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Steve Fossett's Unfinished Project
Posted by
kdawson
on Sun Oct 05, 2008 01:36 AM
from the ocean-flying dept.
from the ocean-flying dept.
MazzThePianoman writes "Steve Fossett left behind a secret vessel project called the Deep Flight Challenger. Fossett was funding the development of a winged submersible being designed by Hawkes Ocean Technologies in California. The intent was for the vehicle to be capable of travel to the very bottom of the ocean — the Mariana Trench, more than 11,000 meters beneath the surface. 'It would have dramatically, dramatically opened the oceans for exploration. It would have been a game changer,' said Graham Hawkes, the designer. Testing had been completed at Department of Defense facilities. Field testing was only four weeks away when Fossett's untimely death, a year ago, put the project on hold." Hawkes Ocean Technologies owns the design, but the vehicle itself is owned by Fossett's estate.
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News: Steve Fossett Missing 317 comments
jd writes "Steve Fossett, the first person to fly a plane around the world without refueling, the first person to fly around the world in a balloon, and possibly the record-holder for the highest-altitude glider flight, is missing in Nevada. He is reported to have taken off in a light aircraft last night and has not been seen since. As he had filed no flight plan, would-be rescuers have no idea where to even begin looking. The plane took off from a private airstrip on a ranch at the south end of Smith Valley in western Nevada."
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News: Fossett's Plane Found 356 comments
otter42 writes "Sadly, it looks as if all those crazies claiming Steve Fossett was still alive were wrong after all. The NY Times has the confirmation that wreckage of Fossett's Bellanca Citabria was found. Now it's up to the NTSB to tell us why this happened, although, statistically, dollars to donuts it was engine/fuel-related."
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And the story continues! (Score:5, Funny)
It was still Fossett's move, however. Much as he enjoyed false identities, Brazilian women, and homes built from Cold War nuclear bunkers, the time was right to begin his next project.
It would begin with a small dog, two pairs of socks, and a rolled-up copy of People magazine.
Re:And the story continues! (Score:5, Insightful)
I mean, the dude flew around the world in a balloon. Flew around the world again, nonstop, solo, in an aircraft. Set all kinds of records in sailboats and sailplanes. He was building a submarine to "fly" to the deepest point on earth, but meanwhile he killed himself while scouting for a location to run his 800 mph rocket car and break the land speed record.
My first thought was, "man, this guy has a freakin' deathwish, or else he's a goddamn idiot. It's amazing that someone with so little sense of self-preservation lived this long." Doesn't the guy know that there are old pilots, and bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots?
But after thinking about it for a while... he probably did know that. He was flying long enough that he must have come to understand that if he kept it up the way he did, he wasn't going to die in his bed. Any one of his record-setting endeavors could have resulted in his death. But he must have decided that he'd rather live a brief life on his own terms, than a long, safe, boring life. After reading his Wikipedia entry, it's no surprise that he didn't die in an assisted living facility, but I think he'd probably be OK with the way he went out. Vicious downdrafts smashed his plane into bite-sized pieces against a granite escarpment of the Sierra Nevada mountains, while he was scouting a location to break the land speed record in a jet car, and he wasn't found for a year... the man had a hell of an interesting life, and one hell of a death, and packed more living into 63 years than most people could pack into 100. He did things on his terms, took chances, pushed things, and went out doing so. Personally, I'll play things a bit safer, but I do respect the guy's choices.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I dunno, Chuck Yeager [wikipedia.org] is pretty bold and he's pushing 90. Scott Crossfield [wikipedia.org] was 85 when he died (flying).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Are astronauts really bold? Or are they meticulous, training for years for a single flight?
The point is that it's not good to rush, you might overlook details.
Re: (Score:3)
You hate that saying because it is miss quoted.
There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are very few old bold pilots.
Every pilot knows that the wost thing that a pilot can say is "I can make it"
But Fossett did keep the unspoken rule. Only kill yourself. If you are going push the limits you do it by yourself. My guess when flying with passengers Fossett crossed every T and doted every I.
Re:And the story continues! (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
What's that pressure again? (Score:4, Insightful)
I hope Mr. Hawkes was a bit more careful with the math in his design than the math in that statement.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What's that pressure again? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What's that pressure again? (Score:4, Informative)
I call bullshit. The metric unit for pressure isn't the atmosphere. It's the Pascal, aka N/m^2. Atmospheric pressure is 101325 Pa, or alternatively 1 Pa = 9.8692×106 atm. Very convenient? NOT PARTICULARLY.
SI is useful in calculations because it is self-consistent. You don't have weird factors like 32.2 lb-f/lb-m in calculations. But natural values like the atmospheric pressure at sea level are NOT metric values and are at exactly as difficult to work with in both systems.
Parent
Re:What's that pressure again? (Score:5, Informative)
Bar, Kg/cm2 and Atmosphere are certainly valid expressions for pressure in the Metric systems.
Another Decimal system is the SI and it prefers the use of Pascal for pressure.
A more complete explanation can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI [wikipedia.org]
Parent
Re:What's that pressure again? (Score:4, Informative)
Yar. I can count to 21 if I pull down my pants.
Seriously, base 12 is very practical because it has more factors than 10. 2,3,4, and 6 vs 2 and 5. We really should be using a base 12 decimal system rather base 10.
The Sumerians used a base 60 system which can be represented using two hands while counting. On your left hand there are three parts on each of four fingers (excluding the thumb). The parts are divided from each other by the joints in the fingers. Now one can count up to 60 by pointing at one of the twelve parts of the fingers of the left hand with one of the five fingers of the right hand.
This is the root of our 60 seconds per minute / 60 seconds per hour.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
1 atm per 10 meters. 11km => 1,100 atm.
1,082 atm to be a little more exact [google.com].
Re:What's that pressure again? (Score:5, Informative)
Or the reporter misquoted him...
1 Atmosphere = 14.7 psi.
Pressure increases 1A every 33 feet
36,000 / 33 = 1091 Atmospheres.
1091 * 14.7 = 16038 psi
16,000 ~= 15000
http://www.onr.navy.mil/Focus/ocean/water/pressure1.htm [navy.mil]
Parent
The Delta Flier (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The Delta Flier (Score:5, Funny)
If Star Trek Voyager has taught us anything, when you need to go deep into the ocean, just send the bad boy Tom Paris with trusty sidkick Ensin Kim in the Delta Flier. Thats more than enough to get hte job done. The only downside is that Lt Paris may make everyone listen to some drawn out letter hes writing to his father.... and quite frankly, its too dramatic for my tastes.
--
WWPD - What Would Picard Do?
Man... you really buried the needle on my virgin meter with that one.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Crow T Robot, "People have such cute names for sex."
There, that should have made it overload and melt down. I hope you didn't have it on your lap.
Re:The Delta Flier (Score:4, Funny)
Well, at least the needle isn't a virgin anymore.
Parent
I would (Score:2)
Eulogy for Deep Space "Challenger" (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of land, And danced the seas on laughter-silvered fins;
Deepward I've fallen, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-absent fathoms...and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of...propelled and plummet and swung
Deep in the sunless silence. Hov'ring there, I've chased the shouting currents along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of water.
Down, Down, the long, delirious burning blue I've bottomed the current swept depths with easy grace
Where never jellyfish, nor even tubeworm grew.
And while with silent, buoyant mind I've trod
The low untrespassed sanctity of the abyss...
How about Jupiter (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter_(novel) [wikipedia.org]
Mediocre idea: 100% liquid "atmosphere." Good from a structural point of view, but terrible from a biological point of view, since you're pretty much guaranteed to breath everyone's pee.
On the whole, not nearly as good as Mars.
Color me skeptical... (Score:3, Insightful)
Color me skeptical... Quoting from the summary;
The vehicle, as shown, wouldn't seem to be capable of more than a fraction of that - the pressure hull seems far, far too thin.
Um - how exactly? Globally we have plenty of capability to reach all but the deepest portion of the oceans, and beyond archeology, a little geology, and exploring a few famous wrecks... There hasn't been all that much demand.
Quoting from the article:
Mostly because there isn't any real value in visiting the truly deep ocean - the view is not really all that impressive. Imagine being in a dry side canyon of the Grand Canyon on a cloudy night... with only a glo-stick for illumination. That's what it is like being down in the truly deep.
I don't know where he's been... But the ocean bottoms have been in the process of intense exploration and mapping for several decades now.
Re:Color me skeptical... - or a luddite (Score:3, Insightful)
In deep water submersibles the occupied portion is a sphere to best resist pressure. The rest of the craft is filled with water at ambient pressure. The drawing in the article shows this one to follow that pattern. Your first comment is refuted.
The Trieste was a tethered bathyscape. It went down on a cable and back up again. No ability to survey an area. I'd like to survey deep trenches as possible nuclear waste sites. Put the stuff in wedge shapped containers and drop it into deep muck at the bottom