Replacement Space Shuttle!

 It is on the way and much better than the last ones?

Lockheed is supposed to be building a new generation of far improved Shuttles, that will work along side existing technology and these machines may be part of the New Solar System fleet of craft, reaching Mars, Venus and further afield in the years to come!

Over coming gravity will be one plus for them, but the other is how do they deal with space dust and other materials hurtling by, that will rip the skins of these vessels, robot controlled or not?

The need to build and move cargo within our Solar System is not far away, as we expand out to the Moons of the giants and further afield, it will all look forward to some interesting times in the next fifty years of exploration!

Submarines.

Still less Utilised.

The world of the submariner seems to remain in the hands of the military in relation to the commercial procurement of its use in shipping and travel?

Submarines can be developed to move cargo and is used on a limited scale for underwater tourism, but is it not time to harness this extra form of travel over that of air pollution and the expanse of the claimed carbon foot print.

Many robotic small subs are being harnessed daily by the scientific community to explore the depths, to search for sunken treasure and to do seabed pollution investigation.

Underwater Transport.

1960's Concepts.

Since these ideas of using civilian submarines in the 1960's no progress has at yet been made to bring anything outside the tourism industry to fruition. Australia and Israel are perhaps only two countries in the world to see the value of using submarines to view coral reefs and low level sea plains.

It is either the financial viability, costs and safety that has blocked the serious alternative to surface shipping. It would seem that the Submarine is to remain for some time yet the preserve of the military and Navies of the globe.

The advantages of not having to cope with rough seas and the probability of better speed to deliver goods has it would seem been placed on the sidelines of conventuality. 

But perhaps with the need to cut down of fossil fuels and carbon emissions the day of submersed travel might in this century be not far away?

High Speed Trains. Part-Two.

The Future for Every Nation?

It would seem to be the most popular idea today that every nation should have their own version of the well known and established high speed trains, but is this really possible? 

Larger countries have the space and the need for this type of travel, because their remain many people with a fear of flying that demand ground speed and comforts.

But some countries do not have the ability or the present need for such systems and perhaps never will have either? The Channel Tunnel between Great Britain has demanded that the European network be extended into HS2, thus connection Scotland and Wales with European cities. Similar projects have worked for Denmark and Sweden, but at this time both Turkey and Ireland, Iceland and Finland are exempt from being connected.

Many nations have done their own things and are perhaps behind in speed, rather than length of track age and perhaps see no need for anything further at the moment. 

Freight perhaps will benefit from high speed, over the vast inland areas of Africa, Asia, Australia and the American continents, but they will not be replacing cargo shipping.

Aviation Lifters. Part-Two.

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, Antonov An-124/224.

These are currently the three largest giants of the aviation world in the area of heavy lifting, as yet there no cargo version of the civil Airbus A380 on the cards. Lifting of oil and drill rigs parts are the main uses today, apart from the ability to Carry ICBM (Inter-continental Ballistic missile) components. Russia, Canada and Australia along with the Amazon in Brazil are the areas for this type of work. 

We do not hear much about this, because these aircraft really are military more than they are civil. But now with exploration and the ever increasing demand of fossil fuels by developing nations, such as China, India and Brazil there is a demand for commercial contract flying.

Cargo Ships. Part-Three.

Differing Loads.

Most of today's cargo traffic is part of the container world, the container protects goods and also hides them from prying eyes. But not all goods that need moving by sea can fit into a container and so a group of ships have been designed to meet this criteria in the term General Cargo.

Some vessels carry odd shaped loads, other pre-built housing and machinery, others have been adapted as internal tankers, others for fertilisers, various types of ground down rocks and still others for coal. They all fit the category for sea and large canal operations and are flexible in what they take from A-to-B.

Today there are thousands of these types of vessels operating right across the world, some are quite aged and still chugging along while newer ones are more state of the art with low loading and their own cranes.

Cargo Ships. Part-One.

General.

This is the official term used for most shipping under that of the Bulk carrier, Chemical and Oil tankers. The general cargo ship comes in various sizes and they are used for a mixture of cargo's, basically what ever order or contract they can get.

Timber, fertiliser, gravel, grains scrap, rubbish are some of the general cargo's, they operate into and out of all sizes of ports and facilities. Some of this ships are in fact glorified river barges, while others at one time were known as Coasters because they kept close to the coasts in their travels.

Most of these ships today carry their own excavators or small cranes, if the quay has no facility.

Today there are so many specialised ships that are dedicated to various roles, but the cargo ship will live on because of the demand to move all sorts of small amounts of goods and 'that is a great thing in its self.'

Air Freighters. Part-One.

Cargo and Freight.

Through human history on this planet we have always had to move goods and this was either done by boat, ships or waggon's of one type or another. With the advent of the steam age from the 19th Century, it was the invention of the railways that revolutionised movements across vast areas of our land masses and then seventy years later the aeroplane was invented.

Initially aircraft were for breaking speed records and then World War-I (1914-18) saw the military side of this new machine. It was not really until the 1920's that aircraft were big enough to both carry mail and passengers. Every year a new world record of distant flying was being broken and the need to carry goods started to be demanded.

Airships and rigid Durables were also in competition with the aircraft, despite being slow and vulnerable they were able to carry heavier loads than aircraft could.

Bulk Carrier.

Large Cargo Vessels.

As long as humans can go to sea and there will be trade between nations, there will always be a need for large cargo vessels. Super tankers for crude oil and gas, bulk carriers for all dried goods.

These are the best means of moving 70-80,000 tonnes of coal, mineral ores, wheat, other grains and man made goods. Ships seem to be getting bigger and crews to service them lower, yet more vessels are being built every year. South-Korea and Japan seem to be the places to get the latest vessels, with their state of the art computer control systems.

Submarines.

This is perhaps the least most exploited technology for civil use re-cargo and passenger travel. Yes I recognise that there are various mini submersibles for deep sea research and exploration, but why are their no cargo vessels or commercial liners for under the sea? Is it to dangerous or to expensive, or is there no real interest?