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"No one has ever produced a statement of fact that was technically true. The most accurate statements of science we have today are accurate to only 15 decimal places."
- Bart Kosko
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| Solar-Powered Aircraft | ||
| A plane powered entirely by solar energy. |
I don't know who first thought of powering an aircraft with solar energy alone; as far as I know, working models didn't appear until the 1970's. So, this is a fairly early mention of the idea.
| "Dad, I believe that you have been trying to develop a successful solar engine. One that could be placed in the wings of a plane to generate power from the light falling on that surface..."
"...the one big trouble with all solar engines, eliminating the obvious restriction that they decidedly aren't dependable for night work, is the difficulty of getting an area to absorb the energy. |
| Technovelgy from The Black Star Passes,
by John W. Campbell. Published by Amazing Stories in 1930 Additional resources -
|
The brothers Albert and Gaston Tissandier developed the first electrically propelled dirigible, first flown in 1883.
(Image: Library of Congress)
Compare to the electric plane from Synthetic (1930) by Charles Cloukey.
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More Ideas
and Technology from The Black Star Passes
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and Technology by John W. Campbell
Tech news articles related to The Black Star Passes
Tech news articles related to works by John W. Campbell
Solar-Powered Aircraft-related
news articles:
- Solar-Powered Aircraft In Fact and Fiction
- Solar Impulse HB-SIA Solar-Powered Plane Tested
- Electric Jet Planes With Superconducting Generators
- Solar Impulse Solar-Powered PlaneFlies!
- Solar Impulse Completes Night Flight
- VoltAir Electric Aircraft Concept
- Transcontinental Flight By Solar-Powered Plane
- Airbus E-Fan All-Electric Plane Now Ready
- Caihong Solar-Powered Drone 'Atmospheric Satellite'
- easyJet Short-Haul Electric Jets
- HVSD, Kitty Hawk's Electric Plane
| Tornyol Microdrone Kills Mosquitoes |
| PLATO Spacecraft, Hunter Of Habitable Planets, Now Ready |
| Did The Yautja Have These First? |
| Jetson ONE Air Races Begin, Can Air Polo Be Far Behind? |
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'The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across rough terrain.'
'The real border was defended by... a swarm of quasi-independent aerostats.'
'I ... set my automatic astronomical instruments to searching for a habitable planet.'
'...haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?'
'... oblongs were all over the floor and surfaces.'
