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Dunno about you, but I just rev the old car up and hit speed bumps at 70mph - subjectively it feels like flying
Rocket Racers Promise To Take Formula One Into The Sky
The rocket planes, called X-Racers, will take off from a runway both in a staggered fashion and side-by-side and fly a course based on the design of a Grand Prix competition, with long straights, vertical ascents, and deep banks.
New York (AFP) Oct 03, 2005
Personal spaceflight pioneer Peter Diamandis unveiled plans Monday to take Formula One racing into the skies with rocket aircraft that will race around a three-dimensional course at up to 300 miles (480 kilometers) per hour.
Diamandis, the founder of the 10-million-dollar X Prize for private spaceflight, said his Rocket Racing League would seek to tap into the highly lucrative market enjoyed by Formula One and Nascar racing.
"It'll change the face of racing completely," he told reporters in New York.
The aerial racetracks will be approximately two miles (3.2 kilometers) long, one mile (1.6 kilometers) wide, and about 5,000 feet (1,520 meters) high, running perpendicularly to spectators.
The rocket planes, called X-Racers, will take off from a runway both in a staggered fashion and side-by-side and fly a course based on the design of a Grand Prix competition, with long straights, vertical ascents, and deep banks.
Each pilot will follow his or her own virtual "tunnel" or "track" of space, separated from their competitors by a few hundred feet.
"Of course it's risky," said Diamandis. "We're dealing with a new frontier."
Pilots will use state-of-the-art Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to reduce the chance of any mid-air collision.
The X-Racers, which are still in the development stage, are expected to cost around one million dollars each. They will be powered by a single 1,800 pound (800 kilogram) liquid and kerosene rocket engine.
Instead of a throttle, the racers will have a simple on/off switch to operate the rocket burner.
"It's either a glider, or it's a rocket, depending on which way the switch is clicked," said Rick Searfoss, a former space shuttle commander who will be among the first X-Racer pilots.
The vehicles will only carry around four minutes worth of fuel, forcing the pilots to exercise their judgment in choosing the optimal moments to fire the rocket burner.
"It will mean multiple shut-offs and relights," Searfoss said.
Four of the aircraft will be brought online in 2006 and the league expects to have 10 X-Racers competing by 2007.
The project envisages competitions across the United States, with annual finals at the X Prize cup in New Mexico.
Diamandis, an aerospace engineer turned entrepreneur, is best known for the X Prize which he offered to the first ever privately funded spaceflight.
The 10 million dollar reward was claimed in October last year by the rocket ship, SpaceShipOne, whose successful sub-orbital flight was seen as ushering in a new era of space tourism.
Diamandis said commercial success for his new racing league would generate new investment in rocket technology and provide a further boost to the nascent space tourism industry.
"It's all about making space flight accessible," he said.
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/rocketscience-05zzg.html
It's a Car. It's a Plane. And it's a Hybrid.
By Dave Demerjian September 18, 2008
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/09/its-a-car-that.html
Think hybrids are just for smug eco-conscious commuters creeping through rush-hour traffic? Think again. Paul Moller, the guy who brought us the much-hyped but never-built SkyCar, is hopping on the green bandwagon with a sexed-up gas-electric aero-car based on the Ferrari 599 GTB.
Moller's flying Ferrari, if it comes to fruition, could carry you 75 miles in the air and 150 miles on the ground, with 40 miles of that coming from the batteries. Moller says the Autovolantor will work just like a plug-in hybrid until you get sick of sitting in traffic, at which point you can take off vertically and fly at speeds reaching 150 mph -- 55 mph slower than an unmolested 599 is capable -- for as long as 15 minutes.
So what's the inspiration for the Autovolantor? Was it the culmination of a lifelong dream to combine a super-exotic sports car with the thrill of flight? Not quite.
"We had a Russian billionaire come to us complaining that he was sick of sitting in Moscow traffic," Paul Moller told us. "He gave us money and told us to build a car that flies."
That part makes sense -- sort of -- but doesn't explain why Moller chose a $300,000 Italian exotic instead of, say, a Ford Focus. Moller says it all came down to what's practical. "We must have tested 100 different cars," he explains. "But the Ferrari's long hood was really the best choice when it came time to make room for the fans."
The Autovolnator uses eight fans just like the ones that power the SkyCar Moller's been working on forever. That craft, billed as a vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (VTOL) and once offered for sale by Neiman-Marcus for $3.5 million, could hover up to 10 feet off the ground using ducted fans to provide lift and propulsion. "Really, we're just taking the SkyCar and morphing it into a different shape," Moller says of the Autovolantor. "That's why we were able to get the design done in about five months."
Moller says he's performed wind tunnel and stability analysis tests on a model (which looks to us like a Revell model kit with wings tacked on) and the results "predict good all-around performance," according to the Sacramento Business Journal. But that's as far as the project's gone. The Russian businessman closed his wallet when he learned a prototype would cost about $5 million. "We would love to be able to build a prototype, but we're not going to be able to on our own nickel," Bruce Calkin, company general manager, told the Journal. Should the Russian reconsider, Moller tells us it wouldn't take that long to start testing a real vehicle.
Don't hold your breath waiting for your hybrid flying car. Even if there was a demand for such a vehicle, Moller says the Department of Transportation would never give it a thumbs up. "It would be an interesting process to see if we could make it satisfy the DOT," he says. For now, it looks like the Autovolantor will remain little more than a technical paper (.pdf), a scale model and a really bad Photoshop rendering. But Moller notes, "You have to assume there are other millionaires there sitting in traffic. Maybe some of them would want one."
Videophones have kind of snuck up on us in disguise - I could now have a videophonic conversation with anyone across the world via the internet. The thing is, there's no point - all the information you really need to send can be done by phone or email.Timble2 said:I suppose we have "picture phones" now, with the ability to record and send movie clips from most mobile phones and video messaging over the interweb, although not quite in the way they were envisoned in old SF stories and those "World of Tomorrow" type articles and TV programmes.
A powerful fan mounted on the rear of the car propels it to the take-off speed of 60 km/h (36mph) and the Skycar can reach 110 km/h (66mph) once airborne.
Cruising at 2,000 - 3,000 feet, the Skycar has a flying range of 300km (180 miles) and can reach a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet.
The engineers say it should be easier and safer to fly than any other aircraft as it has no pitch control - the pilot cannot make the nose dip or rise, making it impossible to stall or dive.
If the engine cuts out, the designers say, the pilot would be able to glide gently to the ground, the descent slowed by the parafoil.
In the event of the wing failing completely, a second reserve parachute can be deployed.
DARPA announces plans for self-piloted flying car
http://www.physorg.com/news190913356.html
April 19th, 2010 in Technology / Hi Tech & Innovation
The Terrafugia Transition is a roadable aircraft that was tested last year. DARPA's plans for the Transformer X call for the vehicle to be capable of flying on autopilot and driving off-road, among other features. Credit: Terrafugia.
(PhysOrg.com) -- Last week, DARPA announced that it is inviting proposals to tackle its latest project: "a vertical takeoff and landing roadable air vehicle." The ground-to-sky vehicle, called Transformer X (TX), should have a maximum payload capacity of 1,000 pounds so that it can carry four passengers and their gear. It should also be capable of flying itself automatically, achieving an altitude of 1,000 feet, and traveling 250 miles on a single tank of fuel. And it should be built and ready for testing by 2015.
To date, as an article at The Register notes, the closest thing to a flying car that has been built and tested is the Terrafugia Transition. With the press of a button, the wings on this “roadable aircraft” can be folded up in 30 seconds, enabling it to switch from flying to driving on roads. But the proposed TX would have some significant differences, such that it would be a robust off-road vehicle with road performance similar to an SUV, and that it would have the option to fly on autopilot.
The robustness and ease of operation would be essential for various military missions that DARPA has in mind for the TX. For instance, this “sky jeep” could fly over the minefields and roadside bombs that typically surround US bases in Afghanistan or other war territories, and then land to carry out a ground patrol, which requires stopping to set up checkpoints and other ground-based tasks. The TX could also be used to stealthily carry supplies or passengers between ships at sea and a mainland area.
DARPA’s plans require that the TX be no larger than 30 feet long, 8.5 feet wide, and 9 feet high in ground configuration (about the size of two Hummers). The TX should lift off the ground without forward motion, and then climb upward at least one foot for every six feet forward. DARPA also specifies that the TX should be as quiet as a conventional automobile in ground mode and make no more noise than a single engine helicopter when flying, while achieving similar speeds.
The final major advantage of the TX would be that, since its robotic autopilot mode makes it capable of completely unmanned flight, it wouldn’t require extensive training to operate. Currently, every Marine aircraft is piloted by a trained pilot, as The Register notes. With the TX, passengers could operate the vehicle simply by selecting a destination or typing in some coordinates. However, the vehicle would still have an operating range between fully autonomous to allowing a human operator to make flight steering commands in real time.
DARPA wants a prototype that will be ready for ground and flight tests by 2015, and that will cost no more than $43 million to develop. Although the TX is currently just a lofty goal, it has the potential to transform military transportation - and possibly even civilian transportation, if everything goes as planned.
More information: DARPA TX Announcement [pdf]
Could be sooner...trevp66 said:Make it work properly, and available to the general public at a reasonable price by 2016.
picky picky picky!trevp66 said:Yep clearly NOT a flying car, but a 'roadable' plane.