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Spider-Like Catamaran Travels 5,000 Miles On One Tank
Lucas123 writes "Proteus, a Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel that looks like a spider, is so fuel efficient that it can travel 5,000 miles on one load of diesel fuel. The 100-foot-long, 50-foot-wide boat rides on metal and fabric pontoons that have hinges and shock absorbers to flex with the motion of the waves, which helps it to skim over the water at a max speed of 30 knots. It made its debut yesterday in New York harbor."
How big is the tank?
The article says it can travel "farther than across the Atlantic -- on one load of diesel fuel." Er... Isn't this true of most vessels crossing the Atlantic? (Especially ones like, say, the Mayflower?)
The North Atlantic is not a nice place to be in a storm.
Manufacturing is overrated.
..." trumps "Made in ..." any day.
"Designed in
People think heavy cars are safer because heavy cars are safer. Sometimes people are right.
Depends on circumstances. A heavy car going a given speed has a lot more energy than a light car moving the same speed.
If you have two heavy vehicles that collide head-on, there's a lot more energy being dissipated in the collision than two light vehicles. Think two train locomotives vs. two bicycles.
It's true that generally speaking a collision between a light vehicle and a heavy vehicle generally results in more damage to the light vehicle...but that could just as easily be seen as a reason to get the heavy vehicles off the road so that the lighter vehicles are safer.
"Proteus, a Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel that looks like a spider, is so fuel efficient that it can travel 5,000 miles on one load of diesel fuel.
Feh. Big deal. A 747 can go 7,260 nautical miles on one load of fuel.
The Space Shuttle can get into ORBIT on one load of fuel.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Light cars have the advantage of handling and braking better than heavy cars (all other things being equal). That's a big +2 for safety for all you keeping track at home, it also 'counts' way more frequently (how many times a year do you swerve or stomp on the brakes, vs how many catastrophic head-on collisions per year).
Mass is a penalty in almost every situation, the only exception I can think of being impact with a less heavy vehicle. It's unfortunate that some think this outweighs all the other benefits to low mass vehicles.
I dream of a day when I can buy a sporty 2000lb or less car that's not an Elise or a homebuilt.
Sailboats get infinite miles to the gallon, can go three times around the globe without stopping to restock on food, and the technology's been avalible for over a thousand years. As late as the 80's people were circumnavigating the globe in wooden boats without engines (see the book Cruising in Seraphim).
moox. for a new generation.