The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Liechtenstein princely palace opens gates in Vienna Posted: 03 May 2013 09:29 AM PDT  A traditional Fiaker horsecarriage passes the Stadtpalais Liechtenstein in Vienna May 2, 2013. — Reuters picsVIENNA, May 3 — Vienna's Stadtpalais Liechtenstein, the city palace that launched a revival of Rococo in the mid-19th century, will offer public tours for the first time today after an extensive face-lift. The late 17th century palace was once the main residence of the princely family of Liechtenstein, one of Vienna's richest families considered to be at the cutting edge of art and architecture, before they moved to the tiny Alpine principality. The Baroque building, which was revamped in the 1840s in the neo-Rococo style, was damaged during a bombing raid in World War II and when an Allied aircraft crashed into its roof in the final days of the war but it remained standing. It was briefly patched up in 1970 and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs used the space for offices, with the gilded ornamentation hidden behind fake walls and under raised floors until restoration started in 2008. The €100 million (RM400.3 million) revamp returns the private structure to its pre-war glory and opulence, with plastered ceilings, gold leafing, and Thonet wood floors. "The rebuilding was like a puzzle for the architects," said a palace spokeswoman. "We only had fragments and many of the original chandeliers had to be tracked down in basements of art dealers around Vienna." While some of the renovated building will be kept as private living quarters, the public will get a look at many of its gilded Rococo rooms, its high Roman Baroque architecture and a selection of neo-Classical art.
The family is credited with transforming the principality from a rural backwater into a wealthy banking centre, making the country's 36,000 inhabitants some of the world's richest, with national output per head of US$141,000 (RM429,660) in 2012.
Crown Prince Alois, who was given the task of running the day-to-day government by his father in 2004, said the monarchy would quit the country if the veto were removed, undermining stability and affluence for all. — Reuters |
| Solar-powered plane takes off for flight across US Posted: 03 May 2013 08:36 AM PDT
The plane, dubbed the Solar Impulse, departed shortly after 6am local time from Moffett Field, a joint civil-military airport near the south end of San Francisco, heading first to Phoenix on a slow-speed flight expected to take 15 to 20 hours. The spindly looking plane barely hummed as it took flight in the still northern California morning as the sun was just beginning to peek out over the Santa Cruz Mountains to the east. After additional stops in Dallas, St. Louis and Washington, D.C., with pauses at each destination to wait for favourable weather, the flight team hopes to conclude the plane's cross-country voyage in about two months at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Swiss pilots and co-founders of the project, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, will take turns flying the plane, built with a single-seat cockpit, with Piccard at the controls for the first flight to Arizona. He is tentatively scheduled to land in Phoenix at 1am local time tomorrow. The project began in 2003 with a 10-year budget of €90 million (RM360.3 million) and has involved engineers from Swiss escalator maker Schindler and research aid from Belgian chemicals group Solvay — backers who want to test new materials and technologies while also gaining brand recognition. Project organisers say the journey is also intended to boost worldwide support for the adoption of clean-energy technologies. "I hope people understand the potential of this technology and use it on the ground," Borschberg, who flew for the Swiss Air Force for more than 20 years, told reporters as Piccard suited up for the flight nearby. "If we don't try to fly today using renewable energy, we never will."
The plane made its first intercontinental flight, from Spain to Morocco, last June. Solar cells built into wings The aircraft runs on about the same power as a motor scooter, propelled by energy collected from 12,000 solar cells built into the wings that simultaneously recharge batteries with a storage capacity equivalent to a Tesla electric car.
But the plane, which from a distance resembles a giant floating insect in the sky, is unlikely to set any speed or altitude records. It can climb gradually to 28,000 feet (8,500 metres) and flies at an average pace of just 43 miles per hour (69 km/hour). The current plane was designed for flights of up to 24 hours at a time, but the next model will have to allow for up to five days and five nights of flying by one pilot — a feat not yet accomplished. Meditation and hypnosis were part of the training for the pilots as they prepared to fly on very little sleep.
"In that sense, it is not the easiest way to fly," he said. "But it is the most fabulous way to fly, because the more you fly, the more energy you have on board." He added: "We want to inspire as many people as possible to have that same spirit: to dare, to innovate, to invent." The plane's four large batteries, attached to the bottom of the wings along with the plane's tiny motors, account for a quarter of its overall heft. The aircraft's lightweight carbon fibre design and wingspan allow it to conserve energy, but also make the plane vulnerable to being tipped over. A ground team of weather specialists, air traffic controllers and engineers track the plane's speed and battery levels and help the pilot steer clear of turbulence. Solar Impulse cannot fly in strong wind, fog, rain or clouds. Its machinery is not even designed to withstand moisture. — Reuters |
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