Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of...
by dreamcompiler on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @01:50PM
(#24710772)
It's not difficult to imagine in-flight recharging from something like a KC-135 running a big fat generator. If you're recharging capacitors, connect time would probably be a minute or two.
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Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of...
by Gh0stRAT on Wednesday October 07, 2020 @02:39PM
(#24711246)
I'm not so sure about that being an acceptable solution for civilian transportation… Even assuming automation can eliminate the risks and training overhead associated with in-flight refueling, there are still be some major hurdles that would need to be addressed before this could be considered a viable solution. The 3 big ones that come to mind are:
What happens if the KC-135 misses the rendezvous? What if the charging port fails to work for some reason? What about the carbon footprint of these airborne generators?
Plus, now you have the weight of the capacitors to carry around all the time, further reducing the effective payload.
Re:Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes triple the density of...
by tatersolid on Thursday October 08, 2020 @12:00AM
(#24715622)
> What happens if the KC-135 misses the rendezvous? What if the charging port fails to work for some reason?
The same thing that happens today with combustion aircraft: the crew makes an emergency landing if they can, or bails out and waits for a Seahawk to pick them up.
This actually happens with fuel-driven aircraft regularly today.