>>At low speed, it operates like a quadcopter, at high speed, it’s a jet-propelled, highly efficient supersonic aircraft whose entire body acts as a low-drag wing. Those are the claims of the Romanian creators of this flying saucer that’s designed to offer unprecedented aerial agility across a broad range of speeds.<<

https://newatlas.com/adifo-flying-saucer-romanian/58999/

All the technical data is in the video.

Label me as being somewhat doubtful. Flying things of that shape need a lot of artificial stabilisation and they aren’t very efficient.

Spiny Norman said:

Label me as being somewhat doubtful. Flying things of that shape need a lot of artificial stabilisation and they aren’t very efficient.

The shape of an interstellar vehicle could well be a function of the engine propelling it.
If they are relying on a centripetal force supplied by spin gravity, Gforce Central (GfC) along an axis, similar to the force keeping a spinning top upright and using di-lithium crystals as the energy source then that shape is not inconceivable.

Peak Warming Man said:

Spiny Norman said:

Label me as being somewhat doubtful. Flying things of that shape need a lot of artificial stabilisation and they aren’t very efficient.

The shape of an interstellar vehicle could well be a function of the engine propelling it.
If they are relying on a centripetal force supplied by spin gravity, Gforce Central (GfC) along an axis, similar to the force keeping a spinning top upright and using di-lithium crystals as the energy source then that shape is not inconceivable.

Well duh!

Spiny Norman said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Spiny Norman said:

Label me as being somewhat doubtful. Flying things of that shape need a lot of artificial stabilisation and they aren’t very efficient.

The shape of an interstellar vehicle could well be a function of the engine propelling it.
If they are relying on a centripetal force supplied by spin gravity, Gforce Central (GfC) along an axis, similar to the force keeping a spinning top upright and using di-lithium crystals as the energy source then that shape is not inconceivable.

Well duh!

Have a look at the video, should interest you.

PermeateFree said:

>>At low speed, it operates like a quadcopter, at high speed, it’s a jet-propelled, highly efficient supersonic aircraft whose entire body acts as a low-drag wing. Those are the claims of the Romanian creators of this flying saucer that’s designed to offer unprecedented aerial agility across a broad range of speeds.<<

https://newatlas.com/adifo-flying-saucer-romanian/58999/

All the technical data is in the video.

The video does interest me. I can see some potential problems, particularly the high power usage at low speeds, it would use up batteries faster than a quadcopter.

I do not understand the three components C_L, C_D, C_m. The C_L and C_D are the lift and drag coefficients, and I’m very familiar with them. But what is C_m? It can’t be centre of mass?

I like the body wing concept, the quadcopter-style stabilisation even at high speeds, and the advanced attitude control system.

I’m nearly sold on the aerofoil shape, but worry just a trifle about stall at even low angles of attack due to separation at the sharp leading edge. Though the low speed wind tunnel tests seem to contradict this, having a minuscule 0.08 lift coefficient at zero angle of attack up to 1.0 and an angle of attack of 23 degrees. PS, there are two ways to calculate lift and drag coefficients at non-zero angles of attack, and it’s essential to know which is being used because they give very different numbers. It thus seems to be flying in a post-stall flow regime (like a flat plate at angle). Both high speed flow simulations presented assume an angle of attack of zero, which is not a sufficient simulation given the very low lift coefficient at this angle, it could stall at high speed with even a very small angle of attack.

The calculated lift coefficient at Mach 1.1 is only 0.012, which is tiny. I don’t know how that compares with more realistic airfoil shapes.

Hyper-agility, yes. Hyper-stability, no. Therefore more suitable for combat roles than people carrying – in present design.

“Ideally shaped for reentry into the atmosphere”. My immediate reaction to that is “aaargh”, but they may be right, if it is flown upside-down face-on to the direction of travel rather than edge on. Like a tektite.

Until proved, I would be very dubious about the claims of high subsonic and supersonic speeds.

But overall, I like it.

low level flight risky

the flying wing prefers to fly in much more stable air associated with higher altitudes – flying wings don’t like turbulent air because they require continual adjustment

under testing the the yanks decided to stall one of their flying wings the pilot being experienced and knowledgeable managed to save the aircraft

real flying saucers don’t rely on aerodynamic shapes as they can project a field around them that does the same as a physical shape (if need be) anything able to achieve interstellar travel wouldn’t worry very much about flying around in the earth’s atmosphere.

wookiemeister said:

real flying saucers don’t rely on aerodynamic shapes as they can project a field around them that does the same as a physical shape (if need be) anything able to achieve interstellar travel wouldn’t worry very much about flying around in the earth’s atmosphere.

“real” ?

mollwollfumble said:

wookiemeister said:

real flying saucers don’t rely on aerodynamic shapes as they can project a field around them that does the same as a physical shape (if need be) anything able to achieve interstellar travel wouldn’t worry very much about flying around in the earth’s atmosphere.

“real” ?

you gotta go with me on this one