In this design (which is just a quick concept - I think the theory should be tested) the 'entire' skin has the heating elements. Imagine just below the aluminum skin is a network of small heating elements (nichrome wire). This network heats the entire surface, not just the nose. A thin layer of water forms around the entire craft making it slippery. Its weight coupled with the heating will allow this type of craft to move slowly downward.
Since our model will not be carrying any radioactive heating elements anytime soone, the idea was to have a single wire provide power to augment the batteries - unless of course someone wants to calculate exactly how much dc power it would take to melt ~ 180,000 cubic inches of water - (pi * 6) * (500' * 12) or there abouts. Note: I did say this is a rough sketch. I can add more of the mental notes I have. As a matter of fact I was thinking about some pictures of the process to make a skin of this type - I might have enough materials to at least test the theory. Joe Latrell On Tue, 2002-10-29 at 17:34, A.J. Mackenzie wrote: > > > Okay, who gets the napkin drawing? I have a really > > rough sketch in .PDF > > format. > > > > I didn't think it would be appropriate to send it > > through the list so I > > dropped a copy here: > > > > > http://www.beyond-earth.com/proteus/proteus_0_0_1.pdf > > okay, that's kinda neat, but i do have a couple > questions: > > 1) where's the heating element located in this model? > i assume it's in the nose somewhere, but all i see > there is "weight". how big does the heating element > have to be to melt enough ice to allow the vehicle to > pass? i guess this is a function of the temperature > of the ice, the temperature of the heating element, > and the speed of the vehicle, but i don't have any > idea what those variables should be. > > 2) what do you do with the meltwater? i assume you > pass it though the vehicle itself using some kind of > conduits, but i didn't see that detail in the sketch. > > - a.j. > > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now > http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/ > == > You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/ == You are subscribed to the Europa Icepick mailing list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Project information and list (un)subscribe info: http://klx.com/europa/
