Flying saucers from Earth

In several sci-fi movies and TV shows such as "Forbidden Planet",
"Lost in Space" , and "The Twilight Zone", vehicles manned by Earth
people travelling in deep space are of "classic" flying saucer design.
Is such a design feasble in the real world for space travel? Any
particular advantages to it? I think in some flicks flying saucers,
either of terrestrial or extra terrestrial originion rotate at least
the rim constantly while in flight.

john0714 wrote:
In several sci-fi movies and TV shows such as "Forbidden Planet",
"Lost in Space" , and "The Twilight Zone", vehicles manned by Earth
people travelling in deep space are of "classic" flying saucer design.
Is such a design feasble in the real world for space travel? Any
particular advantages to it? I think in some flicks flying saucers,
either of terrestrial or extra terrestrial originion rotate at least
the rim constantly while in flight.

No not for space travel. The disc aircraft has been experimented upon
by a number of terrestrial investigators, including the Germans in WW2.
A number actually flew but all were abandoned for one reason or
another.

The Coanda effect means that a rotating airflow will cause lift. It
does this according to Bernoulli's equation - exactly the same as for
normal fixed wing flight. The problem then is to create a stable
rotating airflow. A number of aircraft have achieved just that.

http://www.rexresearch.com/wingless/wingless.htm

Disc aircraft have a number of advantages and disadvantages.

A1 - VTOL capability.
A2 - Weight and lift coincide giving low structural weight.

D1 - Despite the fact that a flying saucer is a "blended wing" the
aspect ratio gives poor aerodynamic performance at speed. votices form
at wing tips.

D2 - Lack of stability - not such a big deal when a lot of aircraft are
unstable and flown by wire.

I think serious aviation should scoff a lot less. However for
hypersonics and space - No way.

- Ian Parker

john0714 wrote:
Is such a design feasble in the real world for space travel? Any
particular advantages to it?

While AVRO experimented with an aircraft with a flying saucer shape,
no, this shape is not suitable for any known means of propulsion for
space.

But since flying saucers were sighted, a science-fiction story might
use a future human spaceship shaped like a flying saucer to indicate:

a) We discovered ourselves what the aliens now watching us know, and

b) the saucer works on the basis of a future antigravity or inertialess
drive, *not* on the known technology of rockets, for which that shape
is unsuitable.

John Savard

In several sci-fi movies and TV shows such as "Forbidden Planet",
"Lost in Space" , and "The Twilight Zone", vehicles manned by Earth
people travelling in deep space are of "classic" flying saucer design.
Is such a design feasble in the real world for space travel? Any
particular advantages to it? I think in some flicks flying saucers,
either of terrestrial or extra terrestrial originion rotate at least
the rim constantly while in flight.

One has the impression that the shape, to the extent it isn't just
intended to look cool and resonate with UFOvian memes, is associated
with the unknown/imaginary propulsion mechanism. Or maybe the
unknown/imaginary "artificial gravity" inside the ship needs that
geometry.

Other than that, the only thing that comes to mind is that a saucer has
a large surface/volume ratio. Maybe you'd want that surface for
sensors, as a radiator, or something like that.

Allen Thomson wrote:

In several sci-fi movies and TV shows such as "Forbidden Planet",
"Lost in Space" , and "The Twilight Zone", vehicles manned by Earth
people travelling in deep space are of "classic" flying saucer design.
Is such a design feasble in the real world for space travel? Any
particular advantages to it? I think in some flicks flying saucers,
either of terrestrial or extra terrestrial originion rotate at least
the rim constantly while in flight.

One has the impression that the shape, to the extent it isn't just
intended to look cool and resonate with UFOvian memes, is associated
with the unknown/imaginary propulsion mechanism. Or maybe the
unknown/imaginary "artificial gravity" inside the ship needs that
geometry.

Have you considered that they may be *very lightweight* and thus do not
require any unknown/imaginary artificial gravity. On the other hand,
assuming they came a great way across the universe or the galaxy, or
another dimension, then perhaps they have a reasonable handle on laws of
physics, and aren't acting like they still live in the American West.

Other than that, the only thing that comes to mind is that a saucer has
a large surface/volume ratio. Maybe you'd want that surface for
sensors, as a radiator, or something like that.

Flying saucers are so 50s. They don't even appear to be doing any covert
human abductions and monitoring anymore, that was over in the late 80s.

Clearly they've moved on to another level of interaction.

Whatever could it be? I'm guessing it's one on one.

http://cosmic.lifeform.org

Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote:
Whatever could it be? I'm guessing it's one on one.

http://cosmic.lifeform.org

There is only one possibility AI on the Web.

- Ian Parker

wrote:

:
:Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote:
: Whatever could it be? I'm guessing it's one on one.
:
: http://cosmic.lifeform.org
:
:There is only one possibility AI on the Web.

More like AS (Artificial Stupidity)...

--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn

wrote:

Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote:

Whatever could it be? I'm guessing it's one on one.

There is only one possibility AI on the Web.

That's one possibility, another is that they are still rolling on the
floor laughing their asses off. That would interfere with their work.

http://cosmic.lifeform.org

Fred J. McCall wrote:
wrote:

:
:Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote:
: Whatever could it be? I'm guessing it's one on one.
:
: http://cosmic.lifeform.org
:
:There is only one possibility AI on the Web.

More like AS (Artificial Stupidity)...

I presume from that that you do not agree with the existance of aliens.
Nor in point of fact do I. Reducto ad absurdam is a common way of
proving things in mathematics. AI "proves" that alien abduction etc.
etc. and everything except AI on the Web is a load of rubbish.

If anyone did posses it it would be perfectly possible to put in and
would give ET all the knowledge he required. Let us look at alien
abduction. It is false quite simply because there are far easier ways
of getting DNA information.

BTW - The genome has been published on the Web.

- Ian Parker

In article ,
Fred J. McCall wrote:

wrote:

:
:Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote:
: Whatever could it be? I'm guessing it's one on one.
:
: http://cosmic.lifeform.org
:
:There is only one possibility AI on the Web.

More like AS (Artificial Stupidity)...

Why should we develop AS, since there appears to be a surplus of the
natural variety, and no sign of a future shortage, either! ;)

All we have to do to verify it is to read some of the various conspiracy
notions ("Lunar landing hoax," "Chemtrails," "9/11 inside job," etc. ).