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> batteries don't become lighter as they drain. Right, but they can be thrown overboard :-)
by skookumchuck 9y ago
> batteries don't become lighter as they drain.
Right, but they can be thrown overboard :-)
- dotancohen 9y ago> Right, but they can be thrown overboard That might work for disposable rockets launched from the south Pacific, but it does not work for a reusable aircraft flying over populated continents.
- crooked-v 9y agoObviously you dispatch localized fleets of drones to catch the discarded batteries. Then you just need a fleet of smaller planes to carry those drones.
- bigiain 9y agoI wonder if you could split the battery pack into thirds - each with a modern steerable parachute type glide-return system? You climb out to cruise altitude - then drop off the "climb battery" which would autonomously return to your takeoff point (somewhere nearby where if can easily/safely land, be retrieved, and recharged for the next flight). You'd cruise to your destination on the "cruise battery", which you'd jettison near the landing point, so it could fly itself there for charging. You'd land with just the "landing battery" which'd have sufficient capacity for go-arounds and/or diversions, just like your fuel reserve in a conventional dinosaur-burning aircraft. Dropping batteries off and moving the remaining ones around while maintaining safe centre of gravity might be tricker than just pumping liquid fuel around, but surely not insurmountable (the military seem to be able to jettison stunning weights of munitions while flying...) Perhaps youd got for batteries divided into six spread equally for and aft from the cog - and drop them in matched pairs?