Tag Archives: innovation

December 23, 2015 · 9:39 pm

Company unveils airplane design with seats on top of aircraft

Published December 16, 2015

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Sit high above it all in a transparent canopy that sits on top of the airplane. (Windspeed Technologies)

We’ve seen some pretty scary airplane seat designs.

From unwieldy bicycle-seat triangles to split level stackers, most design firms are just looking for new ways to cram more and more passengers into the cabin.

But a new design from Washington-based firm Windspeed Technologies is really a breath of fresh air.

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The SkyDeck can accessed via elevator or folding staircase. (Windspeed Technologies)

Introducing the SkyDeck— a patent-pending seat design that aims to give a few lucky passengers a 360 degree view of the surrounding clouds by sitting them on top of the plane in a fully transparent bubble.

Unlike other seat design models, the SkyDeck is designed to be incorporated into existing types of aircraft and would cost between $8 million to $25 million to install depending on the type of plane.

Experience 360 views in Windspeed’s latest video animation.

“Current in-flight entertainment offerings have not changed much over the decades. We wanted to come up with a product that would provide a higher level of entertainment to reduce the boredom of long flights,” says Windspeed of the new design.

The canopy itself will be comprised of “the same high strength proprietary material as those used on supersonic fighter jets” and will be able to withstand a variety of hits including bird strikes. An aerodynamic “teardrop” shape of the canopy will help reduce the drag factor while anti-condensation film will be applied to stop it fogging up and a UV-protection coating will passengers from burning up inside the transparent vestibule.

Guests can access the SkyDeck via a Jetsons-era looking elevator chute or take stairs from the main level galley.

Though an airline has yes to put in an order for a SkyDeck, the company says it would take just 18 months from order date until the plane is up and running with its seats in the clouds.

 

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November 10, 2015 · 7:45 pm

F-35A Lightning II fighter gets new gun

By

Published November 05, 2015

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Ultra advanced stealth, fighter jet speed … and now the military’s F-35 has a new weapon.

The F-35 Lightning II is a truly fifth-generation fighter jet. This advanced powerful single-seat and single-engine fighter is designed to be capable of a range of missions with just one aircraft.

Test pilot Maj. Charles “Flak” Trickey recently fired the F35A’s internal Gun Airborne Unit -22/A 25mm Gatling gun system in three airborne gunfire bursts. A success, this first aerial gun test was conducted out at the China Lake, Calif., test range on Oct. 30 2015.

Raw video of first aerial gun test above the China Lake, California, test range

Related: 11 stunning F-22 fighter jet images

This is a key step in certifying the gun for use in the F-35A and the aircraft is on track to enter initial operational capability with the U.S. Air Force next year.

The F-35 is the result of collaboration between prime contractor Lockheed Martin and principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems.

Next-Gen Air Dominance

Stealth was built into this aircraft from the very start. The F-35 also possesses other fifth-generation features like integrated avionics, sensor fusion and incredibly powerful sensor packages.

The Pratt & Whitney F135 propulsion system gives the aircraft phenomenal power – it is able to reach speeds of over 1199 mph.

With this new gun, pilots will have the ability to engage air-to-ground and air-to-air targets. The 25mm gun is embedded into the F-35A’s left wing in a way that keeps the aircraft stealthy.

Over the next year, testing will continue with the gun integrated into the fighter’s sensor fusion software. The software will provide targeting data to the pilot through the pilot’s state of the art helmet-mounted display.

Related: 11 amazing A-10 Warthog images

Even the helmets on this aircraft are next generation. Pilots wearing them can see through the aircraft and the heads up display provides unprecedented data. Each pilot gets a personalized version.

Rather than deploy different aircraft specializing in different things, the F-35 can tackle a range of tasks by itself. Highly versatile, the F-35 can handle missions like air-to-air combat, electronic attack, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and air-to-ground strikes.

Stealth

The F-35 gives pilots the ability to penetrate deep into enemy areas without being detected. The advanced materials and airframe design mean that F-35s can evade radars that other fighters cannot. The plane can get through highly defended air spaces without ever being detected and then clear the way for U.S. forces.

Using weapons like precision-guided munitions and air-to-air radar-guided missiles, the pilots can engage long-range ground targets without being detected and tracked by the enemy.

Combat

When faced with enemy fighter aircraft, the F-35s have a number of advantages. For starters, the F-35 pilots will be able to detect the enemy aircraft long before they are detected themselves. In aerial combat, this means the F-35 can take lethal action first. The fighter’s weapons systems will also give it a big advantage over enemy aircraft.

Related: What you need to know about the new U.S. Air Force stealth bomber

Pilots can leverage the aircraft’s advanced electronic warfare abilities to

locate and track enemy forces. To reach highly protected targets, pilots can jam enemy radars and disrupt attacks on their aircraft using the advanced avionics system.

In an F-35, pilots have 360-degree real time battlespace data. The sensor package is state-of-the-art and any data the sensors collect can be securely shared with commanders all over the world, giving them a more complete picture of operations as they unfold.

The aircraft has a core processor that can perform a mind-blowing 400 billion operations per second.

This helps enable next-gen electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, but also helps to recommend the next target to attack and the best weapon to use.

Replacing Classic Fighters

Over the years, U.S. fighter fleets have been aging and becoming smaller.

There are three variants of the F-35, all of which will be replacing military aircraft. F-35A takes off and lands conventionally. The F-35B is capable of short-take off and vertical-landing and the F-35C is carrier-based.

For the U.S. Air Force, the F-35 variants will replace the A-10 Thunderbolt II and F-16 Fighting Falcon. For the U.S. Navy, they will replace the F/A-18 Hornet. The U.S. Marine Corps will be replacing the F/A-18 and AV-8B Harrier with F-35s.

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter@Allison_Barrie.

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October 24, 2015 · 3:46 pm

Futuristic warship design takes shape

By

Published October 22, 2015

What will warships look like in three decades? Meet the next-generation HMS Dreadnought.

The British Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy challenged young scientists and engineers to design a future warship and the results may surprise you. Defense procurement specialist Startpoint has released stunning images of what the futuristic ship could look like.

This cutting-edge ship concept has been dubbed Dreadnought 2050 in honor of the 1906 HMS Dreadnought, a Royal Naval battleship that eclipsed all other warships at the time.

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Dreadnought 2050 (Startpoint 2015)

Dreadnought 2050, made of futuristic material, features state of the art weapons, command center and more. The ship’s structure is made of ultra-strong acrylic composites that can be turned translucent so that crew can see through it.

This means that from the Ops Room, commanders could see through the hull and watch close-in battles play out.

Weapons

The new Dreadnought would be equipped with a range of state-of-the art weapons like high-velocity torpedoes, speed-of-light weapons and drones constructed on the ship using 3D printers.

The graphene coated acrylic hull would be super strong.

At the bow, Dreadnought 2050 has an electromagnetic railgun that can fire projectiles as far as long-range cruise missiles can go today.

Along the sides of the ship there are missile tubes. These tubes can launch missiles faster than Mach 5 – a hypersonic speed. The futuristic vessel is also equipped with directed energy weapons to thwart incoming threats.

Related: CTruk taps THOR for new military workboats

In the outrigger hulls, there are torpedo tubes that fire supercavitating torpedoes that travel at more than 300 knots.  Supercavitating torpedoes can travel at such whopping speeds because they move through water in a sort of air bubble that reduces drag and friction.

Instead of a standard mast, Dreadnought 2050 has a tethered quadcopter that flies above the ship.

The quadcopter is equipped with multi-spectral sensors that provide critical data. But it is also armed with a laser to take out threats like enemy aircraft, missiles and more.

To provide the significant power these capabilities require, the quadcopter’s tether is made of carbon nanotubes that are cryogenically cooled.

Assault

A floodable dock, or “moon pool,” is incorporated into the design so that amphibious teams like SEALs or Royal Marines can rapidly deploy. The moon pool could also be used to deploy unmanned underwater vehicles on missions such as searching for explosive devices.

Above the dock there is an extendable flight deck and hangar that can be used for a fleet of weaponized drones.

A similarly-sized warship operating today would require about 200 crew, but the innovative warship would require less than half as many personnel. A current Ops Room, for example, could require 25 sailors to run it. Dreadnought 2050’s Ops Room could be run by as few as five Sailors.

Command Table

Dreadnought 2050 features an Ops Room with a 3-D holographic command table. The holographic image can be rotated and commanders can zoom in on specific parts of the battlefield.

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Dreadnought 2050 (Startpoint 2015)

From the Ops Room, five or six people can control all operations from the deepest parts of the ocean through to outer space. From underwater and sea surface through to land and air, all areas of operation can be displayed and reviewed. Crew can use smaller holographic pods to manage specific areas of operation.

Real time data can be transmitted including secure voice, video or data to wherever it is needed.

Power

The Dreadnought 2050 warship is powered by a fusion reactor or highly efficient turbines. The turbines drive silent electric motors to water jets.

The graphene coating on the hull helps reduce drag and enhance speed. And the Dreadnought will have a low profile to ensure it is stealthy and hard to detect.

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter@Allison_Barrie.

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October 21, 2015 · 2:15 pm

World’s first pocket spectrometer lets you measure the molecular makeup of nearly anything

 

by Tafline Laylin
SCiO is a new gadget that instantly measures the molecular fingerprint of just about anything you see, and it fits in your pocket. Want to know the alcohol content of that beer you’re about to slurp down or how many grams of sugar are in your apple? This mini spectrometer will tell you. Equipped with some of the capabilities of large, heavy laboratory spectrometers, but built around the kind of optics used in cell phone cameras, the SCiO measures the light reflected off any given object, breaks down its spectrum, and then sends that information to the cloud. Consumer Physics‘ unique algorithms immediately interpret the resulting data and the results show up on your cell phone within 5 seconds on a 3G connection. Designed to empower you with knowledge of your environment, medicine, food, and a near-infinite number of things, the SCiO will also allow you to participate in building the world’s first database of matter.

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“SCiO is based on the proven near-IR spectroscopy method,” writes Consumer Physics. “The physical basis for this material analysis method is that each type of molecule vibrates in its own unique way, and these vibrations interact with light to create a unique optical signature.”

“With every scan, SCiO learns more about the world around us, so we can all get smarter,” the Israel-based developers continue. “Our development team has taught SCiO some exciting things, like to tell how much fat is in any salad dressing, how much sugar is in a particular piece of fruit, how pure an oil is and lots more.”

In addition to non-invasively harvesting, computing and storing the data about every bit of matter recorded to contribute to the first database of its kind, the SCiO would allow consumers to be more informed about the energetic quantity and quality of everything they consume. This will make it difficult, for example, for big agricultural companies to pass off unhealthy lettuce at the grocery story. By illuminating that lettuce and breaking down its spectrum, the SCiO is able to extract a great deal of information. In other words, light, combined with cutting-edge technology, may expose everything from nefarious ingredients woven into our food, environment and medicine to the calorie content of our favorite chocolate, which we might not want to know.

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Computer Physics is careful to note, however, the device can’t detect the presence or absence of everything.

“SCiO is NOT a medical device and should NOT be relied on to protect you from allergens under any circumstances,” the company explains. “Since SCiO is designed to measure small portions of a sample or food at a time, it cannot guarantee the absence of specific molecules on your plate, or in a serving. SCiO can tell you major components of foods (i.e. with typical concentration of 1% or more), while some allergens can be hazardous even in lower concentrations.”

The product’s genius is (partially) in its built-in perpetuity. As more consumers use it, so does its efficacy grow. The more information stored in the company’s database, the more information it has to share. Compatible with several models of iPhones and Androids and retailing for $249, the SCiO also comes with a developer kit. Which means even a dunce like me can learn how to build a a new molecular sensor model, and that’s nothing short of unreal.

+ SCiO

Images via Consumer Physics

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October 11, 2015 · 9:47 pm

Physicists Discover New Massless Particle; Could Revolutionize Electronics & Quantum Computing

Posted By: Jolene Creightonon: July 25, 2015

Hasan massless particle

Physics may have just taken a new leap forward, as three independent groups of physicists have found strong evidence for massless particles called “Weyl fermions,” which exist as quasiparticles – collective excitations of electrons. Ultimately, this discovery is over 80 years in the making, dating back to Paul Dirac.

In 1928, Dirac came up with an equation that described the spin of fermions (fermions are the building blocks that make up all matter). Within his equation, he discovered that, in relation to particles that have charge and mass, there should be a another particle and antiparticle—what we know as the electron and (its antiparticle) the positron.

Yet, there are more than one ways to skin a cat.

Other solutions to this equation hinted at more exotic kinds of particles. Enter Hermann Weyl, a German mathematician who, in 1929, come up with a solution that involved massless particles. These became known as “Weyl fermions.” And, for a number of years, physicists believed that neutrinos (subatomic particles that are produced by the decay of radioactive elements) were actually Weyl particles. Yet, further studies, which were published in 1998, indicated that neutrinos do, in fact, have mass, which means that they cannot be the aforementioned Weyl particles.

But now, we have evidence that Weyl fermions actually exist.

Unlocking the Find

The research comes thanks to Zahid Hasan over at Princeton University, who uncovered these particles in the semimetal tanatalum arsenide (which is referred to as TaAs). Hasan and his team suggested that  TaAs should contain Weyl fermions and (here is the important bit) it should have what is known as a “Fermi arc.” And in 2014, the team found evidence of such an arc.

Artist's rendition via ChutterStock

But that’s not all, another team, led by Hongming Weng at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found similar evidence in an independent study that used the same methods. And Marin Soljačić and colleagues (hailing from MIT and the Univeristy of China) have seen evidence of Weyl fermions in a different material, specifically, a “double-gyroid” photonic crystal.

In this latter case, the team fired microwaves at the crystal and measured microwave transmission through it, varying the frequency of the microwaves throughout the experiment. Through this process, the team could map the structure of the crystal, allowing them to determine which microwave frequencies can travel through the crystal and which cannot. In the end, this revealed the presence of “Weyl points” in the structure, which is strong evidence for Weyl fermion states existing within the photonic crystal.

The Future of Physics

The significance of this find, quite literally, cannot be overstated. Hasan is clear to point this out, noting in the press release that, “The physics of the Weyl fermion are so strange, there could be many things that arise from this particle that we’re just not capable of imagining now.”

He goes on to note more specific applications: “It’s like they have their own GPS and steer themselves without scattering. They will move and move only in one direction since they are either right-handed or left-handed and never come to an end because they just tunnel through. These are very fast electrons that behave like unidirectional light beams and can be used for new types of quantum computing.” Soljačić, the head of the second study, adds that, “The discovery of Weyl points is not only the smoking gun to a scientific mystery, it paves the way to absolutely new photonic phenomena and applications.”

Ultimately, it is believed Weyl fermions could be very useful, in that, because they are massless, they can conduct electric charge much faster than normal electrons. Admittedly, this same feature is exhibited by electrons in graphene. Yet, graphene is a 2D material, Weyl fermions are thought to exist in more practical 3D materials.

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September 14, 2015 · 10:46 pm

Glass Invented for Drinking Whiskey in Space – Finally!

A Special Whisky Glass for Special Space Whisky

Shaunacy Ferro

If Galactic’s first commercial flights are any indication, life in space could use a bit more glamour. Astronauts may be fine drinking recycled pee, but celebrities and wealthy space enthusiasts, who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to get beyond Earth’s atmosphere, may want to sip something a little stronger. Enter Scotch-maker Ballantine’s new space glass, designed for drinking in microgravity.

Without Earth’s gravity, a regular snifter would send droplets of fancy Scotch soaring into the air—and away from mouths. The Ballantine’s glass is designed to keep the whisky where it belongs. A metal plate at the bottom of the glass creates surface tension to keep the Scotch—poured into the bottom of the cup—contained. Rivulets running up the side of the glass channel the liquid directly into the mouth via a gold mouthpiece. (The company details the design process here.)

Scotch whisky companies seem particularly determined to corner the space drinking market. Ardberg whisky, for instance, is already an old pro at intergalactic refreshments, as vials of the Scotch spent several years on the International Space Station before returning last year. (The verdict: space makes smoky Scotch even smokier.) Several breweries also offer beer made from yeast that’s left Earth and returned, in case hard liquor isn’t your cup of astro-tea.

Naturally, those of us who are earthbound can still buy Ballantine’s space glass for an out-of-this-world experience.

[h/t: The New York Times]

All images by Ballantine’s via Medium

September 8, 2015 – 5:00pm

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September 3, 2015 · 2:38 pm

World’s thinnest light bulb created from graphene

LiveScience

By Jesse Emspak

Published June 16, 2015

graphene-light-bulb

When a current was run through strips of graphene that were placed across a trench of silicon, the result was light emission. (Young Duck Kim/Columbia Engineering)

Graphene, a form of carbon famous for being stronger than steel and more conductive than copper, can add another wonder to the list: making light.

Researchers have developed a light-emitting graphene transistor that works in the same way as the filament in a light bulb.

“We’ve created what is essentially the world’s thinnest light bulb,” study co-author James Hone, a mechanical engineer at Columbia University in New York, said in a statement.

Scientists have long wanted to create a teensy “light bulb” to place on a chip, enabling what is called photonic circuits, which run on light rather than electric current. The problem has been one of size and temperature — incandescent filaments must get extremely hot before they can produce visible light. This new graphene device, however, is so efficient and tiny, the resulting technology could offer new ways to make displays or study high-temperature phenomena at small scales, the researchers said.

Making light

When electric current is passed through an incandescent light bulb’s filament — usually made of tungsten — the filament heats up and glows. Electrons moving through the material knock against electrons in the filament’s atoms, giving them energy. Those electrons return to their former energy levels and emit photons (light) in the process. Crank up the current and voltage enough and the filament in the light bulb hits temperatures of about 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit for an incandescent. This is one reason light bulbs either have no air in them or are filled with an inert gas like argon: At those temperatures tungsten would react with the oxygen in air and simply burn.

In the new study, the scientists used strips of graphene a few microns across and from 6.5 to 14 microns in length, each spanning a trench of silicon like a bridge. (A micron is one-millionth of a meter, where a hair is about 90 microns thick.) An electrode was attached to the ends of each graphene strip. Just like tungsten, run a current through graphene and the material will light up. But there is an added twist, as graphene conducts heat less efficiently as temperature increases, which means the heat stays in a spot in the center, rather than being relatively evenly distributed as in a tungsten filament.

Myung-Ho Bae, one of the study’s authors, told Live Science trapping the heat in one region makes the lighting more efficient. “The temperature of hot electrons at the center of the graphene is about 3,000 K [4,940 F], while the graphene lattice temperature is still about 2,000 K [3,140 F],” he said. “It results in a hotspot at the center and the light emission region is focused at the center of the graphene, which also makes for better efficiency.” It’s also the reason the electrodes at either end of the graphene don’t melt.

As for why this is the first time light has been made from graphene, study co-leader Yun Daniel Park, a professor of physics at Seoul National University, noted that graphene is usually embedded in or in contact with a substrate.

“Physically suspending graphene essentially eliminates pathways in which heat can escape,” Park said. “If the graphene is on a substrate, much of the heat will be dissipated to the substrate. Before us, other groups had only reported inefficient radiation emission in the infrared from graphene.”

The light emitted from the graphene also reflected off the silicon that each piece was suspended in front of. The reflected light interferes with the emitted light, producing a pattern of emission with peaks at different wavelengths. That opened up another possibility: tuning the light by varying the distance to the silicon.

The principle of the graphene is simple, Park said, but it took a long time to discover.

“It took us nearly five years to figure out the exact mechanism but everything (all the physics) fit. And, the project has turned out to be some kind of a Columbus’ Egg,” he said, referring to a legend in which Christopher Columbus challenged a group of men to make an egg stand on its end; they all failed and Columbus solved the problem by just cracking the shell at one end so that it had a flat bottom.

The research is detailed in the June 15 issue of Nature Nantechnology.

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August 26, 2015 · 10:32 pm

Wormhole Illusion Causes Magnetic Field To Move Through Space Undetected

August 20, 2015 | by Jonathan O’Callaghan

Wormhole illustration

photo credit: An illustration of a wormhole in action. edobric/Shutterstock.

Scientists have developed a magnetic system that mimics the behavior of a wormhole – theorized to allow space-time to be bent, and vast distances to be traveled in an instant – but it absolutely is not an actual wormhole, so don’t get too excited. However, what they did, which was to make a propagating magnetic field invisible, is actually very interesting. You can get excited again.

The research, by a team from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), was published in the journal Scientific Reports. They describe how they created a small sphere about 45 millimeters (1.8 inches) across, made of a spherical ferromagnetic (one that can become magnetized) surface, a spherical superconducting layer, and an inner ferromagnetic sheet wound in a spiral. The superconducting layer was made of superconducting strips glued to a sphere, and the entire device needed to be submerged in liquid nitrogen for the superconductor to work. The magnetic field was supplied at one end by a current passing through a coil.

When the magnetic field entered the sphere at one end, the researchers showed how it would appear at the other end as an isolated monopolar-like field – but within the sphere itself, there was no trace of the magnetic field. The dual-layered design was responsible for making the magnetic field invisible; the attraction and repulsion of the magnetic field was cancelled out, making it undetectable. “Our wormhole transfers the magnetic field from one point in space to another through a path that is magnetically undetectable,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

“It disappears in one point and reappears in a different point, as if it were travelling through another dimension,” lead researcher Alvaro Sanchez added to IFLScience.

Shown is an illustration of the field entering the sphere, left, and passing out, right, like a “wormhole.” Jordi Prat-Camps and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Why is this important? It means that the magnetic field could travel from one side of the sphere to the other without producing any noticeable effects. If you placed a magnet inside the sphere, it would not be influenced by this propagating field at all. Of course, in this case the magnetic field is actually very much there in the sphere – it’s just not detectable. In an actual theoretical wormhole, an object would disappear at one point in space-time and reappear at another. So this isn’t quite the real deal.

“It can be said to be like an illusion,” said Sanchez. “It’s not an actual wormhole, it’s not creating a real path in space-time that connects two points. It’s a magnetic field that achieves a similar effect.”

On the possible applications for the research, Sanchez said it could be useful for magnetic resonance imagers (MRIs) in medicine. “One could perhaps use this kind of wormhole to do simultaneous imaging,” he said. “You could have three detectors in one MRI scan to take images of the knee, liver and head. They would not interfere, because their magnetic fields would be invisible.”

The team now wants to study the same effect using different geometries. For example, they might try and use a cylinder instead of a sphere to recreate the effect, to highlight some of the more practical applications for the technique.

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August 17, 2015 · 9:03 am

This Crystal Clear Solar Cell Could Turn Every Window into a Power Source

Sep 2, 2014

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSC) produce electricity by focusing sunlight on a small area, which works in a similar way as setting fire to dry leaves using a magnifying glass.

However, the problem is that they are quite large and not so attractive, as they have the function, but lack beauty. There have been attempts to integrate solar concentrators with windows, but, as a result, they altered the color and transparency of the glass.

Now, material engineers at Michigan State University have designed totally transparent solar concentrators, which could be built into windows without blocking the light and disturbing the view, or even used on smartphone screens.

“No one wants to sit behind colored glass,” said the lead researcher of the study Richard Lunt in a press release. “It makes for a very colorful environment, like working in a disco. We take an approach where we actually make the luminescent active layer itself transparent.”

The researchers achieved this by developing a system that diverts wavelengths invisible to the human eye. In particular, the concentrator absorbs light in the ultraviolet and near infrared spectrum and then transmits it in the infrared.

After this, the light is directed to the photovoltaic cells, which generate electricity. Since we are not able to perceive the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, the material remains transparent and looks to the human eye like ordinary glass.

The new technology is very promising but needs some improvements in terms of efficiency. The solar concentrator developed by the scientists of Michigan State University reaches only about 1% of solar conversion efficiency. However, they hope to increase it to 5%, as there are some non-transparent luminescent solar concentrators that are operating at an efficiency of about 7%.

Of course, there are other solar technologies that are far more effective, such as conventional solar panels that are typically installed on the roofs of the buildings, which absorb a wider range of wavelengths and thus reach 15-40% of solar conversion efficiency.

At the same time, the transparent technology has the potential to be used in a variety of applications, including commercial and industrial use.

As Lunt said, “It opens a lot of area to deploy solar energy in a non-intrusive way. It can be used on tall buildings with lots of windows or any kind of mobile device that demands high aesthetic quality like a phone or e-reader. Ultimately we want to make solar harvesting surfaces that you do not even know are there.”

Image credits: Yimu Zhao

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August 13, 2015 · 12:38 am

Fascinating floating city shaped like a manta ray would be 100% self-sustaining

ARCHITECTURE

by , 08/02/15

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French architect Jacques Rougerie has envisioned a giant floating city which bears a striking resemblance to a manta ray. He discusses his love for the ocean in an interview, where he calls himself a “mérien,” a term he coined which translates to “one belonging to the sea.” His dream is for likeminded individuals to populate his City of Mériens, to conduct research on the surrounding ocean.

Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.
Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.
Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.
Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.

City of Mériens, Jacques Rougerie, manta ray floating city, floating city, oceanic research, seaorbiter, ocean research, university city, city shaped like manta ray

Rougerie is no stranger to aquatic design. His SeaOrbiter vessel is currently in production, and is planned to make visits to the City of Mériens via its large inner lagoon. The 3,000 foot by 1,600 foot structure can house 7,000 researchers, professors, and students and will be equipped with laboratories, classrooms, living quarters, and space for leisure activities and sports.

Related: The SeaOrbiter futuristic marine research vessel just reached its crowdfunding goal, set to begin construction

The city would be completely self-sustaining, as well, running on marine energy and producing no waste whatsoever. If the idea of a structure dedicated to understanding and caring for the oceanic environment isn’t enough, the fact that it is designed to have low to no impact on said environment is even more exciting.

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Rougerie describes his love for the sea in an interview with the radio station French Inter: “I feel very, very good underwater. I feel different. Another type of imagination is awakened in me as soon as I am underwater.” It is his hope others who share this awe and reverence will continue to study and protect Earth’s precious seas.

+ Jacques Rougerie

Via The Creators Project

Images via Jacques Rougerie

Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.
Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.
Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.
Jacques Rougerie envisions a floating city shaped like a Manta Ray that would be 100 percent self-sustaining.

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