It's fast approaching 50 years since US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the US Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA to its friends). October 1, 1958 marks the moment when the US started taking space seriously and the rest, as they say, is history - a glorious history.

Buzz Aldrin and Apollo 11 Lunar Module: NASA's finest hourImage courtesy of NASA

Wind power, with its green credentials, is a primary force in our attempt to reduce our reliance on fossils fuels in order to reduce global warming. The majority of effort to exploit wind power is focused on converting its energy into electricity. However, if you are willing to live on the edge you'll find examples of wind energy used directly to power land-based vehicles, and very quickly in Greenbird's case - a world land yacht speed record contender.

GreenbirdImage courtesy of Greenbird

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed a bold green-power vision for New York. As a first step his administration has issued a formal request for proposals to exploit natural energy sources (wind, solar and water) to power the city.

Giromill (Eggbeater) Vertical-Axis Wind TurbineLicensed under the GNU Free Documentation License by Stahlkocher

August is a busy month for competition fans, what with the Beijing Olympics just wrapping up, the US Open Tennis Championship about to start, numerous motor racing events, such as Formula 1 Grand Prix, and the 2008 General Aviation Technology (GAT) Challenge. OK, so maybe the GAT Challenge isn't quite in the same league as those other competitions, but with US$300,000 up for grabs, it's a serious competition intended to stimulate innovation in the personal air vehicle (PAV) arena.

2008 CAFE 400 Start LineupImage courtesy of Pipistrel

It's not only the stadiums at the Beijing 2008 Olympics that have received the attention of engineers wielding the latest Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) analysis software - it's also the sports events themselves.

Beijing National Stadium (Bird's Nest)

Prior to the August 8 start date of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, there was already evidence of outstanding performances; not from athletes (their turn will come), but instead from the army of engineers and architects responsible for the design and construction of the Olympic sports venues.

Beijing National Aquatics Center and Stadium

Need a break from hardcore Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation? Then consider some free, casual fluid-themed games, such as Plasma Pong and flOw.

Plasma Pong

To many observers the rivalry between wind tunnels and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a zero-sum game - as CFD matures it simply replaces wind tunnels. However, this is far from the truth. Often you'll find wind tunnels and CFD used together in a symbiotic process where one technique fills in knowledge gaps left by the other.

Boeing F/A-18 Hornet Wind Tunnel ModelImage courtesy of NASA Ames

What do you do after setting world records for the furthest distance traveled by a pedal boat (4660 miles across the Pacific Ocean, from Hawaii to Okinawa) and the fastest Pacific crossing in a solar-powered boat? If you are Kenichi Horie you try to cross the Pacific in a wave-powered boat in pursuit of another world record.

Not to be outdone by virtual engineering, the latest racing car video games, or more correctly simulators, incorporate exceptionally realistic real-time virtual physics (kinematics and aerodynamics), 3D graphics and even 3D sound. Online racing simulators pit virtual drivers from around the globe in hot pursuit of virtual titles. With all these advances you'd think there's little more that can be done to improve virtual racing - but you'd be wrong. What if you could virtually drive, on a game console, in a Formula 1 (F1) race mimicking the actual live action in the race?

F1 Video Game Screenshot (2001)