats, which these days, are more or less what the old first-class was anyway.
American had previously said as much last month, though WSJ reports that on an earnings call on Thursday, an American executive said plainly that the airline is making the change for the simple reason that first-class isn’t selling as well as the other good seats on the plane.
“And frankly, by removing [first-class seats], we can provide more business-class seats, which is what our customers most want or are most willing to pay for,” [said Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raj.]
[…]
…the airline will outfit its long-haul fleet with new “Flagship Suites,” which include seats that lie flat and sliding doors for privacy, in a revamp that will increase premium seating on those planes by more than 45% by 2026.
The new suites will be included on newly delivered Boeing 787-9 planes and Airbus A321 XLRs starting in 2024. American will also retrofit its Boeing 777-300ER planes to include the new suites.
The sliding door thing seems a little unnecessary, but then again people get real weird on planes, especially on long-haul trips, and some people value their privacy more than I do. More importantly, this says that many of the business-class seats lie flat, which is the real game-changer, as deplaning overseas after hours of fitful, garbage sleep in an upright chair as opposed to restful, continuous sleep lying flat makes a night-and-day difference.
This seems, in any case, mostly an exercise in branding, as “first-class” just sounds more expensive than “business-class,” which, as the WSJ notes, has most of the same benefits anyway. Is either of them worth it for you, a poor dirtbag? That is a personal decision, though I prefer to save my nickels for my destination, and arrive in London or wherever stiff as a board, having flown coach. The times I have flown first- or business-class were paid for by someone else, which was nice of them. On one such flight, I even sat next to the actress Rooney Mara once. I’m sure she was doing something a lot cooler in France than driving a dumb luxury SUV.
Amtrak cancels some long-distance trips as freight strike threat looms
“These initial adjustments … could be followed by impacts to all Long Distance and most State-Supported routes,” Amtrak said in a statement. “These adjustments are necessary to ensure trains can reach their terminals prior to freight railroad service interruption if a resolution in negotiations is not reached.”
Amtrak owns and operates much of its own track in the busy Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, but elsewhere it crosses the country on tracks owned by freight lines. Commuter lines that run between major cities and suburbs often operate on a similar model. Those freight tracks likely wouldn’t be available to passenger trains in the event of a widespread strike.
Any disruption would affect a passenger rail industry already weakened by 2 1/2 years of the pandemic, which has hit commuter rail lines especially hard.
Amtrak said it is closely monitoring the labor negotiations and is “hopeful that parties will reach a resolution,” citing potential effects on passenger operations. Amtrak said it has begun phased adjustments to service in preparation for a possible freight rail service interruption later this week, adding that “such an interruption could significantly impact intercity passenger rail service.”
Amtrak Monday announced cancellations on trains with Tuesday departures on the Empire Builder, the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief routes.
Most travel within the Northeast Corridor would not be affected, Amtrak said. However, minor schedule changes are expected on a small number of Northeast Regional trains serving destinations from Virginia to Boston. The company will let passengers change their reservation for free for departures scheduled through Oct. 31
Jim Mathews, president and chief executive of the Rail Passengers Association, said cancelling trains early in the week makes sense to avoid a scenario in which rail passengers could become stranded.
“It’s better to cancel some trains now than to send some people out onto the road and then have them stranded in the middle of nowhere because the strike has hit and the train can’t move anymore,” he said. “Meanwhile we all keep our fingers crossed that finally [the railroads and labor unions] get to a settlement.”
Freight railroads and unions representing their workers have been locked in a lengthy dispute over pay and working conditions. After a presidential board recommended a compromise, 10 of 12 unions involved in the talks have signed on to the deal, but the two largest have not. A cooling-off period ends Thursday night, after which workers could strike or the railroads could lock out passenger rail agencies.
Officials at several regional rail agencies said Monday they were holding internal meetings to determine the potential effects and to develop contingency plans. A strike is not certain and the scope of any disruption to passenger services was not clear.
A key question would be whether the freight railroads’ dispatchers — whose job is to route trains — would continue to work. Without them, passenger trains probably could not operate on freight tracks.
Metrolink, a network of seven lines serving Los Angeles and other Southern California communities, warned customers last week of the potential for disruptions. Scott Johnson, a spokesman for the agency, said five of its seven lines use tracks owned by freight railroads, meaning as many as 70 percent of its customers could be affected.
Yet Johnson said Metrolink had little information Monday about what the precise effects might be.
“We are largely working from a position of darkness,” he said.
Normally when Metrolink cancels trains, Johnson said it organizes buses as a replacement. But in the case of a strike, the agency does not expect it would be able to provide an alternative means of transportation.
“Because of the possible expansive nature and the high number of trains, there simply are not enough buses to provide alternative service,” Johnson said.
The Maryland Department of Transportation said Monday that freight railroad CSX had notified it about the potential for a strike beginning Friday. The state said a strike would result in the “immediate suspension” of all service on two of its three MARC commuter lines serving the District — one to Baltimore and another to Martinsburg, W.Va.
Virginia Railway Express officials didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday.
DJ Stadtler, executive director of the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority, which oversees passenger service in the state, said the authority is working with Amtrak and freight railroads to ensure passengers get the “most up-to-date information available” in the event of a strike.
Not every commuter rail operation would be affected. RTD, the transit agency serving Denver, said it didn’t expect its lines to suffer in the case of a strike. The nation’s biggest transit operator, New York’s MTA, said its two commuter rail services also were not expected to be affected.
The looming rail labor strike could further snarl a national rail network that’s been slowing to a crawl for months, officials with the Rail Passengers Association said, particularly hurting Amtrak passengers.
Disruptions to intercity train operations are on the rise, and more are likely as uncertainties linger amid staffing shortages and increased demand. Amtrak trips have been hampered by worsening problems on freight rail lines, which often share tracks with Amtrak trains.
One-third of Amtrak customers encountered delays in July, according to on-time performance data, with an average delay of 71 minutes. The share of delayed customers is trending up, Amtrak data shows, and delays are getting longer.
The disruptions are more pronounced for travelers on long-distance routes — which are late more than half the time — and in parts of the country outside the Northeast Corridor. Railroad association officials said the dispute could result in more widespread late trains or cancellations.
Commuter rail operators have been hard hit by changing working patterns brought on by the pandemic. In many cases, they offer more limited service at rush hour, which no longer suits workers with more flexible schedules. In Los Angeles, for example, Johnson said Metrolink had about 40,000 weekday boardings before the pandemic, a figure that now stands at about 17,000.
American Airlines pilots get triple pay for trips dropped in scheduling glitch
An American Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner approaches for a landing at the Miami International Airport on December 10, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
American Airlines pilots and its pilots’ union agreed to triple pay for aviators who were able to drop thousands of July flights because of a scheduling program glitch over the weekend, they said Wednesday.
Pilots will also get double pay for peak holiday periods.
The scheduling platform error let pilots drop some 12,000 flights from their schedules, according to the union, the Allied Pilots Association, CNBC reported last week.
The issue sprung up while American and other airlines have been scrambling to avoid flight disruptions during a surge in summer travel demand.
“We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with the APA and appreciate their partnership in coming to a resolution quickly to take care of our pilots, our team and our customers,” American said in a statement.
A similar issue occurred in 2017, when a technology problem let American’s pilots take vacation during the busy December holiday period. The carrier offered pilots 150% pay for pilots who picked up assignments.
American and the pilots union are in contract negotiations. APA’s president, Capt. Ed Sicher, told the union’s roughly 15,000 pilots: “I am optimistic it will provide a springboard for us to wrap up our Section 6 negotiations and secure the new collective bargaining agreement that we have been waiting far too long to achieve.”
American recently offered pilots raises of nearly 17% through 2024.
Memorial Day travel: Amid record-high gas prices, millions plan trips
“For these two years, we’ve missed family gatherings, weddings, bar mitzvahs, graduations — all these things with friends and family,” said Amir Eylon, president of Longwoods International, a travel and tourism market research consulting firm. “Now that the fear of covid among travelers has significantly subsided — and despite inflationary pressures — folks are determined to get out there.”
Nationwide, AAA predicts 39.2 million people — 8 percent more than last year and 92 percent of pre-pandemic levels — will travel over the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of what it expects to be a busy summer. Compared with last year’s holiday weekend, AAA expects a 4.6 percent increase in car travel, 25 percent growth in airplane trips and a 200 percent jump in travel by bus, train and cruise ship.
Meanwhile, the average ticket price for the lowest airfare is $184, up 6 percent compared to a year ago. Midrange hotels are charging an average $230 per night — 42 percent more — for their lowest rate, according to AAA. Only daily rental car prices are down, falling 16 percent from last year, when vehicles were scarce.
D.C. residents are paying higher gas costs than the national average — $4.84 per gallon — but are still expected to jam Washington-area roads.
Maryland officials advise hitting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Eastern Shore beaches in the early morning or late evening. The Maryland Transportation Authority expects more than 330,000 vehicles to cross the bridge over the long weekend, about the same as pre-pandemic Memorial Day weekends.
An ominous sign: Last weekend, days before the holiday, Sunday’s westbound backups reached 5.5 miles, the authority said.
Last year’s Memorial Day weekend marked the first major travel period after the distribution of coronavirus vaccines, but they were limited. This year, vaccines are widely available. Moreover, travel industry experts say, some people who put off traveling have more savings to put toward higher costs. Some also booked plane tickets and hotel rooms months ago, before prices surged.
An April survey by AAA found that more than 50 percent of D.C. residents said they planned to travel more this summer than last year, despite rising gas prices. More than half said they were less worried about the pandemic, and about 1 in 3 said it would be their first significant summer trip since 2019. Though most said they didn’t consider the price of gas when making plans, about 1 in 4 said they were taking fewer or shorter trips because of it, AAA said.
“I think this year, especially with vaccines being readily available and many people being vaccinated, many people have a desire to travel,” said Ragina Ali, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. “Overwhelming, pent-up demand for people to resume some kind of normalcy seems to be outweighing the costs.”
Some motorists who headed out Thursday winced at the cost of filling up. However, none mentioned concerns about the pandemic or considerations to cancel plans because of gas costs. Traveling, many said, felt like something they needed to do, despite the added expense.
At a Shell station in Stevensville, Md., where regular gas was $4.49 a gallon, Amalya Dixon bristled at the $50 to fill up, even with her tank starting at a quarter full. Dixon, 61, said she and her daughter, Lina Flefel, 26, were driving to Chincoteague Island, Va., where Dixon was moving from Silver Spring. The moving van wasn’t far behind.
“I had to move,” Dixon, an artist, said of her trip. “But I’m constantly looking at gas prices, trying to find the cheapest one. … One of the things I’m looking forward to on Chincoteague is riding my bike everywhere.”
Dixon said she also planned to drive to a family wedding in Maine in late July, but she’ll probably cut back on eating out and other niceties to save up.
“I have to go,” she said. “It will affect how I spend my money in other ways. I can’t spend money on other things if I have to use it on gas.”
Several recent surveys, including by travel consultants and industry groups, show that concerns about gas prices have surpassed those about the coronavirus.
In a recent Washington Post-Schar School poll, 72 percent of Americans said they “definitely” or “probably” plan to take a vacation this summer. About 6 in 10 said gas prices were a “major factor” in their plans, while about 1 in 4 cited concerns about the coronavirus, according to the poll taken in late April and early May.
In Maryland, an automatic increase in the gas tax will send prices even higher starting July 1, adding 6.6 cents per gallon. The tax, which is tied to inflation and collected at the wholesale level, will increase from 36.1 cents per gallon to 42.7 cents.
Democrats who lead the state’s General Assembly did not support a special session to stave off the increase or offer another temporary gas tax holiday, saying such efforts offer marginal relief for motorists while starving the state of money needed for roads, transit and bridges.
In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) plans to suspend a scheduled increase in the 26.2 cents-per-gallon gas tax and to suspend the tax altogether for three months have stalled in protracted budget negotiations between the Republican-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate. The General Assembly returns to Richmond on Wednesday to vote on a compromise budget bill — too late for Memorial Day motorists.
The cost of filling up is playing into tourism pitches.
Jessica Waters, a spokeswoman for Ocean City, touted the Maryland beach town’s proximity — “less than a tank away” — from millions of residents in D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia.
“Gas prices are higher, but a trip to Ocean City is still much cheaper than traveling to most other beach destinations,” Waters said. “It’s certainly cheaper than airfare.”
Even so, airlines say they are expecting big crowds. Bookings are up 3 percent compared with the same period in May 2019, but air travelers are spending 24 percent more, according to data collected by Adobe Analytics that is used by companies in the travel industry.
United Airlines said this Memorial Day weekend will be one of its busiest this year. The carrier said it expected 2.6 million people to fly between Thursday and Tuesday — a 50 percent increase over last year and roughly 90 percent of the number who flew during the Memorial Day travel period in 2019.
Delta Air Lines said it will carry roughly 2.5 million customers over the weekend, a 25 percent increase. Even so, the carrier on Thursday announced reductions to its summer schedule, saying it would cut roughly 100 flights per day between July 1 and Aug. 7.
United, Delta and several other U.S. carriers are still grappling with staffing shortages as they scramble to replace the estimated 50,000 workers who left the industry during the pandemic. As a result, despite greater demand, many carriers are flying pared-down schedules as they try to avoid the kind of delays and cancellations that upended the plans of tens and thousands of travelers last summer and fall.
Those dynamics — fewer flights combined with higher demand — are pushing up ticket prices, putting flights out of reach for some.
Los Angeles resident Ellie Romero, 25, who works in communications, said she had been saving for a trip to Atlanta this summer to visit family she hasn’t seen since the pandemic started. When she checked in March, round trip airfare cost about $300. By the time she was ready to buy a ticket in late April, she said, she was stunned to discover the lowest fare had nearly tripled.
“I saw that and thought, ‘No way that’s happening,’ ” Romero said.
Travel experts say history shows that gas price spikes, such as during the Great Recession and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, often shorten — but don’t stop — the great American road trip.
In a recent study, Eylon’s firm found that almost 60 percent of those surveyed said rising gas prices would “impact” or “greatly impact” their travel plans in the next six months, including by taking fewer or shorter trips. Only 6 percent said they were canceling travel plans — slightly above the 5 percent cancellation rate typical for family emergencies, work demands and other problems, he said.
“They’re going to keep traveling,” he said. “They’re just going to find ways to reduce their spending to reallocate their travel budget.”
Larry Roessner, 70, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., laughed in apparent disbelief when asked how much it cost to fill his RV as he and his wife, Darleen, 66, headed to the Atlantic City area. He paid $159 at the Shell station in Stevensville on Thursday, even though he started with the tank partially full.
Roessner estimated gas for the two-day drive would total $600 to $700 — far more than last year but probably less than he might lose at a craps table in Atlantic City.
“I’m retired,” Roessner said. “What else am I going to do? … We’re going to go have fun and not worry about it.”
But others said inflation has put a summer trip off limits.
Meggan Wagner, 40, who is unemployed, said she usually travels several times every summer from her home in southern Iowa to Wisconsin. But this year, she said, she’ll pass on the nine-hour drive.
“Not only are the gas prices going up, food is going up, too, which makes it twice as bad,” Wagner said. “You either choose to go somewhere or you choose to eat, and this year I’m kind of cutting back.”
Erin Cox and Laura Vozzella contributed to this report.
Warriors’ Steph Curry trips over waiter’s serving tray heading into halftime against Mavericks
Warriors star Steph Curry trips on a courtside waiter’s beer tray just before halftime against the Dallas Mavericks on May 22, 2022.
TwitterA courtside waiter accidentally recreated a famous scene from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and tripped Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry to close out the first half of Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.
After Curry tried to defend a three-point shot from Mavericks forward Reggie Bullock, he started to run back toward his team’s basket. But before he could make it to that side of the court, he fell down. Curry had tripped over the waiter’s beer tray — ironically after the waiter tried to move it out of the way, perhaps for safety — and was slow to get up at first, but was walking fine by the time he started heading to the locker room.
Many viewers immediately recalled an episode of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” where Larry David’s character stretched out his legs during a Lakers game as Shaquille O’Neal was heading down the court and tripped the Los Angeles big man. O’Neal also referenced this scene during the halftime show of this game, and joked that the vendor had to get out the way because no one wants a pretzel that badly.
Of course, unlike the television episode, Curry made it out of that incident without a serious knee injury.
Curry was able to laugh it off after the Warriors’ nine-point win gave them a 3-0 series lead. “There was 30 seconds before halftime,” he said. “You order a drink, just wait until halftime. I don’t know why they needed it delivered right then. Thankfully I was alright. That guy, he was doing his job, so hopefully he got a big tip.”
Chinese tycoon’s ‘big short’ on nickel trips up Tsingshan’s miracle growth
March 14 (Reuters) – (This March 13 story corrects size of Morowali industrial park in paragraph 20, and to show production data is for whole company, not only for its Sulawesi facilities, in paragraph 21)
Chinese tycoon Xiang Guangda has to find a way to bail his Tsingshan Holding Group out of a crisis after its bet on nickel prices backfired, fuelling more volatility in a metal essential for the electric vehicles industry.
One of the world’s top nickel producers faces massive losses on its short positions after prices soared over $100,000 per tonne last week and forced the London Metal Exchange to halt nickel trading. read more
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Tsingshan has to either pay off the outstanding short positions, which could be as high as $8 billion, or prove it has sufficient deliverable nickel to repay in kind.
Beijing could step in to rescue Tsingshan, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. China could swap some of its high grade nickel reserves for low grade nickel pig iron (NPI) that Tsingshan produces to help it meet LME quality standards. China is estimated to hold around 100,000 tonnes of nickel in state stocks, two analysts said.
Tsingshan and China’s state reserves administration did not respond to requests for comment.
Tsingshan has figured in market swings before.
Last year, it triggered a price drop with surprise news that it would provide nickel matte to battery materials makers, potentially solving a key bottleneck for electric vehicles by boosting battery-grade supply in a cheaper way.
Betting prices would fall, Tsingshan started building a short position last year. The bet backfired partly as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent metals prices soaring, putting pressure on holders of big short positions, including Tsingshan.
“Markets were sensing that (Tsingshan) were going to make a move, but they probably made it too early … a quarter or so too early and nobody was anticipating what happened in Ukraine,” said Angela Durrant, Wood Mackenzie’s principal nickel analyst.
Tsingshan has suggested foreign elements may be driving up nickel prices.
“Foreigners do have some actions and we are actively coordinating [with related parties],” China Business News quoted Xiang as saying on March 8.
The market gyrations have had no impact on Tsingshan’s Indonesia operations, a corporate mining source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
For Indonesia, Tsingshan is a means to fulfill its ambition to become a one-stop shop for EV battery ingredients and the company has executed projects at lightning speed. Western firms often privately complained about the access and resources Tsingshan got in the country.
“Government has ambition in Indonesia, they want to build the hub for battery for electrical car. That’s why you see the policy to support the industry,” the source said. “We are affected by COVID, but not affected by this (short exposure).”
Tsingshan is also seen as a poster child in Southeast Asia for China’s Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping’s vast infrastructure programme.
In contrast to privately-held Tsingshan, several high profile projects led by Chinese state-backed firms have been mothballed amid overpricing, corruption and debt sustainability concerns.
MARKET DISRUPTOR
Founded in 1988 in Wenzhou, Tsingshan started out in stainless steel production and making automobile windows and doors.
But its fortunes changed when Xiang, 64, started exploring Indonesian markets in 2009. Over the next decade, it shook the global nickel industry with low-cost nickel pig iron.
It set up facilities in Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, with output ranging from nickel sulphate to nickel matte, an intermediate product that can be used in both stainless steel and batteries.
Tsingshan is spearheading Indonesia’s two major nickel hubs, including the Morowali industrial park, which employs over 40,000 people and spans 2,000 hectares with an airport, mineral processing plants, a port and executive visitors hotel.
The company has said it aims to produce 850,000 tonnes of nickel equivalents this year and 1.1 million tonnes in 2023.
“There was nothing there on that site in 2015 … so they did something absolutely miraculous,” Durrant said. “Getting away from higher Chinese power (costs), moving everything over to Indonesia was a masterstroke for them.”
The industry credits much of this success to Xiang.
He became known as a market disruptor who could “take the world by storm”, said Steven Brown, an independent nickel consultant in Canberra who spent two days touring Tsingshan’s production facilities with Xiang in 2014.
Xiang opposes high nickel prices and is fixed on being a low-cost producer of nickel and stainless steel, Brown said.
“I don’t think this crisis will result in too much of a change in strategy from Tsingshan,” he added.
Market sources said though Tsingshan has cut its exposure it is unlikely to have fully covered all its positions.
State-backed Chinese newspaper Securities Daily said on March 9 that Tsingshan had deployed “enough spot products” for delivery by swapping its nickel matte with nickel plates in the domestic market.
The LME allows delivery of nickel cathodes, including plate, and briquettes.
“There isn’t much spot nickel product in the market, it’s not even likely that Tsingshan could get 100,000 tonnes,” said a Guangdong-based analyst who declined to be named.
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Additional reporting by Ed Davies and Dominique Patton; Editing by Diane Craft
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Radical Idea Shows Laser Propulsion Could Rapidly Accelerate Trips to Mars
NASA and China plan to mount crewed missions to Mars in the next decade. While this represents a tremendous leap in terms of space exploration, it also presents significant logistical and technological challenges.
For starters, missions can only launch for Mars every 26 months when our two planets are at the closest points in their orbit to each other (during an “Opposition”). Using current technology, it would take six to nine months to transit from Earth to Mars.
Even with nuclear-thermal or nuclear-electric propulsion (NTP/NEP), a one-way transit could take 100 days to reach Mars.
However, a team of researchers from Montreal’s McGill University assessed the potential of a laser-thermal propulsion system. According to their study, a spacecraft that relies on a novel propulsion system – where lasers are used to heat hydrogen fuel – could reduce transit times to Mars to just 45 days!
Conceptual render of a Laser-Thermal-Propulsion System. (Duplay et al., 2022)
The research was led by Emmanuel Duplay, a McGill graduate and current MSc Aerospace Engineering student at TU Delft. He was joined by Associate Professor Andrew Higgins and multiple researchers with the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGill University.
Their study, titled “Design of a rapid transit to Mars mission using laser-thermal propulsion”, was recently submitted to the journal Astronomy & Astronomy.
In recent years, directed-energy (DE) propulsion has been the subject of considerable research and interest. Examples include the Starlight program – also known as the Directed Energy Propulsion for Interstellar Exploration (DEEP-IN) and Directed Energy Interstellar Studies (DEIS) programs – developed by Prof. Phillip Lubin and the UCSB Experimental Cosmology Group (ECG).
As part of NASA-funded research that began in 2009, these programs aim to adapt large-scale DE applications for interstellar missions.
There’s also Breakthrough Starshot and Project Dragonfly, both of which emerged from a design study hosted by the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4iS) in 2013. These concepts call for a gigawatt-power laser array to accelerate a lightsail and a small spacecraft to a fraction of the speed of light (aka relativistic speeds) to reach nearby star systems in decades, rather than centuries or millennia.
But whereas these concepts are interstellar in focus, Duplay and his colleagues explored the possibility of an interplanetary concept.
As Duplay explained to Universe Today via email:
“The ultimate application of directed-energy propulsion would be to propel a lightsail to the stars for true interstellar travel, a possibility that motivated our team that did this study. We were interested in how the same laser technology could be used for rapid transit in the Solar System, which will hopefully be a nearer-term stepping stone that can demonstrate the technology.”
Aside from laser sail propulsion, DE is being explored for several other space exploration applications. This includes power beaming to and from spacecraft and permanently-shadowed habitats (e.g., the Artemis Program), communications, asteroid defense, and the search for possible technosignatures.
There’s also a concept for a laser-electric spacecraft being investigated by NASA and as part of a collaborative study between the UCSB ECG and MIT.
For this application, lasers are used to deliver power to photovoltaic arrays on a spacecraft, which is converted to electricity to power a Hall-Effect Thruster (ion engine). This idea is similar to a nuclear-electric propulsion (NEP) system, where a laser array takes the place of a nuclear reactor. As Duplay explained, their concept is related but different:
“Our approach is complimentary to these concepts, in that it uses the same phased-array laser concept, but would use a much more intense laser flux on the spacecraft to directly heat propellant, similar to a giant steam kettle. This permits the spacecraft to accelerate rapidly while it is still near Earth, so the laser does not need to focus as far into space.
“Our spacecraft is like a dragster that accelerates very quickly while still near Earth. We believe we can even use the same laser-powered rocket engine to bring the booster back into Earth orbit, after it has thrown the main vehicle to Mars, enabling it to be quickly recycled for the next launch.”
In this respect, the concept proposed by Duplay and his colleagues is akin to a nuclear-thermal propulsion (NTP) system, where the laser has taken the place of a nuclear reactor.
In addition to DE and hydrogen propellant, the mission architecture for a laser-thermal spacecraft includes several technologies from other architectures. As Duplay indicated, they include:
“[A]rrays of fiber-optic lasers that act as a single optical element, inflatable space structures that can be used to focus the laser beam when it arrives at the spacecraft into the heating chamber, and the development of high-temperature materials that allow the spacecraft to break against the Martian atmosphere upon arrival.”
This last element is essential given that there’s no laser array at Mars to decelerate the spacecraft once it reaches Mars.
“The inflatable reflector is a key from other directed-energy architectures: designed to be highly reflective, it can sustain a greater laser power per unit area than a photovoltaic panel, making this mission feasible with a modest laser array size compared to laser-electric propulsion,” added Duplay.
By combining these elements, a laser-thermal rocket could enable very fast transits to Mars that would be as short as six weeks – something that was considered possible only with nuclear-powered rocket engines before.
The most immediate benefit is that it presents a solution to the hazards of deep-space transits, like prolonged exposure to radiation and microgravity.
At the same time, says Duplay, the mission presents some hurdles since many of the technologies involved are bleeding-edge and have not been tested just yet:
“The laser heating chamber is likely the most significant challenge: Can we contain hydrogen gas, our propellant, as it is being heated by the laser beam to temperatures greater than 10,000 K while at the same time keeping walls of the chamber cool? Our models say this is feasible, but experimental testing at full scale is not possible at present because we have not yet built the 100 MW lasers needed.”
While much of the technology in this proposed mission architecture – and other similar proposals – is still in the theory and development phase, there is no doubt about their potential.
Reducing the time it takes to get to Mars to a matter of weeks instead of months will address two of the biggest challenges for Mars missions – logistical and health considerations.
Furthermore, establishing a rapid-transit system between Earth and Mars will speed the creation of infrastructure between Earth and Mars. This could include a Gateway-like space station in orbit of Mars, like the Mars Base Camp proposed by Lockheed Martin, as well as a laser array to decelerate incoming spacecraft.
The presence of these facilities would also accelerate plans to create a permanent human presence on the surface.
As Professor Higgins concluded:
“The Mars-in–45-days design study that Emmanuel led was motivated by exploring other, near-term applications of the phased array laser technology that Philip Lubin’s group is developing. The ability to deliver energy deep into space via laser would be a disruptive technology for propulsion and power. Our study examined the laser thermal approach, which looks encouraging, but the laser technology itself is the real game changer.”
This article was originally published by Universe Today. Read the original article.
Go big, spend big on bucket list trips
‘New sense of urgency’ to hit the road
There’s a “new sense of urgency” to travel, said Stephanie Papaioannou, a vice president at the luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent.
“Guests feel they have lost two years, and older clients are concerned about having fewer healthy years left to travel,” she said.
A couple pose in front of Machu Picchu, a destination in Peru that tops many travelers’ bucket lists.
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Lee Thompson, co-founder of the adventure travel company Flash Pack, agreed.
“People are desperate to get away,” he said. “They’ve been waiting to get back out there and are not shying away from those international destinations and big, once-in-a-lifetime adventures.”
The year of the ‘GOAT’
Expedia is calling 2022 the year of the GOAT, or the “greatest of all trips.”
In a survey of 12,000 travelers in 12 countries, the company found that 65% of respondents are planning to “go big” on their next trip, according to a company representative. As a result, it named the desire for exciting and extravagant trips “the biggest travel trend” of the year.
A survey of 12,000 travelers by Expedia found that Singapore residents were the least likely to have traveled during the pandemic (59%) and the most likely to want to splurge (43%) on their next trip.
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Amadeus is seeing a jump in searches to “epic destinations,” according to a company report published in November. Searches to Tanzania (+36%), flights to Jordan’s Petra (+22%) and bookings to cities near Machu Picchu (nearly +50%) rose from 2020 to 2021, according to the report.
These trends are expected to grow this year, along with interest in islands in the Indian Ocean as well as Antarctica, according to the report.
The pandemic has changed the “mood of travelers,” said Decius Valmorbida, president of travel at Amadeus.
“We have people just say: “Look, what if another pandemic happens? What if I’m locked in again?'” he said. There’s “a psychological effect that now is the moment.”
Searches for stays in vacation homes abroad are now on pace with 2019 levels, according to HomeToGo’s travel trends report, released in late November.
The international destinations drawing the biggest search increases this year, compared with 2019, are Tuscany, Italy (+141%), the Bahamas (+129%), French Polynesia’s Bora Bora (+98%), the Maldives (+97%) and the south of France (+88%), according to the report.
The top-searched international destinations for Americans for 2022 travel are Rome, Bali, London, Paris and Mexico’s Riviera Maya — which includes Playa del Carmen and Tulum — according to Expedia.
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Research shows that those aged 18 to 34 are driving the trend, and families are also getting in on the act, said Abercrombie & Kent’s Papaioannou.
“Families are choosing destinations they have always dreamt of, especially those centered around outdoor experiences like Nile River cruises, Machu Picchu, safaris and barge cruises in Europe,” she said.
Loosening purse strings
While financially devastating for some, the pandemic has allowed others — namely, professionals who have been able to work from home — to sock away more savings.
Some 70% of leisure travelers in major countries — such as the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Japan and Spain — plan to spend more on travel in 2022 than they have in the past five years, according to a November joint report by the World Travel & Tourism Council and travel website Trip.com.
Travelers are “more willing than ever before” to splurge on future travels, according to Expedia.
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Globally, HomeToGo’s average booking expenditures increased by 54% last year, compared with 2019, according to company data. But average nightly rates haven’t gone up nearly that much — around 10% — for bookings this year compared with before the pandemic, said the company’s co-founder and CEO Patrick Andrae.
“Pent-up demand for travel led to travelers taking longer vacations, many opting to do so in a spacious vacation rental versus a hotel,” he said.
U.S. travelers are also seeking quieter, more luxurious destinations this summer — Maui over Honolulu, Nantucket over Cape Cod — despite the higher costs, according to HomeToGo’s data.
Travelers may be willing to pay more to go to certain places, rather than to make the trip itself more luxurious. Twice as many U.S. respondents indicated they were willing to spend more to see “bucket list” destinations (32%) rather than book luxury experiences (15%) or room or flight upgrades (16%), according to Expedia.
The willingness and ability to spend more are likely a good thing, since travel costs have increased in some places. The U.S. Travel Association’s December Travel Price Index, which measures travel costs in the United States, shows that prices have increased for food (+10%), hotels (+13.3%) and motor fuel (+26.6%), compared with 2019.
Airfare, however, was lower than 2019 levels (-17%), according to the index — but that may soon change, partly because of rising jet fuel costs.
Family reunions and ‘friendcations’
People are celebrating missed milestones, often with extended family, said Papaioannou. Abercrombie & Kent’s data shows a 26% increase in future bookings of five or more guests as compared with 2019, she said.
Family reunion-style vacations will be popular this year, agreed Mark Hoenig, co-founder of the digital travel company VIP Traveler.
People are expected to travel more with friends and family this year.
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“People are still catching up for lost time with family,” he said. “Destinations that provide for large multi-generation families, such as those with a high inventory of large villas — including the Caribbean, Mexico and Maldives — are seeing an uptick in bookings.”
The U.K. saw an explosion of bookings by large groups once restrictions eased, according to Amadeus. Bookings to party spots, such as Las Vegas; Cancun, Mexico; and the Spanish island of Ibiza, led the company to name “friendcations” a top travel trend for 2022.
Renewed demand for travel agents
Big trips often require big plans, which is resulting in a renewed demand for travel agents, said Elizabeth Gordon, co-founder of the tour and safari operator Extraordinary Journeys.
Professional planners can help travelers navigate “Covid-19 tests, restrictions, changes in entry requirements, visas, flights, accommodation, activities and backup plans,” she said.
Even “DIY travelers,” who normally plan their own trips, are nowadays seeking professional help to make sure their upcoming travels are seamless, said VIP Traveler’s Hoenig.