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Solar powered aircraft

Discussion in 'Alley of Dangerous Angles' started by Beren, Jun 22, 2011.

  1. Beren

    Beren Lovesick and Lonely Wanderer Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Remove all ads!
    http://m.rnw.nl/international-justice/node/47317

    Kewl. :cool:

    There's a part of me that just can't see this becoming the standard for Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Lufthansa, British Airways, or the rest of the players in international flights. Certainly it'd be great to see, and go a long way towards ridding ourselves of dependence on fossil fuels. But my mind just can't wrap around taking this to that level. How can you lift that kind of weight over that speed across an ocean?

    Then again, a lot of people thought that the Wright brothers were going to go down in history as laughing stocks. So who knows.

    By the way, I'm a good deal more approving of this than meat grown from feces. :p
     
    Beren, Jun 22, 2011
    #1
  2. Marceror

    Marceror Chaos Shall Be Sown In Their Footsteps Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    It leaves much to be desired, but all innovations have to start somewhere. Very cool.

    I'm a good deal more approving of just about... everything... than meat produced from bacteria that grows on human excrement. Maybe if it cost next to nothing to make, and could save starving countries I could see a use for it. But it's not cheap and it's just too... um, gross.
     
    Marceror, Jun 22, 2011
    #2
  3. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    From the article:

    While I have no idea what a "saloon car" is it seems like this technology is a long, long way from being implemented at a practical level. Just look at the size of those wings - imagine how much larger they'd have to be to if we were talking about a normal sized plane!

    That's to say nothing of it's speed - 50 kpm? You could drive to your destination faster than you could fly there! And as far as reaching places you could not get to in a car - such as a trans-oceanic flight - would take days.
     
    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot, Jun 22, 2011
    #3

  4. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
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    You may travel slowly, but you get to go as the crow flies and there isn't any traffic.
     
    The Great Snook, Jun 22, 2011
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  5. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    I think a crow could fly faster :)
     
    Blackthorne TA, Jun 22, 2011
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  6. The Great Snook Gems: 31/31
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    I still think it would be a faster way for me to get from my house to Martha's Vineyard. I would miss all of the traffic to the Cape and any ferry issues. Of course that is an extreme case. A commute form Boston to New York would be painful.
     
    The Great Snook, Jun 22, 2011
    #6
  7. Blades of Vanatar

    Blades of Vanatar Vanatar will rise again Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    The company I work for manufactures Aircraft Turbines that rate at 1800+ hp. 10 hp electric motor? That just isn't serious enough to be even considered a possiblity that it would ever come to fruition.
     
    Blades of Vanatar, Jun 22, 2011
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  8. Marceror

    Marceror Chaos Shall Be Sown In Their Footsteps Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Well, give them 10 or 20 years to improve this and it may become more viable. I can hold a computer in the palm of my hand that is far more powerful than a computer that took the space of an entire room 20 years ago.
     
    Marceror, Jun 22, 2011
    #8
  9. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    Very true - but computer chips don't have to fight against gravity to work properly.
     
    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot, Jun 22, 2011
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  10. Blades of Vanatar

    Blades of Vanatar Vanatar will rise again Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    It would be cool to ride in a solar powered plane that can go as fast as today's jets.
     
    Blades of Vanatar, Jun 22, 2011
    #10
  11. Sir Rechet

    Sir Rechet I speak maths and logic, not stupid Veteran

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    Rather than making the entire aircraft solar-powered, why not make a hybrid system that eases the load of the main propulsion system with solar power whenever available?

    Shaving off just a few percent from the global airliner fuel usage would be huge all by itself and quite a bit closer to actually being implemented, like right about now.

    Nevertheless, kudos to the developers. Keep it up! :)
     
    Sir Rechet, Jun 23, 2011
    #11
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