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จีน 7 ก.ย. - จีนปล่อยดาวเทียมดวงใหม่ขึ้นสู่วงโคจรเพื่อสำรวจสิ่งแวดล้อม ซึ่งจะมีประโยชน์ในการช่วยพยากรณ์การเกิดภัยธรรมชาติ...

นนทบุรี 6 ก.ย. - สพฐ.จัดการแข่งขันโอลิมปิกหุ่นยนต์ ปี 2551 และประกวดหุ่นยนต์พิทักษ์สิ่งแวดล้อมโลก ระดับนักเรียนทุกระดับเพื่อคัดเลือกตัวแทนประเทศไทยไปแข่งขันระดับโลกที่ญี่ปุ่นในเดือนหน้า ...

: Image: Daniel Simon

Daniel Simon is an automotive futurist. He's interned with Lamborghini and worked on concept cars for VW. But the auto industry -- indeed, the galaxy -- could not contain his imagination.

In a time of all talk and no action by car companies promising us the car of the future, Simon's new book Cosmic Motors: Spaceships, Cars and Pilots of Another Galaxy satisfies our future-lust with hyper-real fetish vehicles.

Most artist renderings of futuristic vehicles are so outlandish they verge on cartoonish. Simon avoids that trap by incorporating automotive and industrial touchstones -- steering wheels, rivets, turbines -- everyone can recognize. It feels like you could reach out and touch them.

Click through the gallery to check out these amazing vehicles and the stories behind them.

Left: Simon hasn't just created cool vehicles, he's created an elaborate back story for them. Most are built by Cosmic Motors, which could be called the General Motors of Nembi, a planet in the distant galaxy Galaxion.

The Camarudo is CoMo's first vehicle, built from parts salvaged from wrecked cargo ships. Its small size and nimble handling made it the perfect vehicle for hunting, and CoMo adapted them to racing. Many famous pilots started their careers flying them on Oosfera.

: Image: Daniel Simon

"A 'real' futuristic ship does not need anything but a seat and a plug," says Simon, who worked in the auto industry before launching Daniel Simon Studios two years ago. "The pilot steers via mind and feels the input via brain injections. Design-wise, that's dead boring. Without all these real-world details, my fantasy vehicles would be less desirable because they're less recognizable."

Left: Here's a different Camarudo, shot from above. The first Camarudos were assembled by farmers, a heritage reflected in its simple design. A turbine provides thrust, and forward visibility is by means of a virtual 3-D display, rendering a windscreen unnecessary. Despite its humble beginnings, Camarudos often are customized to reflect the personalities of its pilots.

: Image: Daniel Simon

Simon, now 33 and living in Germany, is a lifelong gearhead who's been drawing since he was 4. He got serious about it when he was 17 and earned a degree in transportation design from the University of Applied Science in Pforzheim. He kicked around the auto industry for six years before launching his own design studio because, "I have to experience much more than car design." Working in the auto industry "is a boy's dream come true," he says, "but there is much other cool stuff, like jets, rockets, boats or movies." He's done some consulting and design work and he's currently in Los Angeles working on an undisclosed movie.

Left: The Detonator was a styling exercise never meant for production, but it proved so popular at CoMo's annual party that the brass approved a limited run of 10. Each has a 6-liter V8 engine good for 155 mph. Most are owned by collectors who display them on the show-car circuit, but the fate of No. 5 remains a mystery after it vanished without a trace.

: Image: Daniel Simon

The 700-foot-long Incisalis is the centerpiece of the Djado fleet that carries the princess of Pangha-Ipoh, a desert planet of simple technology. The Incisalis travels with an identical decoy ship and is always accompanied by a fleet of smaller, lighter-than-air ships and ground caravans that carry servants, cooks, mechanics and others in service of the princess.

: Image: Daniel Simon

This drop-dead gorgeous coupe is the Galaxion 5000, the most technologically advanced vehicle in the CoMo lineup. A xenoramium fusion reactor provides blinding acceleration to 330 mph. Available only in translucent white, unauthorized "Black Edition" models with mile-deep black paint and extensive weaponry have surfaced in the underworld of Tarra 1.

: Image: Daniel Simon

The Gravion was built to dominate the Gravion Cup races of Glancory. The asymmetrical design accommodates the massive engine used in the Sexy Magrela aerial racers, creating a vehicle capable of 1,300 mph. Taking turns at that speed generates huge G-forces, so the off-center cockpit rotates to keep the driver from snapping his neck. Heated coils in the rear tires keep the rubber hot for optimal adhesion.

: Image: Daniel Simon

Patrolling the trade routes of the ice planet Nala is nasty work best done in an Ice Train Series 3. The huge vehicles -- the entry door is 24 feet above the ground -- feature giant heated wheels that cut through the ice and snow to solid ground. Much of the space inside the vehicle is reserved for the massive turbine engines, leaving just enough room for the captain, the navigator and a crew of 12 dwarfs.

: Image: Daniel Simon

The ultra-luxurious Nembiquarer started out as a military vehicle developed by CoMo's main competitor, Astrocon, but the project was abandoned when peace came to Tarra III. CoMo bought the blueprints and created a go-anywhere, do-anything vehicle favored by the obscenely wealthy. Two versions of the 45-foot-long truck compete in the Trans Terra Rally.

: Image: Daniel Simon

The Sexy Magarella is an aerial racer based on Astrocon's Railton Bomber military ship. The powerful bombers are popular among racers who strip them down and trick them out for the daring -- and dangerous -- Railton Cup races on Oosfera. This particular model is flown by Roketa Fleetza and Lagata Donner, the daughters of CoMo founder Osni Redooa and two of the cup's most-successful pilots.

: Image: Daniel Simon

Of all the planets of Galaxion, only Mujofa remains wracked by war. Taooa are powerful laser gunships that feature two 505-mm light rays capable of destroying anything that might give it trouble. The warships often sport nosecone art similar to those that graced warplanes on a distant planet called Earth.

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