jselfridge

3 ms·

1.
by jselfridge 8y ago
Sorry about that. It's all I had to work with. The TURN concept recently won a local business pitch competition, with a video posted on their website. Slightly (just slightly) better production quality. https://757pitch.o
2.
by jselfridge 8y ago
1. The payload likes to stay around 5-10% of the total vehicle weight (otherwise the tether sags to steeply). I've generated sizing models from 5 pound payloads on up to 250 pound payloads for the Air Force SBIR research. 2. I have a
3.
by jselfridge 8y ago
In steady wind, it needs to spin faster to maintain its wind robustness, which does consume more power... but that's common to all aircraft. Generally speaking, the it is robust to wind gust velocity about 25-30% of the wing speed. It
4.
by jselfridge 8y ago
DARPA already looked at that through ISIS. The problem is the massive volume of gas within the airship. Even the lightest winds require a substantial amount of power to travel or station-keep. Google is using weather balloons, but they d
5.
by jselfridge 8y ago
You're right about the surface area. Altitude is the limiting factor. In the stratosphere, the air is thin enough to warrant large wings, which have lots of area for solar cells. I attempted to design a system for the Air Force at 1
6.
by jselfridge 8y ago
You're right... there's no beating entropy. But the limiting case seems to be the battery charge/discharge cycles, which floats around the 500 range. So that's close to a year-and-a-half flight. Other concepts are usin
7.
by jselfridge 8y ago
The research is using a spiral development process, where flight data from small scale prototypes are used to validate existing simulation and dynamic models, and then those models are used as design tools for the next largest embodiment.
8.
by jselfridge 8y ago
I'm the originator of the TURN concept, and owner of the company. I can answer any questions you guys have about the vehicle.