Building a real Firefly ship

POSTED BY: IanR
UPDATED: Friday, February 3, 2012 01:40
VIEWED: 9122
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IANR

Sunday, January 2, 2011 8:52 AM

I am an astronautics fanatic... I decided to do some simple calculation and the Firefly spaceship as pictured in the series and movie is actually extremly realistic.

I am an engineer but also dabbled in advanced rocketry and know every single formula there is to know about rocketry and advanced hypersonic ballistics.

And there is also the Space Shuttle theory: Put enough trust behind it... and *anything* can fly :)

Here's the blog I started. It's the damn 21st century, and time to think outside the box and create something to go from A to B a little faster than through TSA and the airlines gang...

After all don't we aspire to misbehave?

http://firefly-03-k64.blogspot.com/

As for my background... saw Serenity in 2005 but didn't give too much thought about it. Rediscovered the series lately and it struck me how much Serenity is similar to the Skylon project... except more challenging and fun.

Maybe if we put enough fanatics behind this... this thing WILL fly.

LWAVES

Sunday, January 2, 2011 11:41 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by IanR:
Put enough trust behind it... and *anything* can fly :)

I think you may need 'thrust' behind it. Trust won't get you very far at all.

I can't work out whether this is a joke or not. But given that you created a blog as well I'll go along with it.

I glanced through your blog. It actually sounds like your idea is to build a full scale, fully working ship. I am right in this?
If so, it goes several ways beyond crazy. Having the technical knowledge to know how to do this is one thing but the real world practicalities are another thing. An obvious one to start with is financing. Where is the money coming from for research, testing, prototypes and so on. If you have that kind of huge amount of money available then why not try financing a new series or movie. It would seem a more obtainable goal and would certainly make every Browncoat happy rather than a (frankly) impossible dream.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

WISHIMAY

Sunday, January 2, 2011 12:48 PM

Yeah, but you gotta admit to actually go for a sail in a real Firefly? That would be soooo awesome. Think of the shindigs we could have in that!

Assuming one of us here is just really freaking loaded and we don't know it, maybe not build an actual Serenity from scratch but modify an existing jet? Then we could get some look-alikes, some sake, and a unicorn...But I don't see no reason why it coudn't be done...

Reality sucks.

INVADERCHAT

Sunday, January 2, 2011 4:17 PM

Maybe the Japanese will give it a go once they're done with those 'mechas' or whatever.

IANR

Sunday, January 2, 2011 5:03 PM

Well yes there is the financing issue and also real world constraints.

For financing I am a stock broker and I also dabble in AI and was able to create a nice software letting me multiply some investments... so I hope to quickly get to a critical mass of money needed (500 mil-1 billion).

I clearly state that this thing will have enough ooohhmmmp to go to Low Earth Orbit and that's it (and maybe a few fumes left to break from orbit).

Dry 45-50 tons at most, which is the weight of 2 big rigs.

Think about it.

Total would be 300 tons or so and 80% of fuel.

As far as mainstream technology using liquid hydrogen, the BMW 7 already demonstrated that capability, although as a minuscule scale.

But the use of spherical tanks makes it pretty easy too.

The biggest challenge is to create a ultra lighweight structure using a metallic mesh for example, able to hold not only the tanks, the engines and the fuel tubes but also the legs and crew compartment.

On the plus side after reentry this thing can really glide given a high surface to mass ratio...

The Skylon project pretty much resolved all the technicalities of what panels also to use to absorb the heat of reentry.

What you see at the beginning of Serenity with the ship engulfed in flames would be very realistic too... except in reality it would be even brighter and more pinkish :)

WISHIMAY

Sunday, January 2, 2011 10:46 PM

Well, darlin, if you can burn a miracle and get it flying- More power to ya! You'd be smart to build in Califoria, I'd say the most flans are there...

I don't know what a housemouse from Indiana can contribute, but if you need a Space Janitor or an expert stencil artist give me a ring, woncha? I'm pretty good at keeping the terrifyin' Space Monkeys at bay, too...

IANR

Monday, January 3, 2011 2:27 AM

I have 2 houses: One in Indianapolis and one in San Diego... hence my need to have something to get me from here to there in 20 min or so.

Add to that some frequent travels to NYC and the east coast.

And my employer is in LA.

Having a hypersonic VTOL is more than a fantasy for me... I need it like yesterday.

And they promised us most of the solar system with human colonies by now, back in 1950?

Liars!!!

I guess some things you have to damn yourself!!!

OPTIMUS1998

Monday, January 3, 2011 3:26 AM

i admire the chutzpa here, but if you are gonna build a real world sci-fi ship, my vote is an X-wing...

or a Peacekeeper Prowler

I was a Lima loser for 29 years before "glee" introduced us to the term. -ME

IANR

Monday, January 3, 2011 4:26 AM

Well as I say in my blog there's several factors involved... and based on my knowledge in astronautics what I saw in 3D in the series and movie are decently practical designs.

Plus I just love it... Simple

WISHIMAY

Saturday, December 3, 2011 1:02 AM

I wondered what happened with this...

I've also always wondered why there aren't more mineral mining operations here in the US. I know there are contamination risks, and usually a load of opposition on anything we do, but I think a reputable company with empasis on safety could do some real bidness. I'm sitting here in the middle of a dozen coal mines, it seems like it's already dug up, don't they just have to sort it out??

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