How It Works - UK (2020-05)

Dozens of

rare ancient

Egyptian

coffins

unearthed

WordsbyLauraGeggel

A

rchaeologistshavediscovered 83

gravesfromancientEgypt,butthe

humanremainsweren’tinterredin

sarcophagi,asisoftenthecase.Instead

thedeceasedwereburiedinclaycoffins,

accordingtotheEgyptian Ministry

ofAntiquities.

80 ofthegravesdatetothecivilisation

ofBhutto,orLowerEgypt,duringthefirst

halfofthefourthmillenniumBCE.The

burialswerefoundduringarchaeological

excavationsintheDakahliaGovernorate

ofnorthernEgypt,nottoo far from the

MediterraneanSea.

Theteamalsofoundthreegravesfrom

theNaqadaIIIperiod,whichlastedfrom

about 3200 to 3000 BCE.It’sunusualto

findclaycoffinsinDakahliafromNaqada

III,MostafaWaziri,thesecretary-general

oftheSupremeCouncilofAntiquities,

saidina statement.InotherpartsofEgypt

duringthattime,elitepeoplewereusually

buriedinmud-bricktombsorwood

coffins,whilepoorerpeoplewereoften

buriedinshallowholes,according to

UniversityCollegeLondon.

TheNaqadacultureisold,evenby

Egyptianstandards,datingtopredynastic

EgyptduringtheChalcolithicera,or

CopperAge.Thenewdiscoveryindicates

thatmanypeoplelivedinthisareaatthat

time,saidWaziri,whosuspectsthateven

more graves will be found at the site.

Thisindividualhada numberofgravegoods.It

appearsthattheredpigmentochrecoveredpartof

the grave when the deceasedwaslaidtorest

NASA’s supersonic jet

could be built by late 2020

WordsbyChelseaGohd

N

ASA’snewexperimentalsupersonic

X-planeisona fasttracktofly ing.The

plane,officiallynamedX-59QueSSTin

2018 andoftenreferredtoasjustX-59,was

greenlitforfinalassemblyduringa critical

designrev iewin2019.WiththisplaneNASA

aimstocreateanultra-quietcraftthatcantravel

overlandfasterthanthespeedofsound.

In2020,LockheedMartin,wh0NASA

commissionedtobuildtheplane,planstomate

theaircraftandcompletelyfinishthebuilding

processbytheendoftheyear,a company

representativesaid.“It’smov ingver yfastonthe

shopfloorintermsofmanufacturing and

production,”thecompanysaid.

Thisfollowsa yearofseriousprogressasthe

plane’sw ingshavebeenassembledatLockheed

MartinSkunkWorksinPalmdale,California,

andinnovative systems for the craft continue

todevelop.

A fterthe“matingoftheaircraftandfinal

assembly,” the representative said, “we’ll take

theairframetodosomeprooftestingandget

someotherpartsinstalled,dosometestrunsof

thesystemsandthenrollit out.”Oncetheplane

isalltogether,it w illtakeitsfirst flight in 2021,

therepresentativeadded.

Butw illa planethattravelsatsupersonic

speeds,orfasterthanthespeedofsound,really

bequietenoughtoavoidcausinga major

disturbance?Accordingtotherepresentative,

theteambehindtheplaneisconfidentthat the

craftw illbeultrafastandultraquiet.

“We’rever yconfident.A llkindsofmodelling

simulationsandpredictionsalign,sowebelieve,

basedonthesemodelsandsimulationswe’ve

run,thatit w illachievethatlow-boomsound

onceit reachessupersonicspeeds.”

Toensurethatthisisthecaseandthatthe

planenotonlyworkscorrectlyandreachesthese

incrediblespeeds,butalsoremainsquiet

enoughtonotbea publicnuisance,additional

testingw ill follow the completion of the plane

in 2020.

© Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

http://www.howitworksdaily.com How It Works 017

BuildingtheX-59is onlyphaseoneofthe

entireproject.Inphasetwofurthertesting,

certifications and acoustic validation will occur

© NASA/Lockheed Martin

SPACE

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