Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Wouldn’t it be more practical to use Lighter Than Air for that kind of journey?
The blimp could be covered with solar panel type skin as part of the structure.
Dr Piccard’s already done that, it turns out. He’s pressing the boundaries.
Here’s a possible use. Not for the plane, but for the technology.
Long Duration, High Altitude UAV.
What the H do you damn bubble-heads know anything about high altitudes?
Enough to know you can’t see us from up there….
besides, I’m just trying to support the Joint warfight here!!
It would be useful for that…and DARPA is already at work. Limited payload capacity, though – you’re basically talking a comm relay package.
And I’m not sure 25 kts will do. I’ve seen winds aloft above 50 kts occasionally af FL600.
What kind of platform took you to 60K? I’m thinking SR-71?
RQ-4A.
Well, there’s a great deal of interest in having long time of flight a/c specifically for comms relay. Think of it as a really low orbit satellite.
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For reference, U-2′s also ply their trade above FL600 and they’re still with us (for a bit longer).
- SJS
Yup. In theory, the RQ-4 should replace the U-2. I’m betting that it won’t. The systems are more complementary than people think.
Piccard? As in the US Navy bathyscaph TRIESTE? Go to the bottom of Challenger Deep Piccard? Does the man know no limits?
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I love the idea. I would also think that the military will have their eye on this one; a fuel-free reconnaisance drone would be a winner with the air force, especially if they can get it to go through the night on stored energy.
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