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- When I was in High School I remember being excited about a car that could fly. It was in the Popular Science magazine as the “Aerocar“. I was certain my Dad would buy one. It solves all your transportation needs in one vehicle. I guess the $300,000 price tag was a bit too much. But, in 1956 the US Civil Aeronautics Administration certified the car as fit to fly. Only 6 were built.
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- Other flying cars included the “Transition” built by Terrafugia ,Woburn, Mass. foldable wings aircraft , carries 2 people, requires a conventional airport for takeoffs and landings.
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- PAL-V-ONE built in the Netherlands needs only 650 feet of runway. It is a cross between a 3 wheeler and a helicopter. Rear mounted propeller and rotor on top for lift. Both aircraft cruise about 100 knots and fly 450 miles on a tank of gas.
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- Flying cars are one thing, but flying drivers that are not pilots are another thing. It is just too dangerous. However, if the flying vehicles were drones we could safely put all commuter traffic airborne. There would be a drone in every driveway.
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- Drones have enough smarts to safely go wherever they are commanded. With proper programming drones could respond to emergencies on their own. Google has a robotic car. The same principles apply. A car that drives and flies itself may be the safe transportation of the future.
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- Communication networks and robust autonomous flight controls will be needed to guide flying cars along their airborne routes.
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- Today’s military experience with controlling the operations of drones around the globe will provide a model for personal air travel.
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- In 2010 the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency started “Transformer“, a 4-person road worthy vertical takeoff vehicle that a typical soldier could operate with no aviation experience.
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- Science now has a “conservation drone” used to track orangutans in Sumatra. The autonomous plane , 4.5 foot wing span, uses GPS to fly preprogrammed routes and bring back remarkably detailed pictures. Cost is less than $2,000. The program was so successful the Swiss start-up company that built it was asked to build 20 more drones.
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- The Predator military drone is already being used to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. The mission is fast expanding to nab polluters, inspect drilling rigs, making stunning movies for Hollywood. University of Nebraska is experimenting with drones used for journalism.
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- The U.S. Department of Interior has 60 Raven planes, 4.8 pounds apiece, to observe roosting sand hill cranes, measuring stream temperatures, measuring sediment flows. Drones tell farmers when crops need water and which areas. They could chart oil spills, report traffic conditions.
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- The FAA has banned commercial use of drones . The FAA today only allows hobbyists, government agencies and researchers to use this technology. 2015 is the projected year that restrictions will be adequate to allow commercial applications. Lot’s of debate is needed regarding safety, ethics, privacy,, etc, in a rapidly changing world.
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- There is a different set of rules for launching people into space. Here the commercial sector is taking over from the government. NASA is retiring its mission. SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk ( see Review # 1313 on Elon’s biography). Elon was born is South Africa, became an American citizen and started PayPal in 1998. He also started Tesla Motors electric car company and Solar City, a solar panel company.
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- Space X has proven a successful delivery of supplies to the International Space Station in May 2012. The commercial company is contracted by NASA to perform 12 of these missions in the next 3 years for $1,600,000,000. Which is much cheaper than the government could do with the Shuttle. Space X hopes to have a Mars mission by 2018.
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- Space X is far from alone in commercializing space travel. Robert Bigelow who got his fortune from Budget Suites Hotels is spending $3 billion to develop inflatable space modules. Residential modules that will be used in space tourism, space science, and space mining. Two of these “ Genesis” modules are orbiting Earth today. They are unmanned during tests. Powered by solar cells. Manned mission are expected in 2016.
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- Larry Page, co-founder of Google, is investing in “Planetary Resources“, robotic spacecraft to mine asteroids for vital resources and return them to Earth. Within 10 years NASA plans to land on an asteroid to collect samples. Water found on asteroids will be collected and converted to oxygen-hydrogen rocket fuel. A single asteroid mining gold, platinum, rhodium, iridium, palladium could turn a profit of $7 trillion.
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- Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com is developing a reusable rocket booster that can return to Earth with a vertically powered landing. His company is called Blue Origin.
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- Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, is funding “Strato Launch Systems” that will use rocket launches from a giant airplane having a 384 feet wing span lifting 6 ½ tons of rocket.
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- Sierra Nevada Corporation is building the “Dream Chaser” space shuttle to deliver astronauts to the Space Station and return landing on commercial runways starting in 2015.
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- “Orbital Science Corporation” launches its Pegasus rockets to put satellites in orbit from a carrier aircraft that is flying at 40,000 feet. It puts 5 ½ tons in low Earth orbit.
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- Amazing, from Aerocars to Dream Chaser shuttles in 50 years. Announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email upon request. Some reviews are at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ---- “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, -- 707-536-3272 Wednesday, January 16, 2013
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