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Silent and Simple Ion Engine Powers a Plane with No Moving Parts - Scientific American - 1 views

www.scientificamerican.com/...s-a-plane-with-no-moving-parts technology
shared by Marcus Maertens on 22 Nov 18 - No Cached
  • Marcus Maertens on 22 Nov 18
     
    Why not power an airplane with an ion thruster?
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Fully automated satellite-assembly lines? Not quite yet - SpaceNews.com - 0 views

spacenews.com/e-assembly-lines-not-quite-yet
shared by Dario Izzo on 14 Sep 17 - No Cached
  • Dario Izzo on 14 Sep 17
     
    While robots began assisting and replacing assembly line workers in automobile and airplane factories years ago, humans still reign supreme in satellite manufacturing. But that's slowly starting to change.
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A Toy Train in Space - YouTube - 2 views

www.youtube.com/watch
shared by nikolas smyrlakis on 25 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • nikolas smyrlakis on 25 Sep 12
     
    perfect gift for ACT children ?
  • Ma Ru on 02 Oct 12
     
    Apparently it's becoming a more and more popular hobby in US... Wonder when we'll start seeing airplanes going down because of some wannabe meteorologists...
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Google combines skycrane, VTOL and lifting wing to make drone deliveries - 6 views

www.wired.com/...ffort-to-build-delivery-drones technology drone_delivery VTOL skycrane FUN soundtrack
shared by johannessimon81 on 30 Aug 14 - No Cached
annaheffernan liked it
  • johannessimon81 on 30 Aug 14
     
    Nice video featuring the technology. Plus it comes with a good soundtrack! Google's project wing uses a lifting wing concept (more fuel efficient than normal airplane layouts and MUCH more efficient than quadrocopters) but it equips the plane with engines strong enough to hover in a nose up position, allowing vertical landing and takeoff. For the delivery of packages the drone does not even need to land - it can lower them on a wire - much like the skycrane concept used to deliver the Curiosity rover on Mars. Not sure if the skycrane is really necessary but it is certainly cool. Anyways, the video is great for its soundtrack alone! ;-P
  • ...4 more comments...
  • Paul N on 31 Aug 14
     
    could we just use genetic algorithms to evolve these shapes and layouts? :P
  • Ma Ru on 31 Aug 14
     
    > Not sure if the skycrane is really necessary but it is certainly cool. I think apart from coolness using a skycrane helps keep the rotating knives away from the recipient...
  • Thijs Versloot on 01 Sep 14
     
    Honest question, are we ever going to see this in practice? I mean besides some niche application somewhere, isn't it fundamentally flawed or do I need to keep my window opened on the 3rd floor without a balcony when I ordered something from DX? Its pretty cool yes, but practical?
  • Guido de Croon on 02 Sep 14
     
    Package delivery is indeed more complicated than it may seem at first sight, although solutions are possible for instance by restricting delivery to distribution centers. What we really need of course is some really efficient and robust AI to navigate without any problems in urban areas : ) The hybrid is interesting since it combines the advantage of a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (and hover), and a wing for more efficient forward flight. Challenges lie in the control of the vehicle under any angle and all that this entails also for higher levels of control. Our lab has first used this concept a few years ago for the DARPA UAVforge challenge, and we had two hybrids in our entry last year for the IMAV 2013 (for some shaky images: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7XgRK7pMoU ).
  • Thijs Versloot on 04 Sep 14
     
    Fair enough, but even if you consider advanced/robust/efficient AI, why would you use a drone? Do we envision hundreds of drones above our heads in the street instead of UPS vans, or postmen, considering delivers letters might be more easily achievable. I am not so sure if personal delivery will take this route. On the other hand, if the system would work smoothly, I can image that I'm send a mail with the question whether I'm home (or they might know already from my personal GPS tracker) and then notify me that they are launching my DVD and it will come crashing into my door in 5min.
  • Paul N on 08 Sep 14
     
    I'm more curios how they're planning to keep people from stealing the drones. I could do with a drone army myself and having cheap amazon or google drones flying about sounds like a decent source.
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SOLAR IMPULSE - AROUND THE WORLD IN A SOLAR AIRPLANE - 0 views

www.solarimpulse.com technology energy solar sustainable
shared by Luzi Bergamin on 08 Jul 10 - Cached
  • Luzi Bergamin on 08 Jul 10
     
    Yet another Piccard record and for once a really interesting one. Additionally a nice collection of horrible Swiss German and Frech accents in the videos...
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You Are Now Free to Move About the Insect - ScienceNOW - 1 views

news.sciencemag.org/...-now-free-to-move-about-t.html bio flies optic_flow
shared by pacome delva on 24 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Researchers thought that flies chose their altitude based on optic flow, a phenomenon familiar to anyone who has ridden an airplane.
  • The team's observations, published online today in Current Biology, suggest that flies base their cruising altitude on horizontal edges and landmarks—such as table surfaces or tree tops—and not on how fast the ground is moving beneath them. The edge-tracking strategy may enable flies to keep tabs on possible landing spots.
  • This may be the general principle" for all flying insects, he says.
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Airbus Concept Has Weird Wings, Morphing Seats | Autopia | Wired.com - 6 views

www.wired.com/...airbus-concept-plane-2050 MAD technology concept
shared by Joris _ on 21 Jul 10 - Cached
LeopoldS liked it
  • it reflects what experts in aircraft materials, aerodynamics, cabin design and engines came up with after considering what air transport might look like in 2050
  • Seems safe to say there are some within Airbus who truly are allowed to imagine something beyond normal aircraft interiors.
  • Joris _ on 21 Jul 10
     
    what a ACT's exercise should look like...
  • ...1 more comment...
  • LeopoldS on 21 Jul 10
     
    honestly, if this is all they can imagine for 2050 then this is quite boring .... "Here we are stretching our imagination and thinking beyond our usual boundaries," they are probably not having enough of imagination yet ....
  • Joris _ on 21 Jul 10
     
    Maybe, you should propose this exercise to the team. You'll see there is not much imagination, unless, you consider imagination equals craziness (bullshit things ... and the too common blah blah in the act). I think this concept is an imaginative credible concept. "anything we might ever see" explains it well.
  • pacome delva on 21 Jul 10
     
    well, the article is not very detailed so it can be only "du vent" ! did they actually try if such an airplane can fly ??? what about the engine ??? i find the solar impulse (see post below) much more eco-friendly !!! I agree with Leopold that it's quite boring and stays in the mainstream of the production. I'm sure we can do much better !!! What about some really useful things like pills against the flight sickness, and some really good food in the plane ? haha not soon to happen with all the cost reduction. The future of air transport will be a plane without seats, stewards and perhaps even without pilot !!!
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Boeing probes international market for human spacecraft - 1 views

spaceflightnow.com/...10cst100 human spaceflight commercial spaceflight
shared by Luís F. Simões on 11 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • The aerospace powerhouse is designing and testing systems for its CST-100 space capsule, a craft the company says could begin flying astronauts to low Earth orbit by 2015. It will launch on existing rockets to lessen development risk and costs.
  • "The spacecraft that we're designing is rocket-agnostic. It would be possible to sell this like a commercial airplane to countries who perhaps have a launch vehicle who would like to launch it in their own country."
  • Luís F. Simões on 11 Feb 11
     
    ...and hitting the news in the same day: A Rocket Built from U.S. and European Parts "A new rocket that would combine parts from NASA's canceled Ares I rocket as well as the Ariane 5 , a well-proven European satellite launcher, could provide a low-cost option for taking crew and cargo to the space station. The rocket proposal was announced this week by ATK, an aerospace and defense company that manufactures the solid rocket motors for NASA's space shuttles, and Astrium, the European company that makes the Ariane 5. They say the rocket, called Liberty, would be ready for flight by 2015." "Other commercial companies, including Boeing and Orbital Sciences Corporation, are looking to use low-end versions of the Atlas V to carry the capsules they are building. Liberty could carry any capsule at a cost less than that of the Atlas V, according to ATK." Look! Competition! :)
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Cloaking magnetic fields: First antimagnet developed - 2 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...110922192056.htm superconductor metamaterial hybrid anti magnet
shared by dejanpetkow on 07 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • dejanpetkow on 07 Oct 11
     
    Sante, this thing is made of a superconductor-metamaterial hybrid. Should be non-linear enough for you :)
  • Luzi Bergamin on 08 Oct 11
     
    The device consists of a layer of superconducter, complemented by several layers of metamaterial. And the authors are afraid of potential abuse of this cloak to smuggle forbidden objets on airplanes etc. Hillarious! Another example how good research makes itself completely ridiculous by means of absurd claims about their potential usage.
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Brain's reaction to virtual reality should prompt further study, suggests new research - 2 views

medicalxpress.com/...on-virtual-reality-prompt.html BIO technology science
shared by jcunha on 25 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • jcunha on 25 Nov 14
     
    "Neuroscience UCLA neurophysicists have found that space-mapping neurons in the brain react differently to virtual reality than they do to real-world environments. Their findings could be significant for people who use virtual reality for gaming, military, commercial, scientific or other purposes." I wonder if we are doing it wrong with the airplane pilot simulators...
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