Hackaday Newsletter 0x89

Heat and Hard Engineering [Hackaday] The VU Meter and How It Got That Way [Read article now »]( Heat and Hard Engineering By [Mike Szczys]( I wasn't around for the first space race, but it's easy to see the effects of it all around me. Of course I grew up with tang, space blankets, and astronaut ice cream. But I don't think I'd include those in my list. I'm think of things like satellite TV and GPS, and the carbon monoxide detectors that are required now in most homes. By mandating an incredibly difficult engineering challenge, we sowed the seeds of new discovery. I hope that same thing is happening once again. This week [Tom Nardi] took us through [the launch plan Virgin Orbit has put into place](. A Boeing 747-400 will take to the skies with a rocket nestled under its wing. At 35,000 feet that rocket will separate from the plane, and make its way into orbit. NASA isn't sitting on the sidelines either. The Parker Solar Probe hit the mainstream news this week. Passing through the corona at a million degrees C, far closer to the sun than any man made object before it, [how will it survive the trial by fire]( [Roger Cheng] traced that back and even the design decisions in preparing for launch are different because of it. The DEF CON Reports Hackaday and Tindie were at DEF CON last week and we had far too much fun. Our traditional [Breakfast at DEF CON meetup]( was packed despite having to hop venues at literally the last minute. We had fun at the [Car Hacking Village]( where shenanigans like an escape room in an SUV were under way. [This year's official badge]( was a doozy, and of course [the unofficial badges were everywhere]( More coverage is on the way so keep your eye on Hackaday. Hack Chat: LED Diffusion It's a perfect fit for the fairy tale of Goldilocks: diffuse LEDs are often too dim, while water clear LEDs are so bright you cannot look at them. The "just right" of blinky builds calls for the use of a diffuser. But choosing the material is its own dark art. To guide us through the choices and techniques, [Becky Stern leads our Friday Hack Chat on LED diffusion](. From The Blog [Project Orion: Detonating Nuclear Bombs For Thrust]( By [Steven Dufresne]( Imagine rockets that drop small nukes and surf on the wave of their explosion. This technique was taken through proof of concept during Project Orion. [Read more »]( [Tariff Expansion Set to Hit 3D-Printing Right in the Filament]( By [Dan Maloney]( Plastic tariffs are coming and they're poised to affect 3D printer filament. [Dan] breaks down the types of plastic pellets and filament at issue. [Read more »]( [Modern PC Crammed Into an Original Xbox]( By [Tom Nardi]( The original XBOX hit the scene with a respectable Pentium III that made it a juicy target for hardware hacking. Now dated, this hack is the other way around. [Read more »]( If You Missed It [The Quick-Build PowerWall]( [Stop Using Python 2: What You Need to Know About Python 3]( [Build Your Own Linux Single Board Computer]( [Oil-Immersed Raspberry Pi Keeps Its Cool Under Heavy Loads]( [Updating a 1999 Saab with an Arduino]( [Hackaday]( NEVER MISS A HACK [Share]( [Share]( [Share]( [Share]( [Terms of Use]( [Privacy Policy]( [Hackaday.io]( [Hackaday.com]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( SupplyFrame, Inc · 61 South Fair Oaks Avenue · Suite 200 · Pasadena, CA 91105 · USA