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Feather-based Jacobean Space Chariot
simonmsh writes "The article Cromwell's moonshot: how one Jacobean scientist tried to kick off the space race describes 17th century plans to build a space chariot out of springs, feathers and gunpowder. The design was based on the idea that gravity disappeared at an altitude of 20 miles, which was called into question by Hooke ? and Boyle ? 's work.
It sounds like the plot of a Neal Stephenson book." Said book, and its sequels are phenomenal.
That's funny, I could have sworn gravity dissapeared within 3 inches of our receptionist's breasts...
Although I think getting within 20 miles of them is a longshot...
I have a plan. Using mainly spoons, we'll tunnel our way out of the city...
"In space we wouldn't need to eat because the reason why we need to eat on Earth is that the pull of gravity pulls food through our bodies and constantly empties our stomachs," Professor Chapman explained.
:-)
Quotes like this remind you of a child trying to divine where all the food they eat goes. I remember thinking at 3 or 4 years old that there must be some sort of containers inside us to hold the food forever. Then I considered the volume of food we eat and just couldn't fathom what was happening to it. It didn't quite connect that the food might get processed then *ahem* ejected.
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Give me a big enough spring, and I can move Rubin Studdard into low earth orbit.
I wonder if macgyver could have done better...
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According to legend the Chinese sent a man up around 1500AD.
He didn't come back, but that's the way with pioneers
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US$10, really
"17th century plans to build a space chariot out of springs, feathers and gunpowder. The design was based on the idea that gravity disappeared at an altitude of 20 miles"
I wonder if the thing could have made it 20 miles up. If someone builds one, I will supply the bound and gagged - erm, I mean "Jacobean Spacesuited" test pilots.
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This kind of stuff makes me wonder which current technology will be looked back upon with the same feeling we look back at this "technology"??
This is the sig that says NI (again)
Re Stephenson books: Phenomenally large? Phenomenally self-indulgent? Phenomenally didactic?
At any rate, it's an amusing story.
All that hand-waving is vaguely reminiscent of "Mars Direct" or whatever they're calling it these days. Once upon a time, we didn't have to eat in space because of the absence of gravity. Now, we just hand-wave away radiation damage to the crew and the logistics of setting up a nuclear reactor on Mars to produce fuel for the return journey.
"Of course his approach did not work because he based it on the premise that the Earth's pull only went up 20 miles and if you crossed that 20 miles, you could float after that," no, i think the main reason it didn't work was because it was a clockwork flapping machine..
According to ancient Indian texts, the people had flying machines which were called "Vimanas." The ancient Indian epic describes a Vimana as a double-deck, circular aircraft with portholes and a dome, much as we would imagine a flying saucer.
It flew with the "speed of the wind" and gave forth a "melodious sound." There were at least four different types of Vimanas; some saucer shaped, others like long cylinders ("cigar shaped airships"). The ancient Indian texts on Vimanas are so numerous, it would take volumes to relate what they had to say. The ancient Indians, who manufactured these ships themselves, wrote entire flight manuals on the control of the various types of Vimanas, many of which are still in existence, and some have even been translated into English.
The Samara Sutradhara is a scientific treatise dealing with every possible angle of air travel in a Vimana. There are 230 stanzas dealing with the construction, take-off, cruising for thousand of miles, normal and forced landings, and even possible collisions with birds. In 1875, the Vaimanika Sastra, a fourth century B.C. text written by Bharadvajy the Wise, using even older texts as his source, was rediscovered in a temple in India. It dealt with the operation of Vimanas and included information on the steering, precautions for long flights, protection of the airships from storms and lightening and how to switch the drive to "solar energy" from a free energy source which sounds like "anti-gravity."
The Vaimanika Sastra (or Vymaanika-Shaastra) has eight chapters with diagrams, describing three types of aircraft, including apparatuses that could neither catch on fire nor break. It also mentions 31 essential parts of these vehicles and 16 materials from which they are constructed, which absorb light and heat; for which reason they were considered suitable for the construction of Vimanas. This document has been translated into English and is available by writing the publisher: VYMAANIDASHAASTRA AERONAUTICS by Maharishi Bharadwaaja, translated into English and edited, printed and published by Mr. G. R. Josyer, Mysore, India, 1979 (sorry, no street address). Mr. Josyer is the director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Investigation located in Mysore.
Sources: Ancient flying machines (Contains diagrams/details).
Wikipedia reference to the term-Vimanas
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
Although gravity doesn't disapear after 20 miles, you can acheive geostationary orbit at 22 miles - so they weren't too far off.
... they were 22 miles off
No, wait - I think I'm missing the obvious
It's obvious 17th century England is trying to use its stocks of springs, feathers and gunpowder to develop WMDs. I say we invade now. We don't want to wait until the smoking feathers becomes a mushroom cloud.
I love how we turn an interesting bit of history into a plug for Mr. Stephenson's ego.
Dr. John Wilkins, the Jacobean scientist in question, was quite an interesting chap really.
For example, with his book, A Discourse concerning a New Planet, he tried to popularise the view of the universe according to Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. He attempted to explain in the book that the Moon is not purely a shiny, cut out disc but rather it is a world with a landscape like that of the Earth.
Fairly radical stuff for the time, though admittedly he did publish the book annonymously.
For more info, try this or this
Newton was the first to suggest that the same force which keeps us on the Earth was responsible for the orbits of the plants around the sun. The planets are demonstrably further than 20 miles from the surface of the Earth.
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Yeah, but it's not like Stephen King died or anything...
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It sounds like the plot of a Neal Stephenson book.
Hmm... Also reminds me of the plot of a Jules Verne book - one that predates Stephenson by a number of years.
A few hundred years earlier, it would have been much easier. One only had to board a ship and sail to the edge of the earth. Since it was flat, they would have been able to sail to the edge and merely jump off into space. Unfortunately, space travelers at the time had no way to return, so it was very difficult to sell tickets to rich kings.
Stephenson is great and all, but Phillip Jose Farmer had a great short story on a similar topic about twenty years back.
Sail On, Sail On! posited that Francis Bacon turned his experiments toward electromagnetism, inventing the radio- except, that instead of electrons, they refered to them as Cherubim. So the AM radios of the day were tuned to various CW's - Cherubim wavelengths, which where the slope the cherubim's wings described as they flew through the ether.
The story takes place on columbus' ships as he travels to discover America- it's terrific. Strongly recommend digging this one up out of your local library.
What a strange bird is the pelican, his beak can hold more than his belly can.
Actually, in the middle ages they never actually believed the earth to be flat; this is backed up by religious and maritime texts of the age.
The myth was actually started in 18th Century England to prove the cultural and scientific superiority of the time.
I, for one, welcome our timetravelling anonymous coward posting timelords.
liqbase
I wonder if this 'space chariot' is the basis of Balthazar and Blimunda . The author won a Nobel Prize for the book. In the book, the device works. It's a good read.
Unfortunately, Wilkins never had the chance to test his theories, and what Professor Chapman terms the Jacobean Space Programme was grounded. - I don't think the author of this likes this Wilkins guy too much.
You can't handle the truth.
I wonder if the inventor had any idea how much black powder would have been required to lift even a moderately sized object into orbit? By my calculations, the energy released by the boosters would have atomized said flying machine, plus its unlucky passenger...
point of order: this story posting does not have a witty "from the...dept." tagline.