Introduction

[Eduardo Blomar 1679]

Much work is being done with developing a 'solar paint' that I believe will eliminate the need for 'panels'. The entire surface of the ship can be coated so that any area facing light will collect/convert it to energy.



There is also being developed lightweight cells embedded into thin plastic that can be unrolled like sheets of streamers below the ship to recharge batteries much quicker when necessary, then retracted back up into the ship.



One more mention.



When a Space Shuttle was working with a 'tethered object' that it was lowering into the atmosphere they found out that somehow electricity was being harnessed in the process and it fried out a bunch of stuff. Is it possible that this phenomena can be used...?



EB

[Doug]

The Electric Universe, is an interesting topic to search on YouTube.



I am sure we could reach the stars a whole lot quicker if we trusted each other and didn't enslave each other.



Peace

Doug

[cameron]

When a Space Shuttle was working with a 'tethered object' that it was lowering into the atmosphere they found out that somehow electricity was being harnessed in the process and it fried out a bunch of stuff. Is it possible that this phenomena can be used...?

Thanks again EB! I had forgotten about the tether experiment (https://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/wtether.html). It sounds like it could also raise the orbit of the ship. Definitely something to research more.



I'm also interested in a "solar fabric" that could be lighter than standard solar panels. The ship is currently so huge, the solar array (as drawn) covers 20 acres!

[cameron]

Finally completed the next changes for the ship. I'm calling this "version 3" of the Precariat.

• Made the cargo hold detachable.

• Added flaps, elevators, & rudders.

• Added ion-drives to the wing & tail edges.

• Added 27 merlin engines to the stern (equivalent to a falcon heavy).

• Removed the drag surfaces from the main fans.

• Re-shaped the hull where the front fans used to be.

• Re-shaped the "chin" to give more interior space & access to the cargo hold.

• Re-shaped the stern (the original mesh was a mess)

• Added a freight elevator & turbo lift that spans the 15 floors of living space.

• All this affected the lift envelope, windows, & mesh containment (had to re-work those too).

Here are a bunch of new pictures.



Also posted transparent png images of the ship at http://precariat.us.to/graphics You can also donate crypto on that site to support my work.



Thanks,



Cameron
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[cameron]

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[cameron]

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[cameron]

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[cameron]

Posted the top floor of the elevator, but forgot to show the bottom floor. Large side for freight, small side for people (about 6'x8').


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[Eduardo Blomar 1679]

To lift a craft this size and magnitude without thrust would require not only enough lift from the gasbags but the other component that, after a quick search of this Forum, only I, Eduardo Blomar, has mentioned; BALLAST. I see no dedicated spaces for the ballast (which I presume would be water) or the jettisoning of it.



Water is eight pounds per gallon and requires 231 cubic inches of space to contain (as with most liquids).



Additional inquiries include:



What powers the turbines? If electricity, is the energy storage battery? What type? Where is the Battery Deck located?

Much work has been done in the field of rotating heavy cylinders (counterweights?) at high RPM's and leaching off the energy (turbines?).

 

Why are the wings not covered in solar cells?



Will there be any inclusion of space for a Landing Craft for Ultralights/Powered Wingsuits/possible small helicopter to take off and land from during flight? Where would the 'Flight Deck' be located?



I have many more, but for now, that will suffice.



EB

[cameron]

Hi EB,



I've thought about stability (i.e. the ship becoming top heavy and flipping over). The cargo is more than enough to lower the center of gravity so it will always be right side up (as long as you have cargo). I also thought about adding water tanks just above the cargo, or near the tail (in engineering) to balance out the weight distribution. The belly of the ship (just above the cargo hold) is 45K+ sq.ft. a 1 ft. deep tank would hold 342K gallons (or 1300+ tons) of water (more than the ship can lift). There is plenty of space to pump water around if necessary.



I still have concerns that the ship is just too big, needs less cargo space, or even more lift capacity (it just increased 46 tons with the "version 3" redesign). I'm sure it will all balance out eventually.



As far as ballast for jettisoning. There was a hint of that topic discussing recompressing helium to reduce lift. Rather than dumping weight to gain lift or venting gas to reduce lift, the ship could re-compress the helium (or hydrogen?) for descent, and re-expand the gas for lift. Need the engineers to figure out how exactly to accomplish this. It could take hours (or days?) to compress the helium before detaching the cargo hold (and losing that 500 ton ballast).



I believe the idea is that the ship will be electric. The turbines are huge (I think 80'-100' diameter). Not sure if those will work, or will be replaced with many smaller versions to add redundancy (and not have a 90' fan blade : )



Energy storage could be achieved by batteries, splitting H2O (then recombining when needed), or your spinning flywheel idea (thanks). Though flywheels and batteries are very heavy, so I don't know if they would be preferred (it's not up to me).



Collecting water from the air and splitting into hydrogen & oxygen seems like pretty cool way to store energy (even if it's not efficient). If the ship really gets 20 acres of solar panels, you would have more energy than you'd need (and not worry about efficiency).



I'm not sure how the Merlin engines would work. I suppose you can generate your own liquid oxygen, but would still need to carry & store kerosene/rocket fuel. Maybe they can be upgraded to hydrogen engines like Blue Origin's BE-3 engine.



Still trying to think about the solar panels. The existing setup isn't very flexible (no pun intended). They can only be deployed in space and don't move to track the sun. Someone would have to study the feasibility of covering the entire ship in solar panels (including the wings). Currently the most efficiency comes from pointing directly at the sun. Orienting the ship to always be perpendicular to the sun would be much less practical than unfolding a "sail" that can pivot in any direction.



A "flight deck" could be on top of the ship. Possibly at the front where the big gun is located (currently just for looks). That turret is almost 60' diameter. The upper deck is over 65K sq.ft.



Cameron

[cameron]

Have been working on an animation of the Precariat. Added a level 5 window, and a rear window to engineering (which may become something else). Here's the clip of a "quick assembly", virtual tour, and flight put to obscure but inspiring 70's music.



You can view the animation here... http://precariat.us.to/animation



As always... Please Donate!



Cameron
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[cameron]

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[cameron]

Uploaded the ship to Sketchfab so you can view, rotate, zoom & explore the model in your browser. You can also walk through the ship if your browser is VR capable. Click the image to view the model.



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[Libertalian]

hello ernest i was woondering if youd like to do a virtual interview i run a liberty group on my college campus and just watched your interview with the guy from the understanding our slavery book. its what brought me to these forums!!

[cameron]

After two years, I realized the ship has sea-level bell nozzles and not the vacuum optimized ones (9-10x larger). Changed the Merlin engines to have the larger nozzles.



27 total. 17 on the rear + 10 on the ducted fans.


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