Flying car

The flying car is on its way. An American company Terrafugia Transition, based near Boston, is set to unveil the dual-purpose car-cum-plane vehicle called 'The Flying Car' as early as 2011. The two-seater vehicle can let you fly if you wish to avoid the congested city traffic.

If you want to drive on the road, just touch the road. The vehicle will fold up its wings in 30 seconds and transform itself into a car.

"The Flying Car" can travel up to 725 kilometres in the air at a speed of more than 115 kilometres per hour.

Fuelled by gasoline, it has front wheel drive on the road and a propeller for flight.

With its wings folded, it can be parked in your ordinary car garage.

Its initial cost is expected to be around $200,000 (nearly Rs.1 crore), says the company which has already orders for 60 vehicles.

The CEO of the company told Canadian TV (CTV) network here that they have successfully test-flown "The Flying Car" as many as 28 times.

The tests have shown that the vehicle can drive, fly and switch from being a plane to a car in just 30 seconds.

"It (testing) has been very successful," Carl Dietrich, co-founder and CEO of Terrafugia, told the television network.

" We have got a very good handling vehicle and our test pilot said that the flights were just remarkably unremarkable - it just flies like a really nice, little airplane,” he said.

He said this miracle vehicle will ease problems for pilots who currently face problems like weather which sometimes doesn't allow them to take off or land.

"This vehicle allows a pilot any time, if the weather changes, to divert to the nearest airport, fold up their wings and drive safely under the weather."

"The Transition (the name for "The Flying Car" is not designed to replace the automobile. However, it will solve transportation issues for a variety of circumstances,” company vice president Richard Gersh said.

Asked whether the vehicle will be mass produced one day, he said: "That is certainly a possibility, but a number of years away."

He said the vehicle will be able travel on ordinary roads.

"Our depositors represent a wide-cross section in terms of age, interests, and intended use of the vehicle. We have deposits from both experienced pilots and non-pilots who intend to earn their Sport Pilot certificate," said the vice president of Terrafugia.

Wind energy from oceans

You have noticed when you visited the sea side that usually there is a strong wind blowing. The sea can, therefore, be an excellent choice for installing floating wind mils for several reasons. The wind speed are generally generated than on land, floating wind mils do not consume valuable land that can be use of agricultural or construction, and they do not bother resident unhappy with wind farms blocking their views.

The new technology has been applied on the sea about six miles off the cost of Norway. This has resulted in the installation of a 2.3 megawatt turbine, weighing 152 tones, on a floating platform which is tied to ocean floor by cables to avoid excessive turbulence. The project "Hywind" has been implemented by the Norwegian energy giant state oil, and the first floating wind turbine was installed in September last year. It will be tested over a 2 year period and then commercial floating wind farm will be installed on oceans.

The world energy consumption is mainly from oil (37 percent), coal (25 percent), gas (23- percent), nuclear (6 percent) and hydro (3 percent). Wind accounts for only 0.3 percent and solar heat only 0.5 percent of the total energy consumption. With the development of new technologies, renewable energy based on sun and wind are likely to contribute increasingly to the world energy profiles.

Energy from the sun

The sun bathes our plant with a huge amount of energy, about 85,000 terawatts, each year. Our annual consumption of energy, by comparison is only about 16 terawatts. This means that the sun provides about 5,000 times more energy than the world needs today. It seems silly, Therefore, that we are polluting our planet by burning fossil fuels where as so much abundant energy from the sun is largely going waste. This situation is now beginning to change rapidly and new technologies are emerging that the country where is shortage of electricity needs to make use of.

Solar cells are normally made of silicon wafers. These crystal line materials have achieved a commercial efficiency of 22 percent but the solar panels made from them are expensive. and largely suitable for remote areas where the grid system can not provide cheaper electricity. Thin-film solar cells produced from amorphous, nano-crystalline and some other form of silicon by chemical vapor deposition, have efficiencies of about nine percent, but they can be produced at one-fifth the cost and their efficiencies are improving rapidly.

However the most attractive form of solar energy involves the simple use of thousand of mirrors that can focus the energy of the sun on boilers located on towers. The steam generated by this energy from this 'Concentrating solar power' (CST) technology is heated to a temperature of up to 850 Fahrenheit, and used to drive turbines that generate electricity.

Google has funded a five megawatt facility near Los Angeles that involves 24,000 mirrors arranged in arrays on 20 acres of land. They are controlled by computers that focus the sun light on to the boilers. It is expected that the use of CST technology will double energy 16 months worldwide, increasing from 457 megawatts in 2007 to 6,400 megawatts by 2012.

The countries that have abundant sunshine and an acute shortage of electricity must use it.

Improving car performance with batteries

Hybrid car that run on petrol and battery powers are under intensive development. Nickel-metal-hydride batteries are being used in some hybrid cars, while Mercedes has recently announced the use of lithium-ion batteries on its S400 Blue Hybrid which all be connected to a 20 horse power electric motor to provide additional power to the main 3.5 liter V6 engine, thereby improving its performance to that of V8 engine, and allowing the car to achieve a fuel economy of 30 miles per gallon.

The engine is switched off when the car slows to speeds below 9 mph, and the electric motor restarts the engine at higher speeds. Some other manufacturers such as BMW, Mazda and Porsche are also using this engine Off-On method to improve the fuel economy.

Commercial supersonic flights in space.

Lockheed Martin is developing a quiet supersonic transport that will be able to travel from Chicago to pairs in under four hours. More exciting is the project undertaken by the Germen space agency, DLR. The European commission has funded this project of a "space liner" which will be capable of traveling at a speed of 14000 mph and carry 50 passengers through space from New- York to Sydney in less then 90 minutes.

This may be regarded as a modified version of a space shuttle which may be powered by rockets operating on liquid hydrogen / oxygen thrusters. The space liner would reach a height of 62 miles, which is the lower boundary of space, within seven minutes of take off. as it would be at such a great height, the sonic boom generator by it will not disturb the populations over which it travels. Travelling at such stupendous speed will cause the heating of the space liner to temperature up-to 5400 C. To keep the body cool special porous ceramic tiles are being developed which would 'sweat' water, as the human skin does.

If you are willing to spend $200000, commercial space travel is already available. The US company Virgin Galactic has already make pre-booking of 200 persons with a total price tag of US $30 million. Their space craft will take you alone with five another passengers to a height of 68 miles and give you the ride of your life for 2.5 hours. A member of other US, European and Kazakhstan based companies are also developing similar space tourism initiatives.