The successful launch of a Delta IV Heavy configuration from America’s West Coast means the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload L-49 is on its way into orbit.

Delta 352’s payload is officially classified; however it is widely believed to be a KH-11 “Improved Crystal” electro-optical reconnaissance satellite. The KH-11 first flew in the late 1970s, replacing earlier film-return imaging satellites like the KH-9 Hexagon. Instead of returning images by film, KH-11 satellites transmit them electronically. Four separate generations of KH-11 satellites have been identified, with the later two unofficially referred to as KH-11B or KH-12.

KH-11 satellites are designed to produce high-resolution images, which are then relayed to the ground via Satellite Data System (SDS) spacecraft in molniya and geosynchronous orbits. They are reported to resemble the Hubble Space Telescope.

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The launch of NRO L-49 came amid a period of increased activity in terms of NRO launches. One Medium and one Heavy payload were launched during the last four months of last year, and in the next year two heavy, two medium and one light payload are scheduled to fly. Two NRO CubeSats, QbX-1 and QbX-2, were also launched in December aboard a Falcon 9.

I noticed an amusing comparison on pickuptrucks.com of the Dodge Ram 3500 Heavy Duty Diesel to the NASA rocket.

Delta IV Heavy:
Max payload 28,650 lbs
51,000,000hp
0.00087mpg
$600,000 to fill up
0-60mph in 15 seconds

Dodge Ram 3500 HD:
Max payload 25,400 lbs
350hp
11.8mpg
$118.65 to fill up
0-60mph in 10.4 seconds

The rocket mpg calculation seems off, since it’s calculating only the first stage and not the total distance traveled after liftoff. More to the point, it is hard to believe that a 2011 Dodge pickup still only gets 11.8mpg.

Naomi Klein, author of “The Shock Doctrine”, asks in her TED presentation “What makes our culture so prone to the reckless high-stakes gamble, and why are women so frequently called upon to clean up the mess?”

One thing that comes to mind when I watched this was how President Bush signed an executive order on July 14, 2008, just before the end of his term, to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The moratorium was put in place in 1990 by his father. A year earlier President Bush lifted the moratorium from drilling in Alaska, also put in place by his father.

I thought the risk policy differences, between these two men, would have been at least mentioned.

The XJ Supersport is a diesel? It’s fast. Very fast.

The 4.4 liter diesel engine will deliver a total of 375bhp and a peak torque of more than 600lb.-ft. The sprint from 0 to 60 mph will be made quicker than the supercharged XJ and will return 40mpg. Same engine is also rumored to be offered in the Jaguar XF.

It hits 60 in 4.7 seconds, only 0.01 of a second behind the Jaguar XKR sports car. Oh, that 40 mpg figure actually drops to 24 mpg in the Supersport, but it’s still impressive for a sports car today.

It also has a high-tech interior. The dashboard is a dynamically changing TFT flat-screen panel, as described in a CNET review.

All the graphics shown there are dynamic and context-sensitive, so the visuals change, depending on what the driver requires. Receive new directions from the sat-nav, for example, and the fuel gauge is temporarily replaced by a full-colour map showing new directions. Access the engine computer and the rev counter is swapped for a colour menu that gives you access to vehicle setup functions.

It’s so fast, despite being fuel efficient, the police even have a model. Actually, the police model gets the smaller 40mpg engine but it still runs under 6 seconds to 60:

The Jaguar XF Diesel S is powered by a 3.0-liter AJ-V6D Gen III diesel engine that delivers 275 hp. The Diesel S accelerates from 0-60mph in just 5.9 seconds, while top speed is limited to 155 mph.

Send Ford an email and tell them to take the lessons learned from Jaguar and offer diesel options in America. What are they waiting for?