USS Enterprise Finally Flies

apetime writes "Found on Slashdot Japan: Model builder Kaname of Kumamoto, Japan has built a flying radio controlled model of the original Star Trek's USS Enterprise. (Scroll to the bottom of the page for a video. Or go here for an mpeg, and here for a WMV.) The ship measures from 75 cm, and only weighs 16 grams. It's a wobbly flight, but makes you think what else in Star Trek might work if it were tried."

Comments

Nice...

[Punboy]

But now the question is, if you transported inside of it, would you shrink?

Re:Nice...

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't transport through the crystal that encloses the shrunken Enterprise. But it does conduct heat, as you can easily check by holding the pendant over a candle.

uhm...

[wo1verin3]

I may be wrong, but I don't remember the original enterprise having a propellor. The article indicates that technology from that show may work in real life, but it's using old technology. cool to watch, but only for a slow friday night.

Re:uhm...

[Anonymous Coward]

I may be wrong, but I don't remember the original enterprise having a propellor.

Kirk: Ahead, warp factor 7, Scotty.

Scotty: She given' all she got, but she can' take no more, cap'n. Aye, push'n her any more past 75 kph could rip her prop clean off!

Spock: My calculations indicate that if we fail to improve the propulsion system, then we will not reach the Romulan Neutral Zone for another 1.343 billion years.

big, fat clue:

[k4rm4_p0l7c3]

Uhm. I'm sure the USS Enterprise was designed to fly in a vacuum; you know.. cause.. space is a vacuum.

*ahem*

Re:big, fat clue:

[Surazal]

I don't think space is a true vacume. It is just considered one in relation to earths atmosphere. Anyways how do solar sails work? I think with the differences in gravitiy there might be enough friction material in space for this to work to some degree.

Space ships don't fly with "lift". There's barely any gravity to lift from even taking into account the miniscule amount of gas in space. In fact, the design of the Enterprise was chosen by Roddenberry precisely because it *wasn't* aerodynamic (as a respose to all the space shows and books that depicted space ships as being such). A mile-wide cube would have also sufficed (*ahem*).

Also, a solar sail would look nothing like the Enterprise. It would look like, er, a sail. A BIG one at that; bigger than the aforementioned mile-wide cube.

wtf.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a wobbly flight, but makes you think what else in Star Trek might work if it were tried.

Actually, no, It doesn't.

Propellor?

[scooby111]

With the right size engine, you can make anything fly. This isn't a demonstration of how well the "Enterprise" could fly. It's a demonstration of how you can make even a brick fly with the right thrust to weight ratio.

I like Star Trek as well as the next geek, but this is just plain silly.

Now, where can I get one???

Re:Propellor?

[56ksucks]

The thing is, the "REAL" Enterprise wouldn't really "fly". In many episodes when the Enterprise is getting too close to a planet's atmosphere there is a danger of crashing and burning in the atmosphere. The only reason it's "Flying" is because there is no gravity in space and no ground to fall on. So the idea that other star trek technologies might work because this works is silly because on Star Trek this wouldn't even work.

flying in the vacum

[bsDaemon]

is it real flying if it is not a function of lift versus gravity? You can't have lift in the vacum, so is it actually flying?

Read the Article!

[NitsujTPU]

Darn you posters who don't read the article! It quite clearly says: "OEã1"NSÔÉí½ÁÄ1"ú1ñÈãSY"-OEfZ¦"Âð`FbN&#233 ;B"

If only there were . . .

[jdcook]

"makes you think what else in Star Trek might work if it were tried"

If only there were something like a communicator. That would be cool. A handheld walkie talkie-like thing only able to talk to almost anybody on the planet. It could maybe even open up like a clam. Sigh. I guess it will never be.