Engineering Connections Series 3

In a third series Richard Hammond investigates the engineering connections that lie inside some of the most iconic structures on the planet: A Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker designed to carry an ultra-cold cargo with the energy equivalent of 50 nuclear bombs, The ‘earthquake-proof’ Rion Antirion Bridge in Greece, NASA’s Space Shuttle, the first re-usable space vehicle, The sail-shaped Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai, A Formula 1 car, The iconic Japanese Bullet Train, the first, and still the most technologically advanced high speed railway system in the world. Richard reveals an amazing range of unexpected ideas and legacies hidden deep in their DNA. Through large-scale demonstrations he investigates the crucial technology that makes these structures possible. He shows how, thanks to a WW2 German submarine, the Space Shuttle protects itself from self-destruction at launch. He creates his own earthquake to see what’s required to save the Bullet Train from severe seismic shocks – proof even against the biggest earthquake ever to hit Japan. And with a steam ‘bomb’ he explosively reveals just how much power the apparently old-fashioned technology can deliver to power an LNG tanker. Richard makes the surprising connections that make possible the greatest miracles of modern engineering.