solar sailor
Science
Spiderweb Solar-Wind Sail Proves Jor-El Was Right
12:15AM Wilson Rothman | Laugh all you want at the sea-urchiny ship Jor-El used to send Kal-El to earth, but it looks a lot like the new kind of solar-sail array developed by the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki. Instead of the standard solar panels, the Finnish scientists propose long thin strands, just microns in diameter, that stretch out from the spaceship, and use a positive charge to repel heavy positive ions in the solar wind that move at hundreds of kilometers per second. More »
Vehicles
Solar Ships May Carry Passengers in San Francisco as Early as 2009
12:40PM Sean Fallon | The concept of solar ships is nothing new, but it appears that Australia’s Solarsailor may be on the brink of bringing the technology to the mainstream. Hornblower Yachts in San Francisco is in the midst of negotiations with the Coast Guard to install a Solarsailor sail on one of their commercial ferryboats. If all goes well, the boat will be operational in 2009. Solarsailor has also won contracts in Shanghai and Hong Kong for similar vessels. In its current form, solar sails are an ideal solution for boats designed for short trips. Tests in Sydney have illustrated that ships equipped with the sail can go around 6 knots on wind power alone or 6 knots on solar power. When combined, speeds of 10 knots are achievable. [Crave] More »
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11:27AM Seamus Byrne | Here’s one for the record books. Literally. Solar Sailor is an Australian invention that can right now be found sailing Sydney Harbour, a hybrid powered boat design that allows solar and wind energy to be harvest via its ’solar wing’ for big enviro/financial energy savings. This tech has the potential to scale for use on ferries, cruisers, yachts, and even large tankers. Dr Robert Dane, Head of Solar Sailor:
We are confident we can build everything up to ocean liners and in fifty years time people will look back on boats of the 20th Century and they’ll say where are the wings?
Now Solar Sailor is the first Australian company recognised by the Tech Museum Awards Program as a Laureate for its contribution to the Environment. Read on for what Bob Hawke (yep, good old Hawkey), Chairman of Solar Sailor Holdings, had to say about that. No, he didn’t cry. Another pic after the jump too. More »
Solar Sailor: First Tech Museum Laureate from Australia
11:27AM Seamus Byrne | Here’s one for the record books. Literally. Solar Sailor is an Australian invention that can right now be found sailing Sydney Harbour, a hybrid powered boat design that allows solar and wind energy to be harvest via its ’solar wing’ for big enviro/financial energy savings. This tech has the potential to scale for use on ferries, cruisers, yachts, and even large tankers. Dr Robert Dane, Head of Solar Sailor:
We are confident we can build everything up to ocean liners and in fifty years time people will look back on boats of the 20th Century and they’ll say where are the wings?
Now Solar Sailor is the first Australian company recognised by the Tech Museum Awards Program as a Laureate for its contribution to the Environment. Read on for what Bob Hawke (yep, good old Hawkey), Chairman of Solar Sailor Holdings, had to say about that. No, he didn’t cry. Another pic after the jump too. More » 