276 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
276 lines
10 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
sponsored
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motoring
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ford-future-sessions
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future-of-science
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8207168
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-----
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# Save fuel with Ford's EcoBoost
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## In the past, if you wanted to save fuel you bought a diesel engine and
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stayed in the slow lane, but all that is changing. Andrew English looks at
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Ford's EcoBoost range of engines in the new Mondeo, which can provide diesel
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fuel economy with more power and big tax savings.
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![The parts that go into Ford's new EcoBoost V6 engine. ][1]
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Image 1 of 2
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The parts that go into Ford's new EcoBoost V6 engine. Photo: 2008 Ford Motor
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Company
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![The Ford Mondeo 2.0 EcoBoost. ][2]
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Image 1 of 2
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The Ford Mondeo 2.0 EcoBoost.
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4:01PM GMT 16 Dec 2010
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Wait for it, wait for it… Annnd now! Cue an explosion of engine revs and
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wheelspin with the steering wheel fighting your hands as the car attempts to
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drive itself off the road.
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These were the characteristics of the earliest turbocharged cars -- bad-
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tempered monsters with enough explosive power to put you in harm's way,
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chiming into a band of revs no wider than a Chinaman's beard with turbo-lag
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delaying throttle response you could time with an egg timer.
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BMW's 2002 Turbo, Renault's 5 GT turbo, or Rover's 220 Tomcat coupe typified
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the fizzing power and glamour of an Eighties turbo model; scary on boost,
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sleepy off it, with a prodigious thirst all of the time.
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So why on earth have we gone back to this seemingly self-destructive
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technology with the newest Ford EcoBoost engines fitted to the new Mondeo? The
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answer, as Andrew Fraser, gasoline powertrain director of Ford of Europe
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explains, is to do with the way diesel engines have advanced the science of
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turbo design in the past 20 years.
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"There has been a huge investment in turbo technology," he says, "particularly
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in materials and technology." So forget the big, heavy exhaust-gas-driven
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compressors of old and think modern, small and very hi-tech. Where the old
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turbo had to withstand massive heat, old-fashioned lubricants, primitive fuel
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injection and engine timing control as well as mechanical waste gates that
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noisily vented excess pressure and bouts of excess fuelling to cool the
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vulnerable combustion chambers, a modern turbo is an altogether different
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beast.
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"For a start a modern turbo spins much faster," says Fraser. "An Eighties
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turbo would spin at about 70,000rpm to 80,000rpm, where the turbo in an
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EcoBoost engine will turn at 200,000rpm, so a smaller turbo can do a lot more
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pumping and has a better response. It will also run much hotter, with water-
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cooled bearings so we don't need to inject fuel to cool the engine."
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Ford designs its engines to last more than 150,000 miles in the hands of the
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95th percentile poorest driver and that includes the turbocharger. That's a
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lot of misuse, ranging from habitual revving hard after cold starts, to hours
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of idling.
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The longevity of the modern turbocharger is a testament to Ford's meticulous
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testing. But EcoBoost is much more than just a clever turbo. Other advances in
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engine technology have allowed Ford's engineers to exploit the advantages of
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forced induction and give this new range of smaller and more efficient petrol
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engines the torque and fuel economy to rival a diesel.
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Fraser explains: "It's like a three-legged stool," he says. "There's the
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turbo, then there's direct fuel injection and twin variable camshaft timing,
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which allow us to run the engine more efficiently." By injecting the engine's
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fuel directly into the combustion chambers (as with a diesel engine), Ford's
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engineers are able to precisely control the amount and timing of fuelling as
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well as the spray pattern, so that not a drop is wasted. "It also helps with
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cooling," adds Fraser, "as we can spray fuel directly into the chamber and
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lower the temperature."
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Precise control of the spark ignition and twin knock (or detonation) sensors
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means the engine is able to run a higher compression ratio, which reduces the
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gap between on-boost and off-boost efficiency. "We run the engine closer to
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its boundaries," says Fraser.
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Lastly, by continually adjusting the valve timing, the engine can be made more
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efficient and powerful in part-throttle operation, which used to be a major
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bugbear with old turbo technology. "We also overlap the valve operation, which
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effectively blows cool air through the cylinders to help clear out the exhaust
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gases on each stroke and keep the turbo spinning to reduce turbo lag to
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between 1.2 and 1.5 seconds," says Fraser.
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EcoBoost technology is also scaleable and Ford currently uses it in a
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3.5-litre V6 engine in the USA as well as the 1.6- and 2.0-litre four cylinder
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engines in the new Mondeo and forthcoming Focus models. There's also a new
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1.0-litre, threecylinder EcoBoost engine which will be unveiled next year.
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But why have we revived the petrol engine when diesel technology is already a
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proven route to fuel-saving? The main answer lies in cost. Diesels are
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inherently more expensive. Their greater cylinder pressures demand heavier and
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more complex cylinder blocks and their common-rail fuel injection systems need
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expensive high-pressure fuel pumps. They also emit more pollutants
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(particularly oxides of nitrogen and particulates) than their petrol
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equivalents. Current and forthcoming emissions requirements will see diesels
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getting even more expensive exhaust treatments to clean them up.
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"That's why we are choosing to launch EcoBoost at this time," says Fraser.
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"Under the next level of EU standards, a 1.6-litre EcoBoost petrol engine will
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cost about £1,000 less than the equivalent turbodiesel."
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A diesel engine's greater thermal efficiency will mean it will always hold the
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ultimate fuel economy advantage and for very high mileage users that will be a
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consideration, but at the margins, EcoBoost has allowed petrol to close the
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gap. "You'll have to do an awful lot of miles in a year to pay back the extra
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£1,000 diesel cost," says Fraser.
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For the public, EcoBoost economy means lower fuel bills and reduced Vehicle
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Excise Duty, which has become a major consideration for private buyers.
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So how big can EcoBoost become? "We used to sell about half and half diesel to
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petrol in Europe," says Fraser, "but our projection is that the diesel take-up
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will shrink as costs increase. Eventually we think EcoBoost will take about a
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third of our sales, with diesel and ordinary petrol engines taking a third
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each."
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Perhaps we'd better revise our definition of "ordinary" petrol engines. In
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future, EcoBoost might be the extraordinary "ordinary" engine of our times.
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[X][3] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][4]
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* Share: [Share][3] [ ][5] [ ][6]
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[Tweet][7]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions/future-of-
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science/8207168/Save-fuel-with-Fords-EcoBoost.html
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Telegraph
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## [Future of science][8]
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* ### [Sponsored »][9]
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* ### [Motoring »][10]
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* ### [Ford Future Sessions »][11]
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[X][3] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][4]
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Share:
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* [ ][3]
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* [ ][5]
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* [ ][6]
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* [Tweet][7]
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* ![][12]
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[The Hubble Telescope »][13]
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### [WIN! a new book about the Hubble Space Telescope's amazing
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discoveries][14]
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[![Light echoes from a red supergiant star, as captured by the Hubble Space
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Telescope. ][15] ][14]
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The Telegraph has five copies of Hubble: Window on the Universe by Giles
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Sparrow, worth £40 each, to give away.
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### [The Hubble Space Telescope: the big picture][16]
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For 20 years the Hubble Space Telescope has shown us amazing images like
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these. Giles Sparrow, author of Hubble: Window on the Universe, explains why
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it's a modern marvel.
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### [Images from the Hubble Space Telescope][17]
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[![Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope from Giles Sparrow's Hubble:
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Window on the Universe. ][18]][17]
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Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope from the book Hubble: Window on the
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Universe.
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[The new silicon? »][19]
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### [Graphene: our miracle material][20]
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[![Graphene is a planar sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern.
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Stacked graphene sheets form graphite, used in pencils. ][21] ][20]
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Graphene is harder than diamond, just a single molecule thick and conducts
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electricity. Kat Hannaford talks to the two Nobel prize-winning scientists who
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discovered it about why it could revolutionise everything.
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[1]:
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http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01787/fordparts_1787049b.jpg
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[2]:
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http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01787/ecoboost_1787041b.jpg
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[3]: #
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[4]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/4590190/Share-this-article-
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What-are-these.html
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[5]: mailto:?subject=A Telegraph reader thought you would be interested in
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this article&body=Depending on your email program, you may be able to click on
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the link in the email. Alternatively, you may have to open a web browser, such
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as Firefox or Internet Explorer, and copy the link over into the address bar.
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%0A%0Ahttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions
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/future-of-science/8207168/Save-fuel-with-Fords-EcoBoost.html %0A%0AFor the
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best content online, visit www.telegraph.co.uk
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[6]: javascript:print()
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[7]: http://twitter.com/share?via=Telegraph
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[8]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions
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/future-of-science/
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[9]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/
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[10]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/
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[11]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions/
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[12]:
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http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01766/Ford_in_asso_1766175a.jpg
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[13]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions
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/future-of-science/8206698/Celebrating-the-Hubble-Space-Telescope.html
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[14]: /sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions/future-of-
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science/8206679/Win-a-copy-of-Hubble-Window-on-the-Universe.html
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[15]:
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http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01786/hubble1_1786847e.jpg
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[16]: /sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions/future-of-science/8206698
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/The-Hubble-Space-Telescope-the-big-picture.html
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[17]: /sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions/future-of-science/8207252
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/Images-from-the-Hubble-Space-Telescope.html
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[18]:
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http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01787/hubble3_1787067e.jpg
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[19]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions
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/future-of-science/8207121/Graphene-our-miracle-material.html
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[20]: /sponsored/motoring/ford-future-sessions/future-of-science/8207121
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/Graphene-our-miracle-material.html
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[21]:
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http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01787/graphene_1787024e.jpg
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