A Gravity Powered Plane
In an effort to create a truly zero-emissions vehicle, Nevada-based Hunt Aviation is exploring ways to use gravity as a powersource– for an airplane:
In order for the GravityPlane to become airborne, gas bags inside a pair of rigid, zeppelin-like structures are filled with helium from storage tanks inside the vehicle. This causes the aircraft to become lighter-than-air, and it rises from the ground. Compressed-air jets on the sides of the craft add further propulsion, pushing the vehicle skyward and decreasing the craft’s overall weight by releasing the stored air which acts as ballast. Once the craft reaches the altitude where the helium is no longer lighter than the surrounding air– theoretically as high as ten miles up– it is unable to climb any further. Some of the stored compressed air is then expanded into the dirigible areas, decreasing the buoyancy effect of the helium and starting the aircraft’s descent phase.
Hunt Aviation has a video explaining the concept of how the plane works. On one level it’s a simple idea– combining lighter-than-air technology to get the vehicle aloft and then gliding from extreme height to the destination. But the devil, as they say, is in the details, and the video reveals the technical complexity that is often involved in implementing a "simple" idea.
Commenters at this blog were relatively unimpressed by the concept. What do you think?
