And when it delivers its payload, it needs to be weighted down with ballast to stop it shooting up into the air.The solution to these problems may lie in hybrid airships that are aerodynamically shaped to generate part of their lift as a conventional wing does.
It uses a jet engine to carry up to 2.7 tonnes of bombs, sensors and other types of payload at more than 740kph (460mph).On the ground, robots range from truck-sized to tiny.
The payload, a capsule known as Dragon, is then carried into orbit by a single-Merlin-engined second stage that burns for a further six minutes.
Interorbital Systems, a Californian company, recently carried out a successful suborbital test flight of a small rocket (pictured right) designed to carry a 145kg payload.
Back in 2010, Google admitted it had collected some 600 gigabytes of "payload data" from unsecured wireless networks in more than 30 countries.
The IAEA's February 19th report on Iran stated that it "remains concerned about the possible existence…of undisclosed nuclear-related activities…including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile".Iran says that it will sign up to stringent new inspections only when all the main elements of the deal are in place.
But the A400M is one of the most technically difficult aircraft projects ever undertaken.Somewhere between a C-130 and C-17 in size and payload, the A400M is designed to have the smaller plane's ability to fly very slowly and land on unprepared airstrips close to the battlefield, yet come close to the speed of the jet-engined C-17 and exceed its range.
Small, pilotless aircraft most of them helicopters with four or more sets of rotors and a payload slung between them are moving out of the laboratory and into practical use.
And if the worm had a truly malicious payload that, say, deleted files pell-mell, the damage would dwarf that caused by recent viruses.Legal affairsWho, though, bears responsibility for such outbreaks?
A bootlegged clip from the latest vampire movie ("New Moon") downloaded by his tweenage daughter had a particularly virulent payload buried in its code.
But the downside remains: the B variant has half the range and a third of the payload of the F-35C.
