Over the years, new materials in aerospace have increased the efficiency of aircraft. By having stronger materials of lighter weight, it means the aircraft has better performance, uses less fuel, and becomes much safer. It would appear to me that carbon nanotubes and graphene coatings in the future will once again revolutionize aerospace. In fact, as the coordinator for a think tank which happens to operate online, we talk about this quite often. I’d like to explain one of the new potential eventualities for these new materials in improving safety and performance of modern-day aircraft.
Now then, when hovercraft “float on air” – they use a skirt to trap the air underneath them. It only takes 1 to 2 pounds of pressure, low pressure, underneath the vehicle to float it off the ground. During takeoff and landing aircraft exert quite a bit of fuel and energy. But what if the aircraft could first float on a cushion of air, get up to speed, and then increased speed very low to the runway, then fly in the ground cushion, until it was at its optimal flying speed to then go and gain altitude?
Okay so, no complaints there, even an aerospace engineer can agree with that. What if these new graphene coatings and carbon nanotube structures took on morphing capabilities, and used some tricks of physics known as material memory? What if the skirts were underneath the wing and fuselage, and then the skirts folded up and became part of the bottom of the wing, and the bottom of the fuselage? No longer would you need to endure that huge weight factor of landing gears, or the dangerous issue of aircraft tires, all you need is to land on the cushion of air, slowdown the aircraft, and then allow it to rest on skids, where ever you chose to park it.
Some might say this is impossible, but I hardly believe it is impossible, they did say that it was impossible for the Wright brothers to fly, and of course it was impossible for NASA to put people on the Moon. As we know neither of those things were impossible, and today we marvel at such innovations and technological dances for mankind. A graphene carbon nanotube skirt wing scheme makes a lot of sense, and once we get the materials correct, it would be much safer than running down the runway at high speeds.
Fewer accidents, means lower insurance costs, and we will save a lot of space inside the airplanes where the landing gear folds up inside. This means the aircraft can have smaller wings, or room for more fuel and cargo. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.
