flying saucers go into production.picture added.

[TITAN1833]

this is cool USA company moller international.has anounced a two seater flying saucer,which will glide 3 mtr above the ground,travel at 50mph and will travel over any surface.price is expected to be around £45.000.wow how cool is that.anyone else seen it yet.:twothumbs:thanks:i wish!!

oh it's the size of a small car.

 

[Flying Turtle]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.

I wonder if they've given up on the Moller "Skycar" they've been working on for years. I never really thought the idea would fly.

Geoff

 

[Marduke]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

This is based off a vehicle he designed and tested back in the 1970's. Essentially it's a stepping stone using intermediate technology so they can get funding to continue the more expensive work on the skycar series.

Old:
http://www.moller.com/xm4.htm

New:
http://www.moller.com/m200.htm

 

[TITAN1833]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

removed in the interest.CPF and myself.

 

[Kiessling]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

Please do not use this thread or CPF for personal battles, justified or not. Either contact administration or use the Underground.
Thanx.
bernie

 

[jtr1962]

I honestly doubt the Skycar concept will come to pass, at least for the masses. Right now it appears that we're just beginning to get more serious about moving to a non-fossil fuel transportation system. By the time the Skycar's bugs are worked out (I'd say that won't be for a good 20 years, if not longer), we'll have moved to mostly EVs. I don't think batteries will be light enough, or with enough energy density, to make electric flying cars practical. That means you're back to the internal combustion engine with its attendent high fuel costs, emissions, etc. That might be OK if the Skycar remains a niche vehicle. It won't fly (no pun intended) if it's mass produced. Besides that, I doubt that it can ever be produced cheaply enough to compete with autos. And you'll need some sort of highly complex, foolproof, centralized computer system to control these things. Even Moller himself said that. There's no way masses of flying cars under human control would ever work. Most people can't even safely operate in two dimensions, let alone three.

All that said, hats off to Moller for at least trying to do something different. Bits and pieces of Skycar technology will undoubtably prove useful. And I can easily see Skycars being used for things like law enforcement or emergency services.

 

[TITAN1833]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

Please do not use this thread or CPF for personal battles, justified or not. Either contact administration or use the Underground.
Thanx.
bernie

point one.i do not use CPF for battles,and yes i will take it underground.regards john

 

[Kiessling]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

jtr1962 ... why do you do this? Finally I see something innovative, something pushing a frontier, some out of the box thinking ... and you bring reality into the game? :whooping:

I wouldn't disregard that concept. Imagine plans that include power cable like electric trains use nowadays ... then you could travel through any terraiin without building streets and tunnels ny just having a power cord and connected flying saucers.
I like that thought

bernie

 

[jtr1962]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

I wouldn't disregard that concept. Imagine plans that include power cable like electric trains use nowadays ... then you could travel through any terraiin without building streets and tunnels ny just having a power cord and connected flying saucers.
I like that thought

Actually, something like that could work. Not with cords, but maybe by beaming microwaves up to a receiver on the bottom of the Skycar. Now how to do it without cooking the Skycar occupants, that's another story.

Honestly, I think the Skycar is an interesting concept. It could get cars off our streets for good while still allowing the door-to-door convenience of auto travel. As a cyclist you have no idea how happy car-free streets would make me. I still think it might be a while though before we have the technology to make it work. Believe me, I sympathize with Moller. I've also thought of things which upon further examination just couldn't be made to work with today's technology.

 

[Mike Painter]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

jtr1962 ... why do you do this? Finally I see something innovative, something pushing a frontier, some out of the box thinking ... and you bring reality into the game? :whooping:

I wouldn't disregard that concept. Imagine plans that include power cable like electric trains use nowadays ... then you could travel through any terraiin without building streets and tunnels ny just having a power cord and connected flying saucers.
I like that thought

bernie

That concept was put forth in the 50's with Ground Effects Machines. That was when enegry was cheap and "To cheap to charge for" Nuclear power was just around he corner.
They are far more efficent than the saucer because of the skirting.

However the energy required to hold the thing in the air is huge. Building a road would be cheaper in the long run.
It's also why I use a hand cart rather than carry things.

Trivia question.
Because of their shape a boxes are far more efficient for storage than barrels.
They are also easier to build.
Why were barrels used so much in the past?

 

[jtr1962]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

Trivia question.
Because of their shape a boxes are far more efficient for storage than barrels.
They are also easier to build.
Why were barrels used so much in the past?

Because a round shape doesn't have any weak points whereas a box tends to bulge out in between the corners? This is especially important if you're storing something heavy like water or beer.

 

[Marduke]

And when you age wine or beer in barrels, the barrel can only be used once for that purpose. That left a lot of surplus on the market to transport with. Also, on a ship on a long voyage, when you get to your destination, you have a lot of empty barrels (waterproof) that work just fine to bring trade goods back with.

Anyhow, along with the skycar, they have working prototypes, they are just extremely expensive and hard to control at this point. It will be a long time before all the technology gets to where it needs to be, but I have no doubt that it will get there. One thing holding it up is that the autopilot necessary for thousands of otherwise untrained people to use this thing between buildings in cities requires an "imaginary" highway in the air, which must be surveyed and planned out. Essentially we have to build an entire imaginary road system in the sky for these type of vehicles in the future. China is in talks with Moller to help fund them because they are just starting to really develop into a modern country, and they are keen on the idea of skipping building physical roads in their back country and using this technology. The first uses are for police and air ambulances, then taxi's similar to the existing helicopter taxi service available in several big cities, such as Sao Paulo Brazil.

As for the fuel of vehicles like this in the future, if you look closely on their website, all of Moller's vehicles are flex fuel and can use pure alcohol if need be. As for batteries, it would be no trouble to replace the fuel tank with a battery pack, and the two rotary engines in each pod with an electric motor. As for the power, they just doubled the energy density of our current lithium-base technology using nanotechnology, which also means it can charge back up to almost full power in about 5 minutes. This means it now has just about the same potential as a tank of gas, and a refuel takes just about the same time.

http://www.a123systems.com/newsite/index.php#/technology/power/pchart5/
http://www.evworld.com/article.cfm?storyid=979

 

[Mike Painter]

Re: flying saucer's go into production.picture added.

Because a round shape doesn't have any weak points whereas a box tends to bulge out in between the corners? This is especially important if you're storing something heavy like water or beer.

The main reason is that barrels are easy to move. They roll and rolling resistance is much less than sliding or hand carrying.
There is a fairly easy to master way of gtting them up on end when you get there. Bassically you rock them back and forth a bit then use their inertia to get them up.

 

[Diesel_Bomber]

There's no way masses of flying cars under human control would ever work. Most people can't even safely operate in two dimensions, let alone three.

+10,000!

That was EXACTLY my first thought! :buddies:

 

[Marduke]

The idea is to take control out of the hands of the people and let the computer pilot the craft (at least for the "non-atv" models). The M200 is really just for fun, a high tech ATV. The other models are to be almost entirely computer controlled. Most people find the thought of a computer controlling their flight unnerving, but even now it's rather unusual for a pilot to land a commercial jet by the "seat of his pants", the old fashioned way without computer guidance. Most of your flight is autopilot, including much of the takeoff and landing.

 

[LukeA]

And, if something goes wrong you can't land safely without engine power like you can in a plane or a helicopter.

 

[Marduke]

The M200 (flying saucer) only flies 10ft high at best, which is not that big of a fall. The M400 has two engines per flight pod, that's 8 engines total, and is able to land safely with only 4. It also can be landed dead-stick (gliding, no power at all) if needed, and has an emergency parachute that will allow the entire craft to drift to the ground in an extreme emergency.