
Laser Powered Paper Plane Takes Flight 206
RobertTaylor writes: "Ananova is reporting that Japanese scientists have developed a laser powered paper plane. A blast of light from a commercial laser heats up a droplet of acrylic polymer or water on its surface which acts as fuel. Full story here" Nature also has a story on this advance.
Self Containment (Score:1)
I guess such things (plus their power sources) would be quite heavy and it would be impractical, but kind of nifty.
Re:Self Containment (Score:1)
Interesting Technology (Score:5, Funny)
Dont some airlines already do that though? Ie just dropping bits of its wings during flights. I wouldn't call it revolutionary, except in using a laser to do it rather than metal fatigue.
Re:Interesting Technology (Score:1)
No, no. It's luggage you're thinking of.
Raining Luggage. (Score:4, Funny)
1) A second terminal was added to a small airport and they needed to find a way to send bags to the correct terminal with minimal effort and cost. So a couple of maintainence staff scavenged a large piece of aircraft aluminum (essentially it was part of an airplane wing) and mounted it onto a swing arm so that it would divert luggage down one ramp or another as they approached.
In order to sort the luggage what they did was put a scanner ahead of the fork if a bag destined for a different terminal than the current path allowed headed down the ramp; the wing would swing to the other side of the conveyor.Well the problem was the staff had mistimed the gate. So a package would happily wander down the conveyor till it hit the sensor. The senor read the package's destination as the package continued along till about the time it came even with the tip of the wing being used a diverter. The wing would then finally move, late, crushing the bag against the far wall. When the next package came down destined for the now blocked path the wing would move freeing the first package (now headed down the wrong ramp) and crush the new package.
Changing the timing of the gate was a simple fix, but it was scary how long it had lasted before anyone bothered to get look into it.
2) Another example was at a modern large city airport. They had installed a super deluxe expensive baggage handling system with the usual barcode reading sorting machines to ensure luggage arrived at the correct gate.
My Uncle was called in to survey the problem that the airport was having(what the problem was they were being rather cagey about). When he arrived they lead him to the baggage sorting area where the system was currently turned off.
The airport rep handed my Uncle and his co-workers hardhats (never a good sign) and hit the start switch for the system. Klaxons and flashing lights then ensued. As the observers raised their eyebrows in question and concern, the first pieces of baggage started moving along on the upper wall conveyor heading for the gravity fed ramps to the individual gates.
As the baggage reached its designated gate a big push plate at the top of each ramp would shove the packages down the ramp. At first everything seems to be operating smoothly. But the force needed to propel a 50lb suitcase off a ledge and down a ramp is not the same as that needed for a 5lb vanity case. And in short order baggage was soaring through the air; sometimes clear passed the end of the baggage catches at the end of the ramps. Often bags tumbled even further off course.
Through all of this baggage handlers in hardhats are running across the open space of the sorting room in a crouched position trying not to get pummeled by ballistic luggage.
My Uncles company wrote up a proposal to fix the problem but the airport decided that it was too expensive and left the system as is. I never found out what airport it was, but my Uncle said that as of a few years ago the system was still operating the same way.
No wonder luggage gets destroyed or "lost" so frequently.
Re:Interesting Technology (Score:1)
Re:Interesting Technology (Score:1, Troll)
Re:Interesting Technology (Score:2)
Re:Interesting Technology (Score:1)
It's not flying... (Score:1)
And it is made of aluminum foil, not paper...
Re:It's not flying... (Score:2)
Livin' it up when I'm goin' down
Hit in the ass by a laser
Lovin' it up 'til I hit the ground
- Aerosmith
Re:It's not flying... (Score:1)
Lift is produced (this is simplified, but run with this for now) by pressure diffential--lower pressure above the wing or rotor.
By this definition, airplanes, gliders, and helicopters fly. Rocket ships do not--they are simply thrusted into space. Hot-air Balloons are likewise held up by the conversion of chemical potential energy to heat.
Paper airplanes fly if their wings produce a reasonable amount of lift. Most do, and I suspect that our Japanese plane produces quite a bit in order to stay airborne. A crumpled up piece of paper produces next to zero lift.. it's ability to sail through the air is, again, based on thrust.. the conversion of chemical energy (hamburgers) into kinetic energy via your arm. it will otherwise more or less follow a classic newtonian parabola.
- certified flight instructor / instrument instructor / multiengine instructor / airline transport pilot
Re:It's not flying... (Score:1)
Hope my thoughts are clear. It's about time to get another cup of coffee.
propulsion in flight (Score:2)
Re:propulsion in flight (Score:1)
Re:propulsion in flight (Score:1)
I really don't think that the amount of power needed to activate a chain of extremely high powered laser's from say LAX to Midway, would be all that more efficent, let alone for intercontenental flights. And I really don't see the other nations of the world liking someone putting a high powered laser into space.
And lastly, the plane was made out of aluminum foil, I'm guessing for two reason's, one, it's rather light weight, and two, it won't burn when hit with the laser. How much of the acrylic polymer feul is going to be needed to power an actual plane, and how big of a laser is going to be needed to get this thing to lift off. You'll note that the picture shows the plane just launching off of the pedistool, then falling.
Re:propulsion in flight (Score:2)
Something else like this. (Score:5, Informative)
Here's [spacedaily.com] a link to an article about it.
Re:Something else like this. (Score:1)
Re:Something else like this. (Score:2)
And that is how many decameters? Suddenly, Pluto seems so close.
I always dreamed of shooting my water powered rocket I had when I was in 3rd grade into space... it went 40 feet into the air, plus a few. But I accidentally launched my "research" into the lake (a primary fuel source) and it sunk out to far for me to retrieve.
My guess is if I had a laser at that age I could have cooked off one of my fingers... er... I mean gotten it up to 50 feet... easy.
Re:Something else like this. (Score:1, Flamebait)
Instead of using our working technology to get into space, lets use a metal disk and try to get into space!
Re:Something else like this. (Score:1)
Re:Something else like this. (Score:4, Funny)
Why does it remind me that kind of travel method when in cartoons someone gets a pin in the ass which gives him perpetual energy and he goes up until he gets the pin out of his ass?
Re:Something else like this. (Score:1)
Now the idea is to mount a different kind of solid burner on the rocket, one that is self distinquishing, meaning as soon you take away a heat source it distinquishes. Now on ground you have a huge laser with a far edged focus, which can be used to burn the solid fuel, this laser can be turned on and off, and used to steer the rocket up into orbit.
Re:Something else like this. (Score:2)
Actually you can steer with a solid burner. The nozzles on the shuttle motors have a flex bearing which is a bunch of layers of rubber and metal sanwiched together. The nozzle can then be pointed in different directions. So you can use it to both steer and stabalize. You just can't turn it off once it is on.
Yes, I spent a year as a contractor at Thiokol. Yes, the tour was very cool. It was even better than the Mercedes Benz tour.
Re:Something else like this. (Score:2, Interesting)
I took one of Myrabo's classes... (Score:2)
Re:Something else like this. (Score:1)
-snip-
>alternative to space travel
-snip-
>The air would get so hot that it would "ignite"
-snip-
How does firing a laser to ignite the *air* keep you going once you leave our atmosphere? (Which is sort of required to consider this "space travel".)
OK, so maybe it moves you fast enough to escape our gravity and just keep going. But then what?
Unless you're packing something else along, this is a one-way ticket straight off to who-knows-where. Any volunteers?
I think I've heard this one before. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:3, Interesting)
Well... almost.
You can make an airplane that works this way: it sucks in cool air, a laser provides power to heat the air, the hot air jets out the back of the airplane engine and makes the plane go. The plane pushes itself along using air. We can call the air "reaction mass".
If you want to power a spacecraft with lasers, you need to do pretty much the same thing. However, in space you cannot suck in cool air, so you need to carry some other sort of reaction mass to jet out the back of the rocket. The laser provides energy to accelerate the reaction mass.
But the best, most practical application of lasers to transportation would be to make a vehicle that goes to space, using the airplane trick to get the vehicle started and then switching over at some point to more conventional rockets. As long as the laser is working and you can suck in cool air, you can jet out hot air and get some lift. This would mean your vehicle can carry less fuel and still reach orbit.
None of these will happen this year or next year.
steveha
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:2)
Anyways, a space vehicle can actually be propelled by light alone (no reaction mass needed - Solar sail [nasa.gov]).
This is due to the fact that light actually exerts pressure on any surface it shines on (altough very little) - thus, the idea is to deploy a big sail in a spaceship (in space, not inside the atmosphere) and use the pressure of solar radiation to propel it.
Due to the fact that the pressure per unit of area is proportional to the intensity of the light (Formulas for the mathematical inclined [byu.edu]), a (really powerfull) laser can be used to provide a significant boost to said solar sail, with a much smaller decrease of the radiation intensity versus distance than the one you get from the sun's radiation (ie when the ship gets to Pluto, the Sun's radiation is very weak, while the laser's is still strong).
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:1)
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:1)
Not so. In space, you can set up a huge 'solar' sail and the impact of the photons from the laser provides the thrust without requiring the vehicle to lose mass. The problem is keeping a coherent enough beam back home to provide thrust at light-minute ranges.
Fictional applications of this include the "Crazy Eddie Drive" from The Mote in God's Eye, and the beam rider ships in Tron.
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:2)
He's probably thinking about a light pressure drive, where you basically use a big damn sheet of mirrored plastic and just shine a laser at it, using the miniscule pressure of the photons (but you make it up in volume! volume! volume!) to push the ship.
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:1)
That's actually nothing new. You beam a laser at the craft, the craft harvests the energy in the laser, and accelerates in millions of different directions. The beatiful part are those flashes of light. It's nothing new, every sci-fi movie has lots of it.
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:1)
Man, you're cranky.
Re:I think I've heard this one before. (Score:2)
Go read some of Robert Forward's books (Indistinguishable from Magic is more science than SF; Dragonfly is more SF than science) for some examples of solar/light sails and possible usage. A terawatt microwave laser could push a 16 gram lightsail craft up to ~0.3C in about a month, and using tacking you could even have it come back home instead of just having it transmit data.
Still classify as origami (Score:1, Offtopic)
Lazer + Paper plane? (Score:1)
Further examination (Score:1)
" Laser powers 'paper plane'
Japanese scientists have developed a laser powered paper plane."
"The tiny plane is just a few centimetres across and made from folded aluminium foil."
Hmm...
"Paper" plane? (Score:1)
Can you really call it a "paper" plane if it's made out of aluminium foil?
Yes (Score:3, Funny)
Only if it's aluminum paper.
Re:Yes (Score:2)
would be cooler (Score:2)
Re:would be cooler (Score:2)
The neat thing about this is that the energy souce isn't present on the craft; it exists back on the ground.
How lame is this? (Score:1)
This is like saying that an arm-launched paper plane will someday navigate a volcano, powered only by passengers who will tear off fragments of the wing to control it's direction.
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
An army of rescue workers has descended on the scene and is engaged in what has been described as "52 pick-up, one thousand times over."
SEC officials are looking into massive short-selling of United States Playing Card Company [usplayingcard.com] and Hammermill [hammermill.com] stock in the two days prior to the incident.
Re:In other news... (Score:2)
Fuel... A nit to pick (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, it's be reaction mass, not fuel. The water/polymer itself isn't releasing energy to propel the plane. The laser provides the energy to power a state change (liquid to gas) which pushes the sucker along.
I think the "fuel" (liquid cessium??) in an ion engine is the same way, providing reaction mass while the real energy is from the electrical source.
Re:Fuel... A nit to pick (Score:1)
Water as fuel (OT) (Score:2)
*GRIN*
Re:Water as fuel (OT) (Score:2)
I'll give you the technology right now: hype + vapor. It was also used to fuel many dot-coms.
Theres fuel, then there's fuel (Score:1)
1. Something consumed to produce energy.
So the water is Fuel,
1: lazer hits water, (the lazer is already energy!)
2: Potential level of the water rises,
3: Water turns to vapor and
4: pushes the plane along
the 2->3 potential/reaction mass is the fuel being used here.
Re:Theres fuel, then there's fuel (Score:1)
Again, I understand where you're coming from, but it all depends on your definition, which in turn depends on your viewpoint (and, no, I'm not going to dust off my copy of Websters on this one).
...and I did warn everyone in the title that it was a "nit" to begin with. ;)
Re:Fuel... A nit to pick (Score:1)
So... The fuel is simply coal in the power plant? So someone invented a coal-powered machine? So the headline should be Coal Powered Paper Plane Takes Flight? Wow, how futuristic idea! :)
Disquieting elements (Score:1)
It's unnerving enough to consider flying on a craft that being shot at. Especially in light of the comment in the article about bits of the wing being shot off to guide flight.
But what really worries me is this quote from the nature article:
Forget about the inevitable nutcase X-files type eferences; I'm not ever planning on boarding a Flying AOL disc .
And you can quote me on that.
Easier method (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Easier method (Score:2)
Read the story (Score:2)
I developed one of these also. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I developed one of these also. (Score:2)
Re:I developed one of these also. (Score:1)
Needless to say, I suspended test flights do to saftey concerns after shooting out the tire of my Nova.
Re:I developed one of these also. (Score:2, Funny)
Would you like your funding grant with, or without (an) honory PhD(s) from accredited institutions?
Would you like to purchase an Order of the British Empire for just £49.95? If not, is it because you hate the limeys/pommies or because you dislike the (E/I)nglish?
Would you like your name on Sunset Boulevard? Shall mere human beings be allowed to walk over it? With their _shoes on_?
How many Nobel Prizes would you like? Also, please specify the prize catagory and the amount of baseless hype you would like to recieve from Scientific American and/or News of the World.
Would you like any celestial bodies named after you? If so please choose: a.) Large supergiant that is about to become a humanity-destroying supernova b.) Massive, irregulary shaped asteroid that has a 20 km radius, a density of 50 g/cm, a velocity of 80 km/s and is about to impact with a major capital city c.) cute looking constellation that palm readers say will bring you good luck and virality.
Would you like any horrible diseases named after you? If so, please chose: a.) Ebola b.) HIV c.) BSE d.) Yet undiscovered genital rash.
Would you like any famous equations named after you? If so, please specify: a.) t = $ b.) t = c. t = ¥ d. t = £ e. t = 0!
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We thank you for your cooperation. Please post this to office #5835327.953A of the department of administrative affairs. Please allow between 10^5 and 10^6 years for a reply, since at the moment we have a shortage of office space and mindless office drones.
zerg (Score:2)
Am I the only person who read the blurb and blurted out "What the flying fuck?!"?
Re:zerg (Score:2)
Re:zerg (Score:2)
Followup story... (Score:1)
An experiment with using laser propulsion on aircraft saw a serious setback today.
The experiment involves using a laser to heat up a droplet of water on the surface of the aircraft. The conversion of the water to a gas is what drives the aircraft.
But today the prototype aircraft was destroyed.
"We fired the laser and POOF, the airplane went up in a puff of smoke!" said the aircraft's chief designer, Takashi Yabe.
Traditionally, lasers have been associated with shooting aircraft down, but this research is attempting to prove that they can be used to propel them as well.
"Unfortunately, today, we managed to prove that lasers really can be used to shoot airplanes down. At least paper ones!" Yabe said.
The researchers are all set to try again. "Whoever decided that we should use paper was obviously a moron", Yabe said, but the other researchers only nodded and Yabe turned red with embarrassment immediately after saying that.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense had no comment on today's incident, but word from our sources is that the President will attempt to convince Russia and Europe to start building airplanes out of paper sometime this week.
Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle in "Footfall"... (Score:2)
It also talks about using something else, but don't want to give away the cool ending...;)
Re:Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle in "Footfall"... (Score:2)
Re:Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle in "Footfall"... (Score:1)
And, a short story (unfortunately I can't remember the title) about the first Kzinti invasion has reference to a light-powered spacecraft which uses its engine as a weapon.
And when the laser misses? (Score:1)
Commercial applications (Score:2)
Re:Commercial applications (Score:2)
Maybe it's just me but ...
They are now looking at ways of using the laser to power its direction by, for instance, blasting off parts of the wings.
I really don't know if I'd want to fly on one of these ... chunks of planes with blasted off parts just doesn't seem right ...
Re:Commercial applications (Score:1)
Of course it's not right. You need to blast off pieces of aircraft left, right and centre to maintain balance and stability.
Laser powered airplanes... (Score:2, Funny)
I have discovered that if I strap wings on my dog and shoot him with a high-powered laser, he will heat up and fly around my backyard as well.
Cheers,
In other news....... (Score:1)
November 13, 2013
Today, the new laser powered Concorde XIII crashed during it's maiden voyage over Scotland when a very large cloud came in between the ground-based laser beam power source and the craft, resulting in a total loss of propulsion. No survivors have been reported at this time.
Oh my... (Score:1)
Two months earlier... (Score:1)
2002-04-24 04:19:23 Jet of future powered by water? (articles,science) (rejected)
Oh well...
Excuses? (Score:1)
Look, I tried that excuse in junior high and it still didn't save me from getting detention for throwing paper airplanes.
Umm... (Score:1, Funny)
Theres something fishy about this paper plane, but I just cant put my finger on it...
"Do you MOCK me, sir?"
Re:Umm... (Score:2)
Maybe that's their next project.
Re:Umm... (Score:1)
Radiometer (Score:1)
If they coated the underside (or rear) of this plane with that stuff, wouldn't that cause the same effect and also allow for extra thrust during flight by zapping it again with more radiation?
Re:Radiometer (Score:2)
Been there done that (Score:1)
These remain powered in flight. AND these are also commercially available and far cheaper than the Japanese solution.
Laser Powered Cell Phone (Score:1)
Re:Laser Powered Cell Phone (Score:1)
Re:Laser Powered Cell Phone (Score:1)
Why do I have a feeling.... (Score:1, Funny)
Flying ? (Score:1)
Misnomer! (Score:1)
no more made from paper than your typical 747.
In fact it's made from the same stuff as a 747 -
aluminium. I think it would be much more fun to
run the experiment with paper. That way it would
be a Flaming Laser Powered Paper Plane.
Lightcrafts are old (Score:2, Informative)
Why isn't Lightcraft Technologies [lightcraft...logies.com] discussed here?
Look in Google groups after e.g. 'Leik Myrabo' or 'lightcraft'.
It seems they never got enough money to get off the ground. :-(
Beat the aliens! (Score:1)
Human pilot: "I can't shake them loose, they're going too fast for us!"
Alien pilot: "I shoot this laser straight through his ship!"
<<<ZOT>>>
Human pilot: "Turbospeed! Thank you, come again!" and flies off, delivering the nuke to the alien mothership.
Same idea, but without the laser... (Score:4, Interesting)
Many, many, moons ago I got a job working here [ox.ac.uk] while I was doing my A levels and one of the things that they where working on was propulsion systems for extremely high speed planes. If my memory serves me (which is not guaranteed cos I was only humble code monkey and not privee to the finer arts of engineering theory and it was a long time ago), then they where planning to use conventional propulsion methods up to their maximum effective threshold and then start spraying fuel onto the trailing edge of the wings directly, which due to the intense heat and pressure due to the (already quite unfeasibly high) speed would spontaneously ignite thereby generating more thrust without all the hassles of trying to force an extremely unpredictable fluid down a tube at high speed. Absolutely no idea of whether or not they made any progress on this or whether or not I would be prepared to fly in one if they did...
commercial laser? (Score:1)
it's been done years ago already with communist
lasers, but this is the first time it's been done
with a commercial laser?
leeetle teeeny weeeny volcanos? (Score:1)
Huh? Does Japan have little teeeny volcanos?
Exactly how does an aluminum foil origami project, launched with less energy than a finger flick, somehow scale into a volcano exploration vehicle?
Is it just me... (Score:1)
Re:schwul (Score:1)
Re:This doesn't solve anything... (Score:1)
Why do these people think anyone gives a fuck about the majority of the worthless scum that inhabits this earth? We just want laser powered ANYTHING dammit. We remember laser tag. We remember buck rogers. We want lasers and we want them now.
The sooner we can toast some third world excuse for humanity, the better. Then snivelling fools like this won't have any more sob stories to take up our bandwidth.
Lasers = no population problem.
Re:The future, a sci-fi branch off... (Score:1)
Your current status under U.S. law is "enemy combatant." Secret evidence, which you will never see nor be able to challenge, is being compiled even as you wet your pants in fear. Start packing for Camp X-Ray, you freedom-hating AC!