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Project OpenSky Takes Off
Posted by
Zonk
on Sat Jun 17, 2006 12:42 AM
from the hard-to-believe-these-spores-could-kill-me dept.
from the hard-to-believe-these-spores-could-kill-me dept.
Jesrad writes "As was reported two years ago on Slashdot, japanese artists, students and engineers under the lead of Kazuhiko Hachiya have taken upon themselves to build a real-size, fully functional Mehve (japanese website), the small jet-powered glider flying wing ridden by anime heroin Nausicaa. They have made a lot of progress, and are now test-flying the full scale, yet unpowered model by tow-launching it along with its thrilled pilot. They're having a lot of fun, too, judging from the movies of the testing sessions."
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Jet-powered Nausicaa Glider Project 346 comments
SuperElectric writes "As reported on slashdot.jp, Opensky is a project led by media artist Kazuhiko Hachiya to implement a working, jet-powered version of Moewe, the vehicle (pic) that the heroine rides on in "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind". They've successfully test-flown (.mov, 8.6MB) a 1/2 scale model, and are moving into phase 2, which includes interviewing for test pilots (women only!). Can anybody knowledgeable in experimental aeronautics speculate on how doable this is? While it's not designed for general production (riders must be less than 50 kg/120 lbs), this would certainly beat Segway any day!"
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"anime heroin" (Score:5, Funny)
Scooby doobie doo (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
usage -10 (Score:4, Informative)
Call me.. (Score:3, Funny)
I'd prefer if they created an Ohmu :-) (Score:3, Informative)
Mehve? (Score:5, Funny)
Every kid's dream machine (Score:5, Informative)
The freedom with which Nausicaa sails around the skies on a flying machine light enough to carry yet strong enough to carry out some hairy aerobatics has figured in many a daydream. Hayao Miyazaki takes our daydreams and puts them on the big screen.
Of course the reality of FAA regulations and principles of aerodynamics tend to get in the way of truly realizing the dreams but I give kudos to these guys for trying.
Re:Every kid's dream machine (Score:4, Interesting)
Nausicaa was a scientist who performed careful experiments that led her to her ultimate conclusions about the role of the deadly fungus and forest in the ecology of the post-apocalyptic world. Genre fiction since then has generally preferred to reject science as the mode of enlightenment, preferring anything else from heredity to magic.
I guess this point I am more a cynic about what young people really want if freed from the thin vaneer of civilization, similar to the philosophy of Lord of the Flies.
Parent
Re:Every kid's dream machine (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Impressive work (Score:5, Insightful)
This is lightyears beyond cool.
They are fighting a lot of aerodynamic issues to make a human-carrying glider that now looks remarkably like the one in the movie. The challenge in flying wings is to fight the tendency of most wings to pitch down. In addition to this natural tendency, this wing has two things going against it.
1) The "jet" causes drag below the CG
2) The person raises the CG so high that there is a tendency to be unstable
Add to this the fact that the design allows very little sweepback (a typical way to get pitch stability in flying wings (see B2 and Northrop)) then you are really in a bind.
They must have a fabulously high positive pitching-moment airfoil. It is possible to make reasonably efficient airfoils with some positive pitch moment, but unless they've invented something truly revolutionary -- the demands on this airfoil for stability might mean that the glide ratio would not be very good.
Still -- unbelivably impressive. Way to go!
Thad Beier
Re:Impressive work (Score:3, Interesting)
As is the case with the F-117 "Stealth" aircraft.
As a model-aircraft designer... (Score:3, Informative)
A full time computer working on the stability will help a lot, however at some points no amount of computer intervention will re-establish stable flight (ie, tumbling).
Then again, similar things were said about the helicopter
Looking forward to seeing what they end up with... especially for the turbine motor.
Very cute, but wing area a problem (Score:3, Informative)
It's impressive that they're doing this. Moewe has rather low wing area for the slow-speed maneuvering it does in Nausicaa, though. It's certainly possible to make a lively little aerobatic monoplane (the Sukhoi S-26 [sukhoi.org] is one of the best modern ones), but those little wings imply a high stall speed. If you want hang-glider type stall speeds, you need more wing area or less weight. The classic solution for slow flight is the biplane. Take a look at this old Sperry Messenger [af.mil], which has about the same wingspan as Moewe. The Messenger was a very maneuverable little plane. Sperry himself once landed one in front of the U.S. Capitol.
Moewe's tailless design creates a pitch stability problem from hell, but that's what flight-control computers are for. It's interesting to see what changes they made from the R/C model. The R/C model looks more like Moewe, with straight wings and a huge dihedral angle. The bigger towed model has a bent wing. They're trying for something that wants to fly straight and level.
There's much new interest in light aircraft today. The FAA has created a new category of "light sport planes", heavier than ultralights but lighter than general aviation aircraft, with less restrictive licensing. Take a look at this StingSport [aopa.org], which isn't much bigger than Moewe, even though it's a two-seater.
I expect the Open Sky crowd will build something that looks more or less like Moewe and flies reasonably well. And they'll do it long before Moller gets off the ground. [moller.com]
Re:Hm... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Hm... (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Hm... (Score:3, Interesting)
Unpowered verstions of paragliding and hand gliding are very popular and have been around for decades. Re: http://www.ushga.org/ [ushga.org] and http://www.paragliding.net/ [paragliding.net]
And the only reason the story made the front page is because it had 'anime'
Check your state law, however, as some states have certain restrictions on flying over populated areas, cities, etc.
Also, you might get shot down if you try to fly one
Re:Hm... (Score:3, Informative)
That would kilometers/hour. 55 knots. 63 mph.
. .
155 lbs. for unpowered craft; 255 lbs. empty (maximum fuel load of 5 gal.) for powered craft.
KFG
Re:Hm... who cares (Score:3, Insightful)
The Fuel Inside You. (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure you can keep it up for hours. See here [wikipedia.org] for a quick run down on human powered flight. Now consider the fact that a lawn mower, with it's tiny tank, provides ten to twenty times as much power as you can sustain and does it for hours on end. It's not far from there to the whole ultralight aircraft industry. [wikipedia.org]
Those things are too dangerous for me but are lots of fun for those who fly them. I like something with a little more power to get out of trouble. Ultralights get blown around and where the wind blows is not always good for you.
Parent
Re:Fuel (Score:5, Informative)
Kerosene (Diesel fuel): 11,000 watt-hours per liter, 13,000 watt-hours per kg
Typical ultralight engine: 30,000 watts
Assuming you are running at full throttle all the time (fairly unlikely):
a 10 liter tank will last you 3-odd hours and weigh right around 12 kg. Most ultralights have a fuel capacity between 8 and 35 liters.
Does the math work out better for you now?
Parent
Re:small jet-powered glider? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:small jet-powered glider? (Score:5, Informative)
Gotta stop you right there. Automobile engines and aircraft engines are very different beasts for very good reasons. Automobile engines normally run at 20% of rated power with occasional bursts to 80% rated power and only the rarest burst to 100% rated power. Aircraft engines normally run at 80% rated power and will routinely spend several minutes at 100% power during each flight (takeoff and climbout). That critical "expected normal load" results in a very different engine design.
If you try to put an automobile engine in an airplane without substantial redesign to account for the different expected loads, you're basically guaranteeing premature catastrophic failure.
The result is that homebuilt aircraft have as good a safety record as commercially built designs.
Check your facts. Homebuilts have a much higher accident rate per flight-hour. Still pretty low, though.
Regards,
Ross
Parent
Nausicaa wears pants. (Score:4, Informative)
They're close to skin color, so unfortunately it isn't terribly obvious. This isn't that kind of anime. Sheesh.
FAQ [nausicaa.net]
Parent
Re:Yves Rossy has been there... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Glider? (Score:3, Informative)
and the wing is often used as a glider.