40 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
40 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
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| File Name : AIRSPIKE.ASC | Online Date : 05/22/95 |
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| Contributed by : Bruce Welsh | Dir Category : ENERGY |
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| From : KeelyNet BBS | DataLine : (214) 324-3501 |
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| A FREE Alternative Sciences BBS sponsored by Vanguard Sciences |
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| KeelyNet * PO BOX 870716 * Mesquite, Texas * USA * 75187 |
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| Voice/FAX : (214) 324-8741 InterNet - keelynet@ix.netcom.com |
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| WWW sites - http://www.eskimo.com/~billb & http://www.protree.com |
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From the May 22, 1995 Business Week.
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Energy Beams Could Really Cut your Commute
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It looks more like a flying saucer than a sleek spaceship. It will be powered
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by silent microwave beams instead of roaring rockets. And its airframe is
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essentially a helium-filled dirigible. Despite these unconventional features,
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the aero-space craft being developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute isn't
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mere science fiction.
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Last Month, Rensselaer's "air spike" propulsion system passed a Mach 10 wind-
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tunnel test with flying colors. That's only half the speed needed to get into
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space, but Leik N. Myrabo, the RPI associate professor of mechanical
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engineering who heads the research team, is confident the principle is valid
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for craft that could ferry tourists to the moon in six hours - or business
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travelers from New York to Singapore in 45 minutes.
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The air-spike system works by funneling microwave energy to a spikelike
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antenna. Its tip generates shock waves that blast away the air in front of
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the saucer, creating lift to suck the airframe forward. But the real action
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comes when the shock waves collapse back around the rim of the saucer,
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forceing hypersonic air into the intakes of a special jet engine.
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No heavy fuel is carried because the jet burns electricity - beamed in as
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microwaves from high-power transmitters on the ground OR IN SPACE. If the
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wind tunnel results at RPI attract more funding, says Myrabo, 21st century
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travelers may literally ride on energy-beam highways in the sky.
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As Bruce points out, "How can this work in space with NO AIR?"....>>> Jerry
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