5 ms·
I wonder why they didn’t mention simply sailing with the wind almost entirely. My understanding is that at certain altitudes there are winds that circle the ear
by comfypotato 4y ago
I wonder why they didn’t mention simply sailing with the wind almost entirely. My understanding is that at certain altitudes there are winds that circle the earth (the jet stream, yes?). If the ships are completely autonomous, this could take a sector of the market where shipping speed doesn’t matter. It’s a different value proposition than discussed, but if I’m reading the surrounding literature correctly, it’s winds that have been the main problem with this approach in the past.
- rootusrootus 4y agoThey did. It's a long article, they don't get to that point for a while. Search the page for "The other approach would be to take a deliberate strategy of riding the winds."
- haarts 4y agoFrom the article I understand that airship can only fly so high (I think because of the density of the air decreasing when you go higher). A jet stream (10km+) is far too high for an airship to reach (1.5km).
- thrill 4y agoAn airship can be designed to fly to over 100,000 ft, so you could design anywhere in between. Above 60,000 feet the average wind speed drops to 20 knots or so.