The discussion centers on the feasibility of the fictional spacecraft Serenity flying in hover mode, comparing it to real-world aircraft like the V-22 Osprey. Key points include the challenges of stability due to the center of gravity being close to the lift force and the inadequacy of Serenity's wing design for effective flight. Participants agree that a high-tech flight stabilization system would be necessary for an RC version of Serenity, and they suggest that a quadrotor design would be a more manageable project. Overall, the consensus is that Serenity would struggle to achieve stable flight due to its aerodynamic limitations.
PREREQUISITESAerospace engineers, hobbyist RC aircraft builders, and anyone interested in the principles of flight dynamics and stability in unconventional aircraft designs.
DaveC426913 said:You're comparing a Saturn V to a Firefly??
I am fairly certain the Wright brothers would take one look and an F104 Starfighter and laugh their butts off.
Yes. We don't actually know how the mass is distributed internally. For all we know, the bilge is very dense.Lancelot59 said:I tend to agree here. Just because it's unconventional doesn't mean it wouldn't work. That vertical moment looks like it could be balanced out. The clockwise moment from the cockpit balanced by the counterclockwise moment of the rear end, which sits lower than the pylons, and the centre of mass.
DaveC426913 said:Yes. We don't actually know how the mass is distributed internally. For all we know, the bilge is very dense.Additionally, as far as the aerodynamic stability Henry is concerned about, even aircraft today must be computer-controlled to be stable. Many modern jet fighters are minutely controlled on the order of 30 times per second to remain in stable flight, without which they would break up faster than they could fall out of the sky.
It is not unreasonable to suppose that a spacecraft an indeterminate number of centuries in the future might be similarly sophisticated.