Posted on 05/27/2017 6:18:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The article is wrong about how conventional aircraft jet engines work. 80% or more of the thrust comes from a fan blowing air backwards. The jet engine simply drives that fan.
Moon base doesn't need missiles - just drop rocks down the gravity well (Hat tip to Robert A. Heinlein).
Start it out as a lighter than air dirigible, float it up high and fire the plasma jets, shrink the cross section diameter and deploy lift wings the faster it goes. When you want to land kill the jets, re-inflate and retract the wings, and float to the ground.
Freegards
Turbofans do not operate in the same airspace as turbojets— not for speed, nor for altitude.
For those curious, the technical paper is here:
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/825/1/012005/pdf
“maybe ‘beaming power wirelessly to the engines’.”
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
AND you should see the super sonic version, plus the hypersonic version is just around the corner, so to speak, just mind blowing what can be done with windmills - incredible!
Using the new hyperfusion generator
Right! I totally forgot about that marvelous invention in my excitement on learning the true potential of windmill power!
Re-inflate? How? It's not like a sub, where the buoyancy medium surrounds you and you can pump it in or out at will. A heat source for hot air, maybe?
I have no idea. I was just thinking about getting around the weight of the powerplant and probably a lot of Flash Gordon comics, ha.
Freegards
Yikes!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.