DailyDirt: Flying With The Greatest Of Ease
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Airplanes have been commonplace for quite some time now, and we've grown accustomed to what an airplane should look like. Ask any kid to draw a plane, and you'll probably get familiar results. However, this doesn't mean we've reached the end of novel plane designs. Plenty of unconventional planes are being designed and tested, and here are just a few.- NASA is testing an experimental wing design with 18 electric motors as part of its Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) project. Each motor can be optimized for better ride quality and noise reduction -- and possibly improved fuel consumption. [url]
- The Russian PAK TA concept is a supersonic transport that could be ready for military service by 2024. A 200-ton capacity plane traveling at 1200 mph with a range of 4,000 miles sounds a bit futuristic because it would be amazing to see a plane actually capable of doing it (but maybe not so amazing in another 10 years or so). [url]
- DARPA wants to make a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft that's much much better than a helicopter or existing VTOL designs. Boeing has a Phantom Swift design that's been built (as a 17% scale model) -- one of four contenders aiming to meet DARPA's technical specs. [url]
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Filed Under: aircraft, aviation, design, helicopters, leaptech, pak ta, phantom swift, planes, prototypes, supersonic, vtol
Companies: boeing, darpa, nasa
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When the US wants to build something, they ask darpa to send out the word and wait for someone to build it, then they buy up the rights and hope it works as advertised (it usally doesnt).
Why are you guys still orgasming over darpa?
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Re:
I could barely accept a subsonic aircraft configured that way, but supersonic electric fans are too much handwavium for me.
Hey, you should see the drawing I have of a single-stage-to-orbit submarine. Drawings are cheap, real hardware gets expensive.
Do the Russians have a jet engine that lasts longer than 5000 hours between overhauls yet?
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