Several years ago I attended a meeting of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts in Atlanta GA. The topics ranged from intelligent swarms of micro satellites to space tethers, the idea of using rotating tethers to fling items from earth orbit to the moon. I was in Geek overdrive.

One of the NIAC studies that caught my attention is an exploration of the concept of a solar airplane that used flapping motion for propulsion. The text below is in part from a press release from the Ohio Aerospace Institute.

Due to recent advances in polymers, photovoltaics, and batteries, the development of a revolutionary type of unmanned aircraft may now be feasible. This flight vehicle would integrate airfoil, propulsion, energy production, energy storage, and control into one seamless design with no conventional mechanical moving parts. The integration of these components comprises the “Solid State” aircraft concept that has wide implication for terrestrial and planetary flight applications.

The most innovative aspect of this concept is the use of an ionic polymeric-metal composite (IPMC) as the source of control and propulsion. This material has the unique ability to deform in the presence of an electric field like an artificial muscle, and return to its original shape when the field is removed. Combining the IPMIC with emerging thinfilm batteries and thin-film photovoltaics provides both energy source and storage in the same structure.

Combining the unique characteristics of these materials enables flapping of the aircraft wing to generate the main propulsive force. With a flight profile similar to that of a hawk or eagle, the Solid State Aircraft will be able to soar for long periods of time and utilize flapping to regain lost altitude. During Phase I work on this concept, analysis was performed on the glide duration, flap duration, wing length, and wing motion of travel. It was determined that a versatile, robust, advanced aeronautical architecture can be produced taking into account these parameters. This architecture would enable flight over a broad flight envelope comprised of a range of latitudes and times of the year on Earth, Venus, and Mars.

And check out the somewhat ridiculous movie after the jump.

Comments (30)

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Nice vid
written by Joetek , May 15, 2007

Cool technology.. nice vid! How big are these things?

Size Varies
written by John Barrie , May 15, 2007

The NASA study showed 3 - 100 meter wing spans for flight on Earth or Venus. 250 meters for flight on Mars.

Thanks for the comment.

jsbarrie

Why flap if there is no air ?
written by San_j , May 16, 2007

Whats the point of flapping wings on Mars or Venus ? Do they have air or some kind of gas there ?

Indeed
written by Hank , May 16, 2007

Both Venus and Mars have atmospheres. Mars is less dense than our's and mostly composed of carbondioxide. Venus, has a thick atmosphere...and is also mostly CO2.

Cool technology
written by Hans , May 18, 2007

It would be great to see someday these things flying over our heads. But most impressing than the technology, the concept or the video is the commentary! This guy is great!

...
written by Todd , May 18, 2007

Paint those things all black and they'd make an excellent psychological deterrent on the battle field.

Okay
written by Drew , May 18, 2007

Okay so the idea of flapping wings seems neat to others....but think about it...imagine if they turned these things into weapons or even survailance (sp?)

vid++ comentator--
written by Bob , May 18, 2007

Cool vid. Had to mute it...couldn't stand that geeky kid.

Hilarious
written by TravisM , May 18, 2007

Loved the commentary bob up there doesn't know good geeky comedy when he see's it ;p

...
written by Anjin , May 19, 2007

Worst Ze Frank impression ever.

good stuff
written by Skepsis , May 19, 2007

I liked the commentary.

Pretty fascinating stuff.

...
written by alex , May 19, 2007

comment
written by Rob , May 19, 2007

the dude was funny and like 72.668% entertaining

I like the video AND the narrator!
written by Ralph , May 19, 2007

That guy is actually very good! He gets across his interest, and also communicates some of the weirdness of those proposed birdplanes.

I got a chuckle
written by Tyler , May 19, 2007

So great. they can fly on mars... For what? To re verify its got a low density atmosphere? Race other flapping flappers? Spy on martians we haven't found? The day it drops off kids like a stork, then repost... The guy was so stupid i found it kinda funny though...

Good to hear
written by Hank , May 19, 2007

Thanks for the comments on the video. I have a hard time taking video blogging so seriously and it's nice to see that 72.6888% of you thought it was worth watching.

As for "worst ze frank impersonation ever" you're absolutely right...I am inspired by Ze and am a pale imitation...but I don't need to be as good as Ze...because Ze is gone now, and I'm all you've got left.

For real, thanks for the comments, I'm looking forward to doing more EcoGeek video stuff.

Not going to work
written by charles , May 19, 2007

This will not work. When it flap down, the "bird" goes up but when it flap up, the "bird" will go down. What makes it go up can also go down in reverse.

afrodream 'n' beaded sandals
written by afrodream 'n' beaded sandals , May 19, 2007

One think for sure it's a step forward. Be it for mars or any other planet out there. The inovation is a mile forward in reaserch. I bed they will used it for cleaner purpose and towards mankind benefits. Be be blessed

Ok seen it...
written by Mr Car Parts , May 19, 2007

I was looking for somthing other than a 3D animation

Not Going to Work?
written by Hank , May 19, 2007

@charles -
Ummmm... birds fly in the exact same way as this thing, and they have millions of years of proof...it works.

The wings flapping actually just provides propulsion, while the shape of the wing provides lift (just like the shape of airplane wings provide lift.)

emm
written by reijo , May 20, 2007

This new material is not that new, and its very expensive too. But there is one very big problem, they have somekindof delay. So this movement will not be sudden.

And btw they are making this material here, in estonian labs aswell

very cool, but...
written by jerky , May 21, 2007

Beautiful design. Very elegant and efficient looking. One question though- i see no vertical stabilizers of any kind. What's to keep it from spinning all over the place in any kind of wind? They've had that problem with flying-wing type aircraft ever since the 40's, so they should know about this. There's no ailerons or any kind of control surfaces, but i'm going to go ahead and assume it uses wing warping to steer like the wright brothers did. Maybe they use the wing warping for yaw stabilzation.

PLEASE
written by juppper , May 22, 2007

no crappy voice over....
seriously...

RE:
written by RealityBytes , May 27, 2007

Funny I was just thinking about peak oil and flight the other day. I was wondering if it would ever be possible to power a commercial jet through batteries alone. Perhaps my luggage will be getting lost on one of these.

Simply flapping symetrically up and down
written by Tachy , June 17, 2007

...doesn't work at all. It doesn't push the aircraft up. Look at birds, they're flapping upwards folding the wings in a difficult way as they're flapping down...

So it's not easy to build a flapping-machine siply bolding the wings up and down.....

nobody knows how birds fly
written by Robert , July 03, 2007

An important reason for our lack of understanding about flapping flight is the problem that we are unable to see or measure the reaction of the air as the bird moves through it...it will become clear that aerodynamic theories explaining how conventional airplanes fly, are not sufficient to clarify flapping flight in birds. This solar aircraft is not able to fly. I can know it, please have a look at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G3E-PHhejQ

i´m starting to build that wing
written by k-a jansson , July 06, 2007

yes, that wing interested me,
start with regular flapping wing devises
plus solar panel, insted of lipoly
best reg from
janne sweden

is it possible ?
written by abi , March 29, 2008

is it possible for humans to travel inside it .....

...
written by Robert Love , May 22, 2008

I'm a researcher at the University of Florida working with flapping wings and it is important to note that this was mainly a concept demonstration of a new material being applied to an aerospace problem, not necessarily giving the final design of the "bird".

To respond to some other comments:
We do a lot of research into wing morphing and have shown you can use morphing to control roll/pitch/yaw, although the techniques to do this are still under extensive investigation.

We may not know exactly how a bird flies, although researchers have been studying them for almost 100 years (or more!), so we've got a pretty good idea.

In terms of visualizing the flow, we can do that very well, but predicting the flow requires computationally expensive calculations, so it's more of a time/computational issue than not knowing the theory at this point.

No, humans are not going to travel inside it!

For more information about ornithopters check out:
www.ornithopters.org (RC information)
and
www.ornithopters.wordpress.com (Current Research Efforts)

What are the advantages and disadvantage
written by Sonu Anand , July 01, 2008

Very interesting topic!!!! I want to know more about this..

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