The problem with a battery powered plane is the low energy density of batteries. --- not to mention fire... haha.
“... how clean the environment would be of one day all planes flu by electric or solar power.”
Where is the electricity coming from?
The problem with a battery powered plane is the low energy density of batteries. --- not to mention fire... haha.
There are hydrogen peroxide and water rocket engines
but nothing electric that I know of yet. If they had
something like that, it would probably be applicable
to ocean vessels too.
Put a cattle prod to Elon Musk’s posterior, and you’ll see something moved at supersonic speed by electricity.
After his pneumatic tube shoots people from SF to LAX.
Is he driving a Tesla? Is he flying on his rocket? Is he using Google incognito?
It’s called gradiosity, imo. There is a lot of it going around in liberal and moderate circles.
Why not fight global hunger? Why not fight global disease?
No, he has other missions.
Some would say he is just part of a new wave of inventors, envelope-edge pushers, risk takers, .. considering his ventures, I would tend to agree that using any of them carries risk.
as for your wish for a cleaner environment, keep dreaming.
Man is a transient on this planet, not its master. not even of its climate.
(;^D)
Something of reasonable weight that produces the power of a small nuclear reactor.
Absolutely. But economically compared to hydrocarbon based fuel is a different question.
Even more, supersonic planes.
That is a far more complicated proposal to the first and far less likely to economical compared to hydrocarbon based fuel. I think we will see LNG planes somewhat commonly used before we see electric (battery) powered planes in non-subsidized commercial operation.
how much fuel we would save and how clean the environment would be of one day all planes flu by electric
Is that electricity that was first produced by another fuel in a thermal engine driving a steam turbine stored in batteries and converted back to electric power with all the inefficiencies of each stage? Without a significant change in technology, that won't be a fuel savings, just a relocation of the fuel spent, and more of it used.
or solar power
Save fuel, yes. Inefficient and therefore more expensive, also yes.
I wonder what would happen if an electric plane were to be struck by lightning.
With current technology, NO.
Plus it is an immensely bad idea.
Project Pluto was a better more feasible idea than this.
Technology that will evolve from rail guns and magnetic levitation trains would be my guess.
NO
Given the current state of battery technology, it is impossible. Without batteries for power, it would have to be powered by some yet-to-be-invented power source.
I came across an article in a Russian Aerospace mag some years ago, where they were also looking at this concept. I think the article made the additional claim that there were some stealth characteristics to the design.
Think of it as an airplane w/o an gas tanks. The benefits of not transporting the weight of an energy reserve would be huge!
Using energy to super heat the moisture of air into thrust or spinning many smaller turbines at high rpm might do it.
My battery RC aircraft outperform the gas planes hands down.
Yes, it is possible...someday!
“Control tower... we have a fire on board”