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First Ever Plane With No Moving Parts Takes Flight (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The first ever "solid state" plane, with no moving parts in its propulsion system, has successfully flown for a distance of 60 meters, proving that heavier-than-air flight is possible without jets or propellers. The flight represents a breakthrough in "ionic wind" technology, which uses a powerful electric field to generate charged nitrogen ions, which are then expelled from the back of the aircraft, generating thrust. Steven Barrett, an aeronautics professor at MIT and the lead author of the study published in the journal Nature, said the inspiration for the project came straight from the science fiction of his childhood.
In the prototype plane, wires at the leading edge of the wing have 600 watts of electrical power pumped through them at 40,000 volts. This is enough to induce "electron cascades", ultimately charging air molecules near the wire. Those charged molecules then flow along the electrical field towards a second wire at the back of the wing, bumping into neutral air molecules on the way, and imparting energy to them. Those neutral air molecules then stream out of the back of the plane, providing thrust. The end result is a propulsion system that is entirely electrically powered, almost silent, and with a thrust-to-power ratio comparable to that achieved by conventional systems such as jet engines. "I was a big fan of Star Trek, and at that point I thought that the future looked like it should be planes that fly silently, with no moving parts -- and maybe have a blue glow," said Barrett. "But certainly no propellers or turbines or anything like that. So I started looking into what physics might make flight with no moving parts possible, and came across a concept known as the ionic wind, which was first investigated in the 1920s."
"This didn't make much progress in that time. It was looked at again in the 1950s, and researchers concluded that it couldn't work for aeroplanes. But I started looking into this and went through a period of about five years, working with a series of graduate students to improve fundamental understanding of how you could reduce ionic winds efficiently, and how that could be optimized."
In the prototype plane, wires at the leading edge of the wing have 600 watts of electrical power pumped through them at 40,000 volts. This is enough to induce "electron cascades", ultimately charging air molecules near the wire. Those charged molecules then flow along the electrical field towards a second wire at the back of the wing, bumping into neutral air molecules on the way, and imparting energy to them. Those neutral air molecules then stream out of the back of the plane, providing thrust. The end result is a propulsion system that is entirely electrically powered, almost silent, and with a thrust-to-power ratio comparable to that achieved by conventional systems such as jet engines. "I was a big fan of Star Trek, and at that point I thought that the future looked like it should be planes that fly silently, with no moving parts -- and maybe have a blue glow," said Barrett. "But certainly no propellers or turbines or anything like that. So I started looking into what physics might make flight with no moving parts possible, and came across a concept known as the ionic wind, which was first investigated in the 1920s."
"This didn't make much progress in that time. It was looked at again in the 1950s, and researchers concluded that it couldn't work for aeroplanes. But I started looking into this and went through a period of about five years, working with a series of graduate students to improve fundamental understanding of how you could reduce ionic winds efficiently, and how that could be optimized."
I've made many airplanes without moving parts. They're called paper airplanes.
In my dream world, this would be used to silently propel solar-powered zeppelins around the world. The zeppelin's buoyancy would support the weight of the batteries used for night-time propulsion.
Of course the problem with that is lithium batteries well-known flammability. But what's the odds of something going wrong with something a simple as a zeppelin?
Because their air cleaners were the first thing I thought of.
Batteries will get lighter, but no where near enough to give this plane a practical payload or range.
which one of Nostradamus' quatrains did you get that from?
"The order is: engage the silent drive." --Captain Marko Ramius
A Merry Christmas, indeed!
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
GP is probably not APK. The post follows ZIPs posting pattern as he tries to troll APK.
As for APK himself, you should stop worrying so much about the "arbitrary" nature of the blacklist and its so-called "crap" and instead promote APK. Why? He cares a great deal about us, and his software actually works quite well.
It is probably a faker hurling insults at you. APK himself is too great a man to lower himself to such nonsense.
Please support him and his efforts. We all need to turn Slashdot into a sanctuary for APK, as well as a platform to promote his efforts.
He is the ONLY person that matters. He is the only news.
ALL HAIL APK