Wasub IIThis week TU Delft students unveiled the Wasub II, their new human-powered submarine. The WaSub II will compete at the 2006 Human Powered Submarine Contest in California.
Wasub is a TU Delft student team that designs, builds and races human powered submarines. The boat has a torpedo-shaped hull, which has room for one pilot, who lies on his stomach and must pedal as fast as possible to propel the submarine. The submarine fills with water and the pilot breathes by means of compressed air canisters. Wasub II is the successor of WaSub, which won seven prizes at the 2005 International Submarine Race, in Washington, and set a new world record for the fastest one-person submarine. This year the team aims to better that record. The race will be held in the United States at the Offshore Modelling Basin, in Escondido, California, from July 19 to July 23. The submariners will race over a distance of 90 meters, with their speeds being measured at approximately 10-meter intervals.
Nuna stops
TU Delft has decided to end the funding of the Nuna solar car project. The first three TU Delft solar cars . Nuna I, II, Nuna III . won the World Solar Car Challenge. The solar cars are designed, built and raced by teams of TU Delft students. Diederik Kinds, an Aerospace Engineering student and team leader of Nuna II, hopes the university will reverse its decision. After the Nuna III team won the World Solar Cup in Australia last year, the university decided it was right time to stop the project. Kinds is still not sure why this decision was taken. “We really don’t understand it,” he said. “One of the Executive Board’s arguments was that we had to avoid the ‘Lance Armstrong-effect’: win so often that people have enough of you. But I’m not afraid of that happening. We now have a new team and renewed solar car.” Kinds hopes the project will continue, perhaps with private sponsors, and that the Nuna IV solar car will be able to compete in this year’s World Solar Car Challenge.
Page 08: ‘Zonde om nu met Nuna te stoppen’
Fatal accident
A 58-year old staff member of TU Delft’s Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences died last week after being struck by a cement truck at the intersection of the Mekelweg and the Cornelis Drebbelweg. The woman was bicycling when she was run over by the truck. She died at the scene. “A horrible, shocking accident,” said Hans Krul, secretary of the university. Personnel from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science were the first to arrive on the scene. “We saw immediately that it was a terrible accident,” said Tom Edelenbos, a faculty porter. “We immediately called 112, but actually it was no longer needed. The police quickly covered her body with a white sheet. We also stayed with the driver of the truck. He was totally in shock.” Following this horrific accident on campus, there were serious discussions on the Internet. On the Delft fire department website, one TU staff member said that she always “held her breathe every time” she crossed that intersection. However, others wrote that they found the intersection “very safe”.
Insect city
Wageningen University won the first ‘Battle of the universities’, an event aimed at popularizing scientific educations. With the subject, ‘Without insects, no life on earth’, Wageningen’s entomology team won the first prize of 100,000 euro. TU Delft also took part in the competition, but the TU project team ‘Bite (biologically inspired technologies)’, led by Dr. Paul Breedveld (3mE), was eliminated in earlier rounds. The team from Wageningen will use their prize money to create a ‘City of insects’.
Help wanted
Part-time jobs available writing for Delta’s English Page, starting next academic year (August/September). We seek foreign students/staff to write articles in English, for payment, on a freelance basis. No experience necessary. We’re looking for enthusiastic, creative foreign students/staff to contribute articles, cartoons, illustrations, photographs. Interested, please send a brief introductory email to: d.mcmullin@tudelft.nl
Wasub II
This week TU Delft students unveiled the Wasub II, their new human-powered submarine. The WaSub II will compete at the 2006 Human Powered Submarine Contest in California. Wasub is a TU Delft student team that designs, builds and races human powered submarines. The boat has a torpedo-shaped hull, which has room for one pilot, who lies on his stomach and must pedal as fast as possible to propel the submarine. The submarine fills with water and the pilot breathes by means of compressed air canisters. Wasub II is the successor of WaSub, which won seven prizes at the 2005 International Submarine Race, in Washington, and set a new world record for the fastest one-person submarine. This year the team aims to better that record. The race will be held in the United States at the Offshore Modelling Basin, in Escondido, California, from July 19 to July 23. The submariners will race over a distance of 90 meters, with their speeds being measured at approximately 10-meter intervals.
Nuna stops
TU Delft has decided to end the funding of the Nuna solar car project. The first three TU Delft solar cars . Nuna I, II, Nuna III . won the World Solar Car Challenge. The solar cars are designed, built and raced by teams of TU Delft students. Diederik Kinds, an Aerospace Engineering student and team leader of Nuna II, hopes the university will reverse its decision. After the Nuna III team won the World Solar Cup in Australia last year, the university decided it was right time to stop the project. Kinds is still not sure why this decision was taken. “We really don’t understand it,” he said. “One of the Executive Board’s arguments was that we had to avoid the ‘Lance Armstrong-effect’: win so often that people have enough of you. But I’m not afraid of that happening. We now have a new team and renewed solar car.” Kinds hopes the project will continue, perhaps with private sponsors, and that the Nuna IV solar car will be able to compete in this year’s World Solar Car Challenge.
Page 08: ‘Zonde om nu met Nuna te stoppen’
Fatal accident
A 58-year old staff member of TU Delft’s Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences died last week after being struck by a cement truck at the intersection of the Mekelweg and the Cornelis Drebbelweg. The woman was bicycling when she was run over by the truck. She died at the scene. “A horrible, shocking accident,” said Hans Krul, secretary of the university. Personnel from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science were the first to arrive on the scene. “We saw immediately that it was a terrible accident,” said Tom Edelenbos, a faculty porter. “We immediately called 112, but actually it was no longer needed. The police quickly covered her body with a white sheet. We also stayed with the driver of the truck. He was totally in shock.” Following this horrific accident on campus, there were serious discussions on the Internet. On the Delft fire department website, one TU staff member said that she always “held her breathe every time” she crossed that intersection. However, others wrote that they found the intersection “very safe”.
Insect city
Wageningen University won the first ‘Battle of the universities’, an event aimed at popularizing scientific educations. With the subject, ‘Without insects, no life on earth’, Wageningen’s entomology team won the first prize of 100,000 euro. TU Delft also took part in the competition, but the TU project team ‘Bite (biologically inspired technologies)’, led by Dr. Paul Breedveld (3mE), was eliminated in earlier rounds. The team from Wageningen will use their prize money to create a ‘City of insects’.
Help wanted
Part-time jobs available writing for Delta’s English Page, starting next academic year (August/September). We seek foreign students/staff to write articles in English, for payment, on a freelance basis. No experience necessary. We’re looking for enthusiastic, creative foreign students/staff to contribute articles, cartoons, illustrations, photographs. Interested, please send a brief introductory email to: d.mcmullin@tudelft.nl
Comments are closed.