DARPA wants to harness your imagination
Posted 10.09.2008 at 10:09 am
10 Comments
DARPA
It sounds like a Hollywood concept, but DARPA wants to make the submersible aircraft a reality -- and they need your help. This week, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency put out a request for designs: they want a vehicle with a 2,000-pound capacity that can cover an area of about 1,000 nautical miles, fly that distance in just eight hours, and -- by the way -- fly both above and below water.
The concept would allow the Department of Defense to create an aircraft that can fly along coastal waters, deliver supplies to warships, and go underwater for reconnaissance missions for short periods of time. DARPA would also like their submersible aircraft to be able to float on the surface for about three days to provide aid to stranded personnel.
Designers have until December 1 at 4:00 pm Eastern to submit proposals. According to the DARPA site, "the proposal needs to outline a conceptual design along with identifying the major technological limitations that need to be overcome in order to maneuver an aircraft underwater. In addition to the conceptual design studies, performers need to outline experiments or computational models that will be used to demonstrate that the major technological limitations can be overcome."
The solicitation number, for those keeping track, is DARPA-BAA-09-06. DARPA is known for proposals that are rather Asimovian in their imaginativeness and hope for a robot-filled future. Last year, the government agency -- which has sponsored two robotic car races -- solicited designers to invent a remote-controllable living cyborg moth that could perform surveillance duties. That project, known as Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, is now under development, but there has been scant news as to how the moths will be used or how far along the project might be.
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Reconnaissance and supply my butt. This thing is going to be a rapid insertion vehicle for covert ops teams.
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea --"Break out the flying sub"
And we thought it was just a goofy tv show
also, this is the military we are talking about. do they want a general idea or a hi res blueprint with all the wiring complete with coffe machine and tanning salon. i'm guessing the latter, so how many people even have that type of programming to design this. i would think that this type of project would be for university teams for their semester project. this isn't something that you can just write down on a napkin and expect it to work. we are talking about months of work here.
anyways good luck to those who are submitting, i'm rooting for u guys. have fun
according to DARPA, it wants an aircraft that can fly 125mph in the air. That's borderline useless if you ask me
NOW they want this. I designed an aircraft with these same capabilities in 1974!
It was internally stabilized, jet powered, handle about 4500 lbs of payload, and had vertical take-off and landing capabilities. To top the package off it included easy-to-use controls and computer-aided navigation powered from a TRS-80.
With newer technology now out it would be even easier to build.
Anyone interested in the design concepts can contact me.
this would be fun for personal use. =D
HEY....who you callin' "goofy"?
A flyin' sub? Easy.
An honest politician, now THAT'S HARD!
I know how!!!
Yes, yes, yes...
"DARPA wants", but will they pay the prize???
I designed an engine without fuel recharge but
for experimental work are need over US 6 million...
...Will they pay the prize???
O>O
Yo Ive got an idea for you folks your best bet for an engin design would be a turbine device that uses water and electricity theres a way to do this as well but to have it work even better underwater would be to have the intrance to it where the water would colaps in on its self as well as air cause it could run better with the electricity added with colapsing air to force it through it faster and when underwater you could use less electricity and auctually build up some because of the emplosiveness of the water getting sucked in by its self also propelling the plain as well add that to a nice aero dynamic design and bam you have your plane also have it pressurized with a nice design build into the frame and a few more things added with it and you could soop it up be awsome. O>O