Today marks three weeks since I took delivery of my Chevy Volt and I still have about half of the original tank of gas that came with the car.  Some have asked me what happens to the quality of fuel after sitting in the car for that long.  I didn’t know the answer until I saw a press release from GM today.  

The 9.3 gallon tank in the Chevy Volt is constructed from steel, not plastic.  It’s also pressure sealed to keep the gas from evaporating.  Here’s more on the fuel system from the GM press release:

For the last several decades, new vehicles have been equipped with charcoal canisters to trap evaporating gasoline and then feed it back to the engine.  Since the Volt’s engine may not fire up for extended periods, hydrocarbons potentially could build up in the canister, so the sealed tank contains the vapor. The extra pressure meant that a lightweight steel tank had to replace the lightweight plastic tanks used in most modern vehicles.  

Volt engineers and supplier Spectra Premium Inc. developed the tank from 1.4 millimeter thick hot-dip tin-zinc coated steel to resist corrosion from both inside and outside. Despite the strength of the tank, it has a mechanical pressure relief valve that begins opening at 3.5 psi and a vacuum relief that opens at -2.3 psi, levels that are rarely exceeded.

At some point the engine will need to run, so a maintenance mode was added.  If a driver goes six weeks without using the gas engine, the Volt’s computer will turn it on for a short while to keep the engine in a healthy condition.  If the car goes without a gas stop for an entire year, it’ll run the engine until the old fuel is consumed or additional fresh fuel is added to the tank.

Yet another example of the kind of engineering that had to go into the design of this vehicle.  

Today was a great test to see just how far the car can go on a full charge.  Following my three mile drive to the office I had a lunchtime meeting up in Wethersfield this afternoon.  So with about 95% charge left in the battery I headed through the hills of Connecticut’s Route 9 towards my destination on the Silas Deane Highway.

I’m excited to say that the car performed well, reaching Wethersfield with another 4 miles remaining in the battery.  I used .73 gallons of gas on the 30 mile trip home, which comes out to about 91 miles per gallon for the round trip.  

Yesterday I had the longest driving day yet for the new car, traveling a total of about 170 miles.  I accumulated about 25 miles of local driving before heading out to Greenwich for the evening.  I was able to get a two hour 120v charge in before the long range trip began, which added only about 5 or 10 miles of battery range.  The gas engine kicked on as expected early in the journey out to Greenwich, and would occasionally switch off when enough power was accumulated from the regenerative braking system.   Had I been at a full charge I could easily get to New Haven on only electric from my home in Essex.

Autoblog Green has what appears to be sobering numbers on early Volt sales, citing GM figures that say only 281 cars were sold in February, down from 321 in January.  Critics eager for GM to fail are trying to make hay from this announcement, but there's much more to the story. 

So after nearly two weeks of driving around town (200 miles and barely a drop of gasoline), I finally hit the limit on the battery range and had the car switch over to the internal combustion engine.  Unlike other hybrids, the Volt’s engine powers the electric motor and doesn’t drive the wheels – giving it some flexibility as to when and how to use gas.  It also never lets the battery drain completely, so even when the car reports its out of juice it still has about a 30% charge remaining.  

And that’s when things got interesting.  I expected the engine to run continously, but the car was much more judicious in its engine use. While coasting down a long hill on my way home, the engine shut down and the regenerative braking system poured some additional electricity in the battery.  When I reached the bottom of the hill and turned onto the next street, the internal combustoion engine was still silent – apparently enough energy was captured on the way down the hill to go another quarter of a mile without it.  It wasn’t until I went up the next hill that the engine turned itself back on.

It’s impressive how much thought and engineering went in to making that scenario possible.  I had some requests for a video tour of the car that I’ll post up this weekend.

Above:  my location and Discovery’s on launch day.  It’s about three miles from the press site to the launch pad.

So after months of waiting, we just knew that Thursday would be the day. The countdown went off without a hitch, and things finally looked to be going in Discovery’s favor.  That was until the countdown clock reached the 5 minute mark and was held.  The rumor mill started circulating and there was a very real fear we’d have yet another mission scrub.  None of us at the time realized how close things were to be called off again.

The hold was due to a problem with a range safety display.  Range safety is responsible for the very difficult decision of destroying the Space Shuttle if it veers off course and poses a threat to people on the ground.  Apparently the officer’s visual display wasn’t working properly, requiring him to rely on just raw data (and not a video picture) of the Shuttle’s trajectory to orbit.   Read more about the range safety officer and his self destruct switch at Popular Mechanics.    

With the clock ticking towards the end of the window but the launch clock still on hold, somebody called the Range Safety Officer’s superior and had his hold overruled.  You can hear at the end of this video one of the mission managers instructing the range officer to flip their swtich from the hold to go position.  If he waited another two seconds the mission would have been scrubbed.  Again.

It must have been a very frantic couple of minutes in the firing room at Kennedy Space Center.  

There have been 133 Space Shuttle launches over the last thirty-one
years.  I’ve watched many of them on television and it never gets old.
 But there’s something about experiencing a launch that just can’t be
appreciated by a television broadcast or a YouTube video.  It starts
with seeing the Shuttle, three miles away, lifting off silently from
the pad with its exhaust plume brighter than the sun as it streaks
towards orbit.  And, perhaps most unforgettable, the thundering roar
and shockwave that slowly approaches and hits like an earthquake –
shaking even the air in a way that’s unmatched by any fireworks
demonstration.

You’re also struck by how sad it is that something so uniquely
American is being phased out with no clear replacement on the horizon.
 Bittersweet indeed.
Take a look at the video to see what the experience was like for me
and about a hundred lucky NASA Tweetup participants yesterday
afternoon.  None of us will ever forget this day, that’s for sure. ]]> http://lonseidman.com/2011/02/25/so-what-was-it-like-nasatweetup/feed/ 0 http://lonseidman.com/2011/02/25/scene-from-the-nasa-press-site-nasatweetup/ http://lonseidman.com/2011/02/25/scene-from-the-nasa-press-site-nasatweetup/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 05:54:45 +0000 admin http://www.lonseidman.com/2011/02/scene-from-the-nasa-press-site-nasatweetup/

NASA Tweetup is back at the Kennedy Space Center!   More than a hundred of the original crew from November is back to hopefully witness the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery tomorrow at 4:50 p.m. eastern time.  There were many happy faces all around as Tweetup participants reconnected with each other after months of correspondence via Twitter.  

Something happens after you're about ten miles into driving your Chevy Volt when it hits you:  This is the future.   

ICE seizes 82 website domains involved in selling counterfeit goods as part of Cyber Monday crackdown

List of domain names seized

WASHINGTON - Seizure orders have been executed against 82 domain names of commercial websites engaged in the illegal sale and distribution of counterfeit goods and copyrighted works as part of Operation In Our Sites v. 2.0, as part of an ongoing investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"The sale of counterfeit U.S. brands on the Internet steals the creative work of others, costs our economy jobs and revenue and can threaten the health and safety of American consumers," said ICE Director John Morton. "The protection of intellectual property is a top priority for Homeland Security Investigations and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. We are dedicated to protecting the jobs, the income and the tax revenue that disappear when counterfeit goods are trafficked."

The coordinated federal law enforcement operation targeted online retailers of a diverse array of counterfeit goods, including sports equipment, shoes, handbags, athletic apparel and sunglasses as well as illegal copies of copyrighted DVD boxed sets, music and software.

During the course of the operation, federal law enforcement agents made undercover purchases from online retailers suspected of selling counterfeit goods. In many instances, the goods were shipped directly into the United States from suppliers in other countries using international express mail. If the goods were confirmed as counterfeit or otherwise illegal, seizure orders for the domain names of the websites that sold the goods were obtained from U.S. magistrate judges. Individuals attempting to access the websites will now find a banner notifying them that the domain name of that website has been seized by federal authorities.

"By seizing these domain names, we have disrupted the sale of thousands of counterfeit items, while also cutting off funds to those willing to exploit the ingenuity of others for their own personal gain," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "Intellectual property crimes are not victimless. The theft of ideas and the sale of counterfeit goods threaten economic opportunities and financial stability, suppress innovation and destroy jobs. The Justice Department, with the help of our law enforcement partners, is changing the perception that these crimes are risk-free with enforcement actions like the one announced today."

The operation builds upon Operation in Our Sites I, which was announced in June 2010. In that first action of this broader law enforcement initiative, authorities executed seizure warrants against nine domain names of websites offering pirated copies of first-run movies.

The nationwide operation was spearheaded by the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) led by ICE’s Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in coordination with the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and nine U.S. Attorneys’ Offices including the Southern District of New York; District of Columbia; Middle District of Florida; District of Colorado; Southern District of Texas; Central District of California; Northern District of Ohio; District of New Jersey; and the Western District of Washington. The Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section also provided significant assistance.

The IPR Center is one of the U.S. government’s key weapons in the fight against criminal counterfeiting and piracy. The IPR Center is led by ICE HSI and includes partners from U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the FBI; the Department of Commerce; the Food and Drug Administration; the Postal Inspection Service; the General Services Administration, Office of the Inspector General; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Army Criminal Investigative Division’s Major Procurement Fraud Unit; the Consumer Product Safety Commission, INTERPOL; and the Government of Mexico Tax Administrative Service. The IPR Center allows law enforcement and the private sector jointly to address the growing transnational problem of counterfeit products. The IPR Center coordinates outreach to U.S. rights holders and conducts domestic and international law enforcement as well as coordinates and directs anti-counterfeiting investigations. To learn more about the IPR Center, visithttp://www.ice.gov.

NASA once relied on big networks and even bigger names like Walter Cronkite to help carry its message. But now NASA is broadening its reach to social media. The agency recently invited 150 of its Twitter followers to a space shuttle launch “tweetup” event, giving people like math professor Joel Glickman – and his live streaming iPhone – access that was once reserved only for the media’s elite. But this is more than a fan appreciation day. NASA officials estimate that the videos, photos, blog posts and tweets will reach more than 1.8 million people, an audience size that rivals most cable networks in primetime. NASA knows all too well what happens when the public’s interest goes elsewhere. A Saturn V Rocket, once destined for the moon, now sits in a museum at the Kennedy Space Center – the result of budget cuts in the 70′s. With the Space Shuttle program set to conclude in 2011 and no immediate replacement vehicle ready, NASA hopes reaching the public through its most enthusiastic supporters will keep interest in the program strong during this critical transition.

Target dates will be on November 30th and December 1st between 3 and 4 am. Should make for a spectacular night launch and a challenging photo opportunity!

NASA staff will try to get us similar access on the rescheduled date. If we do get access I’ll be here and will be more than happy to act as the “pool reporter” for those who can’t make it back.

Fueling has begun!  Liquid oxygen is flowing into the large orange
fuel tank as we speak. All systems are go and the weather is looking
70% favorable for launch just after 3:00 p.m.

I’ll be arriving at the press site around 8:30 or so this morning.
More to come! ]]> http://lonseidman.com/2010/11/05/we-are-a-go-for-launch-nasatweetup/feed/ 0 http://lonseidman.com/2010/11/04/apollo-era-gear-still-operating-at-the-kennedy-space-center-nasatweetup/ http://lonseidman.com/2010/11/04/apollo-era-gear-still-operating-at-the-kennedy-space-center-nasatweetup/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 20:04:16 +0000 admin http://www.lonseidman.com/2010/11/apollo-era-gear-still-operating-at-the-kennedy-space-center-nasatweetup/

Last night I learned an interesting factoid from a NASA staffer: the countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center press site is likely the most viewed time piece in the world.  It is the same clock that billions watched on television as Apollo 11 launched for the moon.  The National Register of Historic Places has it listed along with its accompanying flagpole.   But that's not the only piece of Apollo era hardware in use at the Kennedy Space Center.

With only a 20% chance of launch today, NASA has decided to scrub today and aim for tomorrow just after 3:00 p.m.  The weather should be much better.  

We will likely arrive on-site at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.  There will be an opportunity for us to watch the astronauts traveling to the pad in the “Astrovan.”  Buzz Aldrin will be onsite as well, but we’re not sure if he will be stopping by to visit us.  That would be a real treat.  

I feel for the dedicated NASA staff organizing the event for us here.  They are continually having to adjust schedules and work out logistics for 150 tweeters on the fly.   What was supposed to do be a two day event for them has stretched out to nearly a week of constant scheduling changes, additions, and cancellations.  Hopefully we’ll have a launch tomorrow!

It’s 6:00 a.m. and “tanking” of the shuttle’s large orange fuel tank has begun.  Weather is looking very, very, iffy this afternoon (only about a 20% chance of launch) but if there’s any kind of break in the scattered thunderstorms they are going to make an attempt.

Embedded above is live video from Spaceflight Now, an excellent source for space related news.  Miles O’Brien, a former CNN reporter, will be hosting today’s launch from the press site.  You can follow their live mission blog here.  Time for me to hit the road!  With luck we may actually see a launch this afternoon.

We will be gathering back at the press site tomorrow morning ahead of the launch scheduled for 3:52 eastern.

Joel Glick, a math professor at Hudson Valley Community College, is streaming just about every minute of the NASA Tweet Up live from his iPhone and his specially designed streaming hat!  At one point yesterday he had over 100 viewers tuning in for his unique perspective on this week’s NASA Tweetup event.

You can catch up with his broadcast below:

Watch live video from nasatweetup on Justin.tv

Tonight we had an opportunity to visit Space Shuttle Discovery on the pad ahead of Wednesday's launch.  Tonight the shuttle was still protected by the rotating service structure which will be rolled back tomorrow evening.  We will be heading back out to the pad tomorrow to witness the retraction and get what should be an amazing dusk to evening view of Discovery fully prepped and ready to go.