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I wonder why it needs wings underwater.
by Scene_Cast2 2y ago
I wonder why it needs wings underwater.
- ceejayoz 2y agoSame reason fish, marine mammals, submarines etc. need fins.
- hamandchris 2y agoSomething about this? “Once deployed, the vehicle uses efficient, buoyancy-driven gliding to move through the water..." Sounds like it gets around by changing buoyancy, which is pretty cool and also probably completely silent.
- zardo 2y agoThe real benefit is it works well with harvesting energy for propulsion from the depth based thermal gradient.
- causal 2y agoIt's still much wider-bodied than any glider I've seen. I'm guessing this is because of the need for larger payload bays.
- ryanisnan 2y agoThe answer is probably explosives, but are there other payloads you think this thing might carry? Comms? SIG-INT equipment?
- causal 2y agoGiven the autonomous nature I'd be surprised if it were used offensively anytime soon, so I'd guess the latter.
- marcosdumay 2y agoYou don't need as much wing-area underwater as you need on the air.
- EA-3167 2y agoThe same reason that rays and skates have wings, they're useful in any fluid medium, even when they aren't generating lift.
- krisoft 2y ago> even when they aren't generating lift. Yes. But these do generate lift. This is basically an underwater glider[1]. It can change it's buoyancy which would make it sink/raise straight down/up. It uses then its wings to turn this vertical speed into horizontal propulsion. It basically flies underwater in a sawtooth pattern (when seen in a side view). This is a very energy efficient way to go the distance. These machines can loiter for months on a single charge typically. They only need to spend energy on the top and bottom points of their vertical swoops to change their buoyancy. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_glider https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_glider
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- sigzero 2y agoTo look like a manta ray?