Think Sting Ray times 10,000. Made out of carbon fibers and ultralight pneumatic machinery, carefully calibrated to be bouyant anywhere under a ceiling of 5,000 feet, the Sting Ray has a total surface area of 50 acres, and travels at an average speed of 40 miles an hour using longitudinal undulations along its direction of motion forced by preprogrammed pneumatic controls to an elaborate construction of 380,000 carbon fiber hydraulic pumps spanning the entire area of the plane.
-- daseva, Jun 24 2005

introduction to stingray http://www.bbc.co.u...tingray/intro.shtml
[po, Jun 24 2005]

Manta Ray diving suit Manta_20Ray_20Diving_20Suit
[JesusHChrist, Jun 24 2005]

Prospective Concepts Stingray http://www.myairshi...abase/prospect.html
[BunsenHoneydew, Dec 14 2006]

Can you justify those figures or have they been plucked out of thin air?
-- angel, Jun 24 2005


Cool - I really am a fan of this kind of idea - I think enormous flying squid/jellyfish style machines would be awesome to watch, not to mention being effective and economical modes of transport. It's all in the design, usage of strong yet gossamer light materials, and complex control routines [+]
-- zen_tom, Jun 24 2005


The design is mostly intuitive with tweaks to these figures as optimally acquired.

So, yeah, thin air.
-- daseva, Jun 24 2005


I love it - a huge air jellyfish sort of thing. The entire upper surface could be thin-film amorphous photovoltaic collectors to power it.

If it's powerful enough to stay on station, perhaps there could be enough power to act as a TV repeater, or obnoxious overhead advertising, or a convenient tourist attraction...

Maybe I don't love it so much anymore.

WTF, I'm bunning it anyway. Neat idea.
-- elhigh, Jun 24 2005


Yay rays. (link)
-- JesusHChrist, Jun 24 2005


See [link]. Not 50 acres, and conventionally propelled, but at least it uses pneumatically driven flexing control surfaces. And it has the right name.
-- BunsenHoneydew, Dec 14 2006



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