On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 10:44:55 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:
"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 4 Jul 2015 07:28:17 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:
"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 3 Jul 2015 17:42:48 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:
On Friday, July 3, 2015 at 1:52:29 PM UTC-4, Ed Huntress wrote:
I guess you are. Doing it on sunlight alone is a remarkable
technical
achievement.
--
Ed Huntress
So what are the technical advances? A new type of solar cell? A
new type of battery? A new material used in the frame or covering
of the aircraft?
The TV program I saw said it was a publicity stunt to promote
solar
cell useage. The big technical advance according to the TV was a
seat with a built in toilet.
I thought we already had solar powered drones that could remain
aloft for days.
Like that of the Wright brothers, the achievement of something
that
hadn't been done before.
--
Ed Huntress
Do you remember the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the
world? It wasn't that long ago.
Yes.
The longest refueled flight stayed in the air for two MONTHS.
http://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=16948
Whoopie!
Hardly anyone noticed the first commercial aircraft flight around
the
world:
http://blog.nasm.si.edu/aviation/dec...ercial-flight/
shrug
This is the sort of accomplishment that has real significance:
http://airminded.org/2009/10/23/the-great-air-race/
In what sense?
"Could any more striking contrast be imagined than the weariness and
exhaustion of Scott and Black and the pleasant excitement of
Parmentier's passengers, who flew in the world's most notable race
as
tourists?"
First place went to a custom British racer, second to a standard US
airliner which stopped for passengers. The DC-2 was an early version
of the classic DC-3, the 247D its similar Boeing competitor. The
British winner was made of wood.
One of the DNF competitors was the second person to solo the
Atlantic,
after Lindbergh. Do you know who?
Nope.
I ask to demonstrate how little it meant.
-jsw
This is a pretty good example of how I prefaced this thread. The
accomplishment is substantial -- flying that distance over water in
a
manned, heavier-than-air aircraft, powered by the sun alone, with
batteries that sustained flight throughout the night. That hasn't
been
done before, and it gives some perspective to the state of the art
in
solar power. That's more capability than most people would guess.
Now, if you want to do an engineering analysis of it, or to rate it
in
terms of what it portends for the futu The first is like
analyzing
an early helicopter flight. Of course it can be done. But it wasn't
until it was done. And the doing is the achievement. The engineering
is a sterile exercise until it's accomplished.
In terms of what it portends, remember that the first airplanes were
dismissed as impractical toys. We don't *know* what these things
portend. In this case, the influence will be a heightened sense of
what solar power can do -- which, of course, was the point of the
exercise.
But it's the doing that was the accomplishment.
--
Ed Huntress
Naturally a magazine writer needs to sell the sizzle rather than the
steak.
That's an ad copywriter. A good magazine writer gets the facts
straight and puts them in perspective.
And the perspective, in this case, is less a matter of engineering
than a matter of human accomplishment -- which is notable in this
case, and to most people, pretty damned impressive.
--
Ed Huntress