13 replies to this topic

[wjfox]

Airbus Offers a Peek at the Translucent Future of Passenger Air Travel

By Clay Dillow
Posted 06.14.2011 at 11:50 am

Airbus has seen the future, and it's spacious, sunlit and full of interactive screens. Oh, and cocktails will be served in the virtual bar, assuming someone isn’t playing 18 holes in there.

After revealing its larger vision of what aviation hardware will offer us in 2050 at last year’s Paris Air Show--reduced emissions, lower fuel consumption, reductions in noise and increases in speed--the company has turned its attention toward the passenger experience, offering a sneak peak of the future via the video below.

What does the future have in store? Well, assuming populations begin growing less obese and the economics of packing as many people on a flight as possible are discarded (in the future, air travel--like society--will know no class), the future is much more comfortable.

When flights are at less than full capacity, unneeded seats at the rear of the plane will collapse and all seats will redistribute themselves to offer everyone an equitable boost in legroom. These seats will also morph to fit passengers’ bodies.

Those who need something more than a spacious, morphing seat in steerage will be free to join others in the interaction area, which can be anything from an interactive map room to a virtual golf course to a conference room or bar/lounge, depending on what passengers require. And a “revitalizing zone” in the nose of the aircraft offers panoramic views of the Earth below while re-energizing travelers with “vitamin and antioxidant enriched air, mood lighting, aromatherapy and acupressure treatments.” Right.

But perhaps the most easily digestible part of this vision is the structure of the aircraft itself, which taps a largely-hollow, lightweight bionic structure that mimics the bones in birds and could allow for the kind of transparent canopy pictured above. Airbus isn’t sure what it would be made of yet, but it could be 3-D printed--a technology that we know Airbus’s parent firm EADS is investing heavily in.

http://www.popsci.co...r-travel?cmp=tw

[truthiness]

Instead of creating a new thread, I'll just place this over here...

You kids liked Virgin's Space Ship One and Space Ship Two (aka the VSS Enterprise)?

Feast your eyes on the new GALAXY CLASS VSS Enterprise...

http://www.foxnews.c...s-airport-like/

Why yes, that is two 747-sized hulls, and six 747 engines.

First test flight in 2016.

Edited by truthiness, 14 December 2011 - 03:54 AM.

[Logically Irrational]

^^ I don't even care how feasible that would be. It looks sick!

[jjf3]

It could be good or another failed Paul Allen experiment, the man doesn't have that good a track record in investing in companies....It seems like Microsoft is the man's only success and he was just lucky he knew Bill Gates!!! So hopefully he has a good team on it this time, otherwise I am skeptical of any company with his name on it. And not to mention last year the man tried to sue every single giant silicon valley company (including Microsoft) for more patents which either fuels ego or gets him more $$. Greedy SOB.

[truthiness]

The companies are SpaceX and Scaled Composites. That'd be the two largest private companies in space right now, easily. SpaceX has a contract from NASA to build a replacement for the Space Shuttle to get to the ISS, and they're working on a massive rocket that can get to Mars. Scaled Composites built SpaceShipOne, SpaceShipTwo, and Voyager (not the VSS Voyager, though they're building that too, but the one that flew around the world without refueling a few years ago).

They're not just a few guys who can make a pretty looking space-plane on a computer, is my point, I guess.

[jjf3]

True SpaceX is fine and SpaceShipOne is doing ok, but Allen's Company Stratolaunch Systems is running the computers, electronics, and software, so we'll see if this goes anywhere.

Edited by jjf3, 14 December 2011 - 04:48 PM.

[Logically Irrational]

I've heard good things about Stratolaunch, but I don't know about 2016. I definitely think they could build it though, just the timeline may be optomistic.

[truthiness]

Ugh... that much is true... look at the 787. Boeing started serious work on its development back in 2003 or 2004. I remember reading about the "Dreamliner" back in college. Boeing is only now delivering its first models to the airlines. Boeing isn't exactly a start-up that's never done this before either. This'll pretty much have to take at least that long (8 years, so 2020-ish).

But still though, that is a sweet looking space-plane if I've ever seen one.

[Caposupe]

Airbus Offers a Peek at the Translucent Future of Passenger Air Travel

By Clay Dillow
Posted 06.14.2011 at 11:50 am

Airbus has seen the future, and it's spacious, sunlit and full of interactive screens. Oh, and cocktails will be served in the virtual bar, assuming someone isn’t playing 18 holes in there.

After revealing its larger vision of what aviation hardware will offer us in 2050 at last year’s Paris Air Show--reduced emissions, lower fuel consumption, reductions in noise and increases in speed--the company has turned its attention toward the passenger experience, offering a sneak peak of the future via the video below.

What does the future have in store? Well, assuming populations begin growing less obese and the economics of packing as many people on a flight as possible are discarded (in the future, air travel--like society--will know no class), the future is much more comfortable.

When flights are at less than full capacity, unneeded seats at the rear of the plane will collapse and all seats will redistribute themselves to offer everyone an equitable boost in legroom. These seats will also morph to fit passengers’ bodies.

Those who need something more than a spacious, morphing seat in steerage will be free to join others in the interaction area, which can be anything from an interactive map room to a virtual golf course to a conference room or bar/lounge, depending on what passengers require. And a “revitalizing zone” in the nose of the aircraft offers panoramic views of the Earth below while re-energizing travelers with “vitamin and antioxidant enriched air, mood lighting, aromatherapy and acupressure treatments.” Right.

But perhaps the most easily digestible part of this vision is the structure of the aircraft itself, which taps a largely-hollow, lightweight bionic structure that mimics the bones in birds and could allow for the kind of transparent canopy pictured above. Airbus isn’t sure what it would be made of yet, but it could be 3-D printed--a technology that we know Airbus’s parent firm EADS is investing heavily in.

http://www.popsci.co...r-travel?cmp=tw

Seriously so cool. I've never even been in a plane before, lol.

[Guyverman1990]

The one nitpick it have with the airplane is that it should not have the presence windows or glass due the risk of it crashing. Also, by that time, shouldn't most airplanes have electronic flat screen-display of the scene built in the walls of the vehicle instead of windows of any kind?

Edited by Guyverman1990, 22 March 2012 - 05:33 AM.

[Craven]

Some windows can be stronger than actual hull of plane. It's an airplane not tank.

[eacao]

Instead of creating a new thread, I'll just place this over here...

You kids liked Virgin's Space Ship One and Space Ship Two (aka the VSS Enterprise)?

Feast your eyes on the new GALAXY CLASS VSS Enterprise...

http://www.foxnews.c...s-airport-like/

Why yes, that is two 747-sized hulls, and six 747 engines.

First test flight in 2016.

So the government sector is starting to wind down with the economic crises and the public sector is popping up space launch system after system. I'm loving it. More competition means more cost efficient.
Like I say, monopoly breeds complacency, competition breeds supremacy.

[truthiness]

http://www.stratolaunch.com/news.html

Stratolaunch has their two 747s at Mojave spaceport in California. They're actually doing this.

[Raklian]

http://www.stratolaunch.com/news.html Stratolaunch has their two 747s at Mojave spaceport in California. They're actually doing this.

It's going to be a behemoth. Yet if it works out, it is going to be relatively economical to our current means of getting into space.

Edited by Raklian, 23 March 2012 - 02:35 PM.