Today's Engineering Newswire looks at the design of a DeltaWing 70 mpg road car, an autonomously landing Morpheus in the dark, and building a jet powered flying car — that tops out at 550 mph.
This episode features:
DeltaWing's 70 mpg Road Car: The first image of the street-legal, four-passenger car shows the cars unique look featuring a rear engine design to significantly decreases weight on the font axels for reduced rolling resistance, increased powertrain efficiency, and improved aerodynamics.
According to DeltaWing Technologies chairman Don Panoz, the car could potentially reach 0 to 60 mph in about six seconds, with a top speed of 130 mph and a fuel efficiency of up to 70 mpg when using a small displacement, four-cylinder engine producing between 85 and 110 horsepower.
Jet-Powered Flying Car: In other automotive news this week, Greg Brown and Dave Fawcett have announced plans for a jet-powered flying car, the GF7, and in a recent interview with Gizmag, the team explained that the vehicle will be able to reach heights of up to 38,000 feet, with a top speed of 550 mph.
The team is working to have a prototype in the sky in the next four years, and while it may be the first flying car with real world viability, it also comes with a hefty price tag of 3 to five million dollars.
Morpheus Lands in the Dark: On May 28, NASA landed an unmanned spacecraft on a rugged planetary surface, in the pitch dark. The free-flight test was the first of its kind for NASA's Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology, or ALHAT.
During testing, Morpheus, an unmanned spacecraft capable of carrying 1,100 pounds of cargo, powered its way up to more than 800 feet into the dark Florida sky at NASA's Kennedy Space Center using solely ALHAT's Hazard Detection System for guidance.
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