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30 Comments
- haooken, on 11/09/2007, -1/+7I'm guessing there won't be any red-eye flights?
- wolphcry, on 11/09/2007, -3/+8I'm all for solar, but you can't forget that solar panels are not a "clean" product to make. There is also the problem of storing the power they make. Batteries are very bad for the environment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic
"Unlike fossil fuel based technologies, solar power does not lead to any harmful emissions during operation, but the production of the panels leads to some amount of pollution." - pilot3033, on 11/09/2007, -1/+6it will be flying above the clouds....
- sharkd, on 11/09/2007, -0/+4The reason why has to do with the purpose of the aircraft. High-speed aircraft benefit from highly-swept wings that keep the leading edge of the lift surface out of the transonic shock wave. However, the higher the sweep angle, the higher the induced drag -- not so big an issue when you have four Rolls Royce Olympus engines in full afterburner, but a very big issue when you're flying what is essentially a powered glider. High aspect ratio wings are more efficient when flying slowly, at high altitudes and/or when aircraft have low thrust to weight ratios.
- inactive, on 11/09/2007, -0/+3Won't see this in commercial flights anytime soon
- directive0, on 11/09/2007, -0/+3You're all thinking about this from a commercial aspect which makes it seem pretty far fetched and rightfully so, but in the field of sport or recreational aviation this is pretty neat.
- 3tcp, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2Flights will be delayed due to heavy overcast
- jjb123, on 11/09/2007, -0/+2Well you could just take off when it is nice out.
- FLarsen, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2Not when it's taking off, but that may be solved by batteries.
- edial, on 11/08/2007, -0/+2If only we had some sun here in holland :( sunny people get all the fun.
- FLUX, on 11/09/2007, -2/+3Pie in the sky crap
- wolphcry, on 11/10/2007, -0/+1You're joking right? Do you have any idea how much power it takes to make hydrogen? Until we find a way that doesn't take more energy then we get out of hydrogen it's not going anywhere. Using nuclear power to make hydrogen from water is far more possible then solar doing the same.
- souljaboytellem, on 11/08/2007, -2/+3Wow, and what if your flying and a storm hits? it's a good idea but i'd be scared ***** unless I've seen it work many a times
- dajs, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1you have other things in holland..
- 9a3eedi, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1I could imagine less noise in the airplane = better experience with my DS + headphones during that 2 - 7 hours flight, dont you think? :P
- dajs, on 11/08/2007, -0/+1you have other things in holland..
- rnwen2750, on 11/09/2007, -2/+2That's so cool!
- zengonzo, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1The production of anything results in pollution .. How could that be an argument for further pollution after the initial?
- neoni, on 06/30/2009, -0/+0Solar is our future - you need to think about china - they are raping our nature.
http://www.gelsenpv.de - JMArchilla, on 11/08/2007, -3/+3sounds great, but i definitely won't be taking one until all the kinks are worked out.
- wolphcry, on 11/08/2007, -1/+1Yes but look at what kind. There are some very nasty items used in making Solar cells. Also storing of that power is very unfeasible. Current solar only uses a very small percent of red light. Things will have to change to make it feasible.
- DanielHC, on 11/08/2007, -0/+0If it has batteries, than it's not really that green...
- fibreoptik, on 06/28/2008, -0/+0yeah and look at "what kind" results from so-called "clean" nuclear energy...
your point was again? - Farticus, on 11/10/2007, -1/+1Putting solar cells on vehicles for transporting people is moronic, plane, boat or car. Better to use hydrogen that has been generated using solar energy in a large land based installation were conversion efficiencies can be maximized.
NO DIGG!!
- fibreoptik, on 06/28/2008, -0/+0you're pie in the sky crap.
- fibreoptik, on 06/28/2008, -0/+0who needs solar, wind, hydrogen or geothermal.
lets carry on raping our future with coal, oil sands and nuclear power. oh yeah... and invading/bribing whichever countries happen to have the biggest crude oil reserves.
Amerikkka, ***** YEAH! :D - kweeky, on 11/08/2007, -3/+2Dugg for being one step closer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIE_Fighter
- slashbot, on 11/08/2007, -2/+1That better have some serious backups.
I'd hate to find out what happens when it starts getting couldy - windyridge, on 11/10/2007, -2/+1THIS is the direction we need to be heading. KUDOS to these guys.
- ripple123, on 11/08/2007, -2/+1I dont know why they cant make the wings shaped more delta like. Like a concorde. They would get so much more realestate for solar panels without much more weight. And theyd get extra strength in the wing, which i would think was important, since the breakup of nasa's heilos plane
