Appendix to Russian Aviation (c. 2013) on oldpossumsbookreview

Modification of Tu-214 (modernization of an obsolete passenger aircraft) as AWACS plane.

http://oldpossumsbookreview.blogspot.com/2013/01/forecast-of-state-of-russian-air-forces.html

World of the Game of Thrones

This is a possible sketch of the world(s) described by Martin in "Game of Thrones." Real star system Gliese 581 was the inspiration. 

Explanatory notes. Data are very approximate. This is a planetary system around red dwarf star of M=0.2 M_solar (T=3,100 K, r_orb=10^6 km, Luminosity=0.6% Solar). Because of tidal effects on the host star, the planet always has one side to the star. Hence, it does not have normal night and day as does the Earth. 

• The planet itself has a radius of approximately 1.4 times the Earth's radius and 3 times Earth's mass. In the presence of thick atmosphere, its almost tidal-locked position would probably cause runaway greenhouse effect, like the Venus', but it has a large (about a mass of Mars) gaseous satellite. Furthermore, as a result of some cosmic catastrophe, the orbit of this satellite is highly inclined to the ecliptic plane and, similar, to Uranus its rotation axis is approximately parallel to the ecliptic. 

• Because of the tidal locking, liquid water can exist only in ~15 deg. zone near the terminator. However, because of the presence of the large oddly position satellite and incomplete locking, the planet is engaged in complex multiperiodic wobbles.  The smallest of these periods around 13 hours--the period of rotation of the satellite--slightly shifts the terminator. For the inhabitants, this provides the impression of night and day, though the real change in luminosity is probably not as high as on Earth (improving the filming conditions for the night sex scenes). 

• Far side being cold (-200 C) and near side--hot (170 C) creates supersonic winds near the terminator, which change direction with the wobble. Factually, two habitable zones near the poles are separated from each other and nothing is known about the life at the South Pole. Our North-South direction corresponds to the North-West direction (into the cold wilderness) vs. South-East direction (into an uninhabitable desert). A habitable zone itself is an imperfect circle around the "North" pole with the surface area slightly higher than the North America. The continent itself is marked by red contours on the last figure. 

• Because of relative irregularity of night and day, the notion of daytime never developed and technology, in general, is primitive and is unchanged for thousands of years. Large satellite is on the opposite side of the planet during daytime and mostly behind the horizon of the inhabited continent during the nighttime, so its presence went undiscovered for all but technologically savvy Valyrians, of whom little is known. 

Long winter. The system has a Jupiter-size planet moving along highly elliptic orbit. In the perigee it shifts motion of the original planet and its giant satellite out of resonance. Resulting intermittent stochastic motion of the satellite shuts down periodic wobbling of the planet and daily shifts of the terminator. Near the North Pole this results in a "long winter," an irregular season of protracted cold and darkness. Jupiter-sized planet is accompanied by a number of comets in Lagrange points (L1 and L2 in the Fig. 1), which are interpreted by locals as signs of impending long winter. 

Orientation system for the blind

Problem: walking stick as an aid to the blind is in umpteenth century of its existence. Modern technology can do better.

Solution: ultrasound sonar or microwave radar in the walking stick. The signals from the radar are transformed into a combination of vibrations of the handle and clicks and whistles through the microphone. Optimal combination of acoustic signals to alert the blind person of the surroundings has to be determined experimentally and may be individualized.

Unsolved problem: cost