What is Digg?56 Comments
- nickaster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16This is great stuff... I think an even better application might be a solar powered blimp that might use the power for added lift, you could move a lot of cargo that way with practially no fuel costs and practically no pollution!
- Frinkahedron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Yes they did, but it crashed during testing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Prototype - Demarche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13From TFA: "The ultra-light aircraft is designed to fly at altitudes as high as 132,000 feet (25 miles/40km), above normal commercial air-lanes and most weather."
- longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14ya, i want a house that can fly too...
- Demarche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10I want to live in a blimp. Screw the commute, I'd just park that thing over work during the week, and then float wherever over the weekend. Of course, shimmying up and down the rope might get old after awhile.
- chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Didn't NASA create something like this, that could fly for weeks at a time?
- Demarche, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Because monkey-pilots are clearly the next logical step!
- socket, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Anyone consider letting monkeys pilot these things?
- sembetu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6computer chips a fraction of the size of a human hair, machines making machines, synthetic muscles, planes that fly themselves, and run on solar power, robot cars that can navigate themselves through the desert...
skynet is not soon off... mark my words. - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Putting a cockpit and all the equipment needed to fly one of these would make it too heavy too work.
- recursive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Con·tin·u·ous·ly
adv.
In a continuous maner; without interruption.
Also of potential interest:
http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~jl/Essays/wordSpecializations.html
>"continuous" versus "contiguous"
>continuous - existing thru a span of time.
>contiguous - existing thru a span of space.
In short, sit the ***** down. - Demarche, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5In all honesty, this technology doesn’t really have all that much application in commercial airliners. I'm assuming you're primarily talking about the use of solar panels for power, since the aerodynamic properties of the Zephyr don’t make for a very accommodating airframe. Despite what you may think, commercial airliners use a lot of power. For example, it’s estimated that Boeing’s newest airliner, the 787 Dreamliner, will, at peak consumption, use about 1,200 kW of power. That power will be provided by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, each capable of generating 0.5MW of electrical energy. That’s a potential for 1MW of power! In comparison, the solar power system on the Zephyr provides 1kW of usable power. Clearly a solar power system, even one scaled up to the size of a commercial airliner, is grossly inadequate to the task, and that’s assuming you’re flying in the day above the clouds; a pretty unrealistic assumption to make in the case of a commercial airliner.
- corwinc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Balloons can easily fly for months.
- kosmicki, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@Demarche:
Who says you would have to shimmy? I'm thinkin a remote controlled winch. :) - gmikej, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And then you land on that island between Aulstraila and LA and the natives beat you and keep you locked up because they think you are one of those "others."
(See: Lost) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That plane looks like it has quite the cargo/passenger capacity.
Solar, it's expensive and innadequate, at the same time! - plarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Balloons are good and all but I would imagine with something like this you would have more control and maneuverability over and seeing how it is more of a glider when it runs out of power it would not plummet back to earth like a rock...or at least one would hope not. There are alot of interesting applications this could be used for because of its ability to remain air born for very extended amounts of time.
- ibrudiiv, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8Hope you don't get caught in a thunderstorm with no battery power.
- Daniel591992, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Can they land as well?
- SuperSloth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Welcome to the English language. If you hadn't noticed, it's not a dead language. Consequently, proper English is how people actually use it, not how the books written about it say it should be used. English is a democratic language. If you want something with fixed syntax and meaning, go see German or Japanese.
- Bullsnot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I saw a similar deal years ago. Selling penny stocks on the concept, that it would be used as a low cost solution to cell phone towers. A mid point between ground towers and satellite coverage.
- Dimecross, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Reading this article I have visions of floating resorts in the sky where the sun never sets... brilliant!
- seanalltogether, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2A short time ago I read about an telecom company that wanted to fly planes over major cities to provide perfect cellphone reception and super fast internet access. So no this tech probably wont end up in commercial airline flights, but there are alot of other uses for keeping things in the air indefinitely, I cant' wait to see what they use this on!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Egads! The plane can fly without interruption for weeks, hence that would be a "continuous" flight, without interruption.
- CatFood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Or Matrix... you pick... then mark sembetu's words...
- locomorto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Ok, then what if some idiot makes a mistake and flies at night thinking the battery power is ok? ;)"
Did you even read the article HEADLINE?
I'll quote it for you, "Solar Powered ... Fly Continously For Weeks". That might just imply night flight, unless its circut the earth to stay in the light. - hoowahman, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6I want a house built with this technology
- millmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And the animation I saw was not the Helios Project, it was truly desinged after a bird flapping its wings.
- WDot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1So, does this would mean that assuming:
A. This solar powered plane were ready for commercial use and
B. All major airlines rapidly adopted this thing
that we'd suddenly see rapid drops in ticket prices due to the savings from Not Buying Fuel? - DougPenn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Something tells me George Bush will be using this to spy on us just in case we might be "dangerous".
- jguerry, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2hah that was what i was thinking...i assume that all of their products are somewhat heat powered so they thought hey, a Q can be pronounced like a K, so let's throw in the symbol for Heat (energy) and call it qinetiq!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, when you put it like that, it does sound a bit scary.
- charlescheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1NASA already did this, but it's still cool. And yes it did crash, but only after several successful flights and breaking two records. The plane was a success despite the crash. I'm certain these people built off of Nasa's work.
- Crazy_8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yea, but there is a bad application to this too....
What if they use this concept, but modify it to make a floating billbord type thing? Doesn't really move around much, maybe in circles around the city but thats about it. We might endup of with a sky full of blinking advertisements. X__X
(Perfect to go along with the idea of flying cars right?) - recursive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This article is old by now, but in case you come back and read it, the plane is said to be flying continuously 'for weeks'. Obviously, after that period is over, it is no longer presumed to be flying continuously. During the period, there is not interuption. I think you can figure this out.
In addition to the link, I also provided the dictionary definition, which supports my interpretation. - Amplix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1In other news, "The Sun might rise tomorrow"
- ibrudiiv, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Ok, then what if some idiot makes a mistake and flies at night thinking the battery power is ok? ;)
- millmaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I saw this on SPACE channel last year, the NASA video showed a craft similar to the size of a seagull and in theory would be used in tandem, one flying below the clouds one above the clouds and send info back to a satellite in space. The optimal use was for exploring other planets like MARS etc. The bird itself was to flap its wings and fly similar to a bird, thanks to a new composite designed for artificial limbs i believe. But u still have to have a way to launch them to a respectable altitude.
- tmcleroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1until an eclipse comes.
- recursive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh noes. Eco terrorists!
You could be a terrorist too. I'm reporting you. - ImNotQuiteJack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The great thing about balloons is that they can carry a pretty big payload and they need relatively little fuel. This light-weight machine couldn't really carry any sizeable payload... probably just enough for sensors / cameras.
- TopherT, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Umm... and what happens when you run out of power in a balloon? I'm not sure I see what uses this could have that a high altitude balloon would not.
- nbx909, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2crap crap crap! i wanted to do something like this as a side project... an amature thing... that would fly above traffic orbiting earth just like this :( well i guess i could still do it.. heh... if i ever figure out how to make it fly it's self ( i don't know how to code the avionics/autopilot systems and code a way for it to communicate with me once it's up for the next set of nav points), have the money, and create a communications system for me to realy data to it and data from it. Anyone willing to fund this, code this, or doing anything like this please email me at nbx909 at gmail.com
- DEFSMAC, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1didn't someone come up with the cockamamie plan to have blimps fly above cities blanketing the entire city with wi-fi. i think these could be used in the same capacity and be more cost effective.
- stuffhappens, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1OK, Recursive, so because some guy from Standford posts their opinion of the word usage it must be true eh? - do you believe everything on the Internet is true or correct. The stanford post is NOT. You said it yourself 'without interruption' - but there is an interruption after a few weeks.
Yes, language changes - so that means it's correct to use words in the wrong context eh? So you can make it up as you go along? 'Continuous' means 'without end' - period. 'Contiguous' means up to a boundary or edge - ie: there is an ending.
You might as well say "...flys forever - for a few weeks" - DiggerTheDog, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I'd like to see an airborne data/communications network. Yes, we could use it to spy on the bad guys. People such as drug dealers/runners, illegal aliens and general criminal surveillance. Not to mention other undesirables in our society such as people who drive slow in the left lane.
I find it ironic that surveillance of the "bad guys" could also include eco terrorists who may well be regular visitors to treehuggers.com, the site that hosted the solar article. - xodex, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1some of us like being up in an airplane... With all those new comforts and huge airplanes that are basicly a cruise ship in the sky. Why not.
I personally enjoy some types of airplane food :) - vstarre, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2weeks? pfft. Call me when you have a plane that will confuse and mystify the next iteration of intelligent earth life.
- norick, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2I don't need a plane that could fly for weeks, I need a plane to go from place A to place B in a minimum of time.
- dvddesign, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Great, now get this technology into commercial airliners.
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