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Spaceplane design nipper Ariadne gets a promotion

Now 'Sub-orbital aesthetics consulting engineer', with a badge to prove it

We're delighted to announce today that Ariadne - the young nipper responsible for the design of our Vulture 2 spaceplane's fetching vinyl wrap, has been promoted to "Sub-orbital aesthetics consulting engineer" for the Special Projects Bureau.

To make it official, she now has her very own badge, courtesy of Chris Pyper down at Space Graphic Solutions (SGS):

Ariadne's Special Projects Bureau staff badge

Fans of our Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) project will recall that it was SGS who volunteered to get Ariadne's design onto the aircraft, and once the job was done, knocked up a banner in Ariadne's honour. Here we have the chaps posing with locals outside The Fish at Wixford...

The Space Graphics Solutions team poses with the wrapped Vulture 2

...comprising from left to right: The Fish's chef Everton Lawson, locals Adrian Brookes and Ron Betteridge, Chris Pyper, Chris's dad and SGS founder Dean McGauley and SGS vinyl wrap supremo Pete Cox.

What we didn't tell readers at the time was that Chris delightfully decided to provide Ariadne with a few presents, to share with dad Stelios, naturally.

You've seen the badge, so what about the mug...

Aridane's china mug, with her name and spaceplane livery

...or indeed the coaster bearing the original sketch?

Ariadne's coaster with her original spaceplane design

Terrific stuff. When Stelios recently received the package, coincidentally just before Ariadne's birthday, he said: "I took a peek, you guys are crazy." He added: "Many many thanks, a great honour."

Our pleasure, and here's Chris lovingly hand-crafting the mug by the process of dye sublimation:

Chris Pyper with the printed dye sublimation images

The mug being heated in the dye sublimation machine

Chris peeling the paper off the mug after extraction from the machine

Cooling the mug in a bowl of water

Good work that man. While we didn't snaffle any mugs for ourselves, we did get a marvellous heroic Playmonaut mousemat:

Our rocket-powered Playmonaut image mouse mat

What we could really go for to complement that is a few mugs with the LOHAN logo wrapped around them, or perhaps a few SPB receptacles. Hmmm...


More from the lovely LOHAN:

  • You can find full LOHAN coverage right here.
  • If you're new to LOHAN, seek out our mission summary for enlightenment.
  • There are photos our our magnificent Vulture 2 spaceplane here, and detailed structural plans here.
  • For your further viewing pleasure, we have all our photographic material stored on Flickr.
  • Our LOHAN and Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) videos live on YouTube.
  • We sometimes indulge in light consensual tweeting, as you can see here.

LOHAN - A Special Projects Bureau production in association with...

  • 3T RPD logo
  • University of Southampton logo
  • Applied Vacuum Engineering logo
  • Escher Technologies
  • Flashpoint Fireworks logo
  • HAB Supplies logo
  • Rock 7 logo
  • Random Engineering logo
  • Space Graphic Solutions logo
  • 3D Robotics logo
  • Edge Research Laboratory logo


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