Word: thermal
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...capable of accelerating ships to very high speeds. But the stream of ions the engines produce is a thin one, and even a small ship requires a long time to accelerate--a problem when time is the very thing you're trying to limit. Another possibility is nuclear thermal propulsion, which uses a larger reactor to superheat traditional propellant and blast it out the engine nozzle. Things move a lot faster with such a system, but the engine as a whole is heavier and cruder and the big reactor causes jitters among environmentalists, who would just as soon see nothing...
...PROFILE TRIVECTION OVEN Sure, the microwave is a technological miracle, but it's still used mostly just to defrost meat or reheat leftovers. GE's new flagship oven ($2,349 to $3,899; due this fall) combines thermal, convection and microwave cooking. A Thanksgiving turkey gets done in half the time but stays moist and crisp. And don't toss out your beloved cookbooks. The Auto-recipe tool converts conventional oven temperatures and cooking times...
Both rovers make the most of their size, carrying a full load of instruments, many of them attached to an agile mobile arm. A thermal-emission spectrometer will study background radiation for clues to rock composition; another spectrometer will look for minerals and iron; a third will emit X rays and alpha particles, which will also reveal what rocks are made of. More dramatic, a rock-abrasion tool equipped with diamond-tipped grinding wheels will gouge samples open...
...What if a rocket were about to explode and the commander tried to abort at supersonic speed? The force would simply rip the wings off a space plane. And leaving one docked to the station for months at a time, the way Soyuz lifeboats are today, would expose its thermal tiles and wingpanels, essentially the same system that failed on Columbia, to hits from space debris, perhaps dooming another crew on re-entry...
...Bahal: It took eight months of undercover work. We portrayed ourselves as arms dealers selling hand-held thermal imagers and worked our way up the chain from low-level clerks to generals and political leaders. It had a huge impact. Everyone knew that such corruption existed, but it was the first time there were live images of officials accepting cash bribes...