MIT Engineers Test an Idea For a New Hovering Rover (mit.edu) 18
Hmmmmmm shares a report from MIT News: Aerospace engineers at MIT are testing a new concept for a hovering rover that levitates by harnessing the moon's natural charge. Because they lack an atmosphere, the moon and other airless bodies such as asteroids can build up an electric field through direct exposure to the sun and surrounding plasma. On the moon, this surface charge is strong enough to levitate dust more than 1 meter above the ground, much the way static electricity can cause a person's hair to stand on end. Engineers at NASA and elsewhere have recently proposed harnessing this natural surface charge to levitate a glider with wings made of Mylar, a material that naturally holds the same charge as surfaces on airless bodies. They reasoned that the similarly charged surfaces should repel each other, with a force that lofts the glider off the ground. But such a design would likely be limited to small asteroids, as larger planetary bodies would have a stronger, counteracting gravitational pull.
The MIT team's levitating rover could potentially get around this size limitation. The concept, which resembles a retro-style, disc-shaped flying saucer, uses tiny ion beams to both charge up the vehicle and boost the surface's natural charge. The overall effect is designed to generate a relatively large repulsive force between the vehicle and the ground, in a way that requires very little power. In an initial feasibility study, the researchers show that such an ion boost should be strong enough to levitate a small, 2-pound vehicle on the moon and large asteroids like Psyche. The team predicted that a small rover, weighing about two pounds, could achieve levitation of about one centimeter off the ground, on a large asteroid such as Psyche, using a 10-kilovolt ion source. To get a similar liftoff on the moon, the same rover would need a 50-kilovolt source. "This kind of ionic design uses very little power to generate a lot of voltage," [explains co-author Paulo Lozano]. "The power needed is so small, you could do this almost for free."
The MIT team's levitating rover could potentially get around this size limitation. The concept, which resembles a retro-style, disc-shaped flying saucer, uses tiny ion beams to both charge up the vehicle and boost the surface's natural charge. The overall effect is designed to generate a relatively large repulsive force between the vehicle and the ground, in a way that requires very little power. In an initial feasibility study, the researchers show that such an ion boost should be strong enough to levitate a small, 2-pound vehicle on the moon and large asteroids like Psyche. The team predicted that a small rover, weighing about two pounds, could achieve levitation of about one centimeter off the ground, on a large asteroid such as Psyche, using a 10-kilovolt ion source. To get a similar liftoff on the moon, the same rover would need a 50-kilovolt source. "This kind of ionic design uses very little power to generate a lot of voltage," [explains co-author Paulo Lozano]. "The power needed is so small, you could do this almost for free."
1cm? (Score:2)
I take it the moon has no exposed rocks over 9mm tall? Otherwise that seems a bit worthless.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, doesn't seem very useful when you need a 50kV source as well. How much will that weigh, and don't stray anywhere above 1cm.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Not sure how much the source would weigh, but the ion source works as follows:
"The team's levitating design relies on the use of miniature ion thrusters, called ionic-liquid ion sources. These small, microfabricated nozzles are connected to a reservoir containing ionic liquid in the form of room-temperature molten salt. When a voltage is applied, the liquid's ions are charged and emitted as a beam through the nozzles with a certain force.
Lozano's team has pioneered the development of ionic thrusters and has
Yeah but... (Score:2)
How fast is this floaty thing going?
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The second that the glider touches the ground, the static electric charge would be equalized, nullifying the hovering effect.
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How fast is this floaty thing going?
Going? Nobody said anything about going.
No, this is intended for any science requiring a stationary platform of trivial weight, suspended above - but not very above - a surface. If horizontal motion is required, a simple modification to the technology could be made wherein a series of (perhaps up to four) wheels could be lowered from the hovering rover, make contact with the surface and then rotate. These wheels could also be designed to lift the hovering rover over obstacles exceeding the 1 cm of elev
Re: Yeah but... (Score:2)
I suspect very many "good ideas" started with "look what the math says can happen".
I'll hold off on judging whether this a a good idea until further developed, but I think it's cool that the math says this can happen.
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I did think of something that might be useful to do with this technology, but it's not build anything that looks like this. But if you made a bigass flying carpet sort of thing with loads of area then maybe it could carry a meaningful amount of total payload, so long as no single part of the payload was very massive. Maybe it could also incorporate muscle wire so that it could raise portions of itself to go over rocks and such. The majority of the top surface could be covered in solar cells.
That wasn't part of the deal! (Score:3)
there was never any mention of having to go to the moon to get my flying car
I pray you don't alter the deal any further
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The big thing that put a stop to serious development to the flying car, is the general cost of energy, both in cost in money and environmental cost.
A flying car which is safe enough for the general consumer will need an energy dense power source. To keep the weight down, and the shape to match ideal aerodynamics. Currently small aircraft like a Cessna get about 17mpg which is onpar with a big pickup truck. However, with its wingspan it will take about 3 car lanes and can barely seat 4 people, and will need
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sadly, that whoosh sound you heard was *not* from my flying car
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Oh I got it, I just figured bringing up why the Flying car isn't here yet, was more interesting.
Re: That wasn't part of the deal! (Score:2)
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Also Helicopters have to be maintained a lot. I drive my car, and my breaks are squeaking or my engine isn't giving the expected amount of power , Ill make a not to get them fixed later that week, even if the breaks fail, I can under most conditions safely stop the car. For a Helicopter everything needs to be working like new, and very little, lets wait until next week.
Re: That wasn't part of the deal! (Score:2)
This reminds me (Score:2)