Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by J-dawg on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @09:37AM
(#13930750)
What if the jettisoned objects were autonomous aircraft that could land accurately at a specified location?
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Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by srssays on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @09:44AM
(#13930801)
A better idea would be to dig oil out of the ground, process it into kerosene, and use that to power jet turbines on the aircraft.
Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by J-dawg on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @01:59PM
(#13933170)
At some point we're going to need to stop doing that, hence the need for alternative ideas.
Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by nradov on Thursday March 23, 2017 @09:37AM
(#13939560)
If the goal is to reduce carbon emissions from aviation then a more viable approach would be to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuel as a biofuel or through artificial synthesis using electrical power from renewable sources. Barring a technology breakthrough, batteries will only be usable for the shortest flights.
Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by srssays on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @04:06PM
(#13934338)
Sure. How about LNG (liquid methane)? We have enough natural gas to last quite a while. In the far future, hopefully we will have mastered producing kerosene using algae.
Re:London-Paris electric flight 'in decade'
by tankenmate on Wednesday March 22, 2017 @05:02PM
(#13934918)
LNG tanks are far from lightweight; to keep LNG at room temperature is about 320 atmospheres of pressure. Liquid propane on the other hand is about 8 atmospheres. Mind you at altitude it's around -50 ~ -60 C, but that will only reduce the pressure requirements to approx 100 atm. Also, LNG has about 60% of the energy density of kerosene. SO to use LNG you'd be taking a double whammy, lower density and heavier tanks.