Building a real Firefly ship by IanR

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Building a real Firefly ship

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POSTED BY: IANR
UPDATED: Thursday, February 2, 2012 15:40
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/veYtP9
VIEWED: 7931
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Saturday, January 1, 2011 10:52 PM

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.

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 1:41 AM

LWAVES

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

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 2:48 AM

WISHIMAY

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.

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 6:17 AM

INVADERCHAT

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

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 7:03 AM

IANR

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 :)

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 12:46 PM

WISHIMAY

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...

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 4:27 PM

IANR

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!!!

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 5:26 PM

OPTIMUS1998

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

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Sunday, January 2, 2011 6:26 PM

IANR

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

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Friday, December 2, 2011 3:02 PM

WISHIMAY

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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Friday, December 2, 2011 3:04 PM

WISHIMAY

Hey IanR!
You ever get anwhere's with your fabulous ideas??

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 12:40 PM

LWAVES

Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
Hey IanR!
You ever get anwhere's with your fabulous ideas??

A quick check shows that he hasn't posted since January 3rd and only in this thread.

I see several possibilities:

1) He came to his senses, realised what he was attemting to achieve and moved on to other, more realistic projects.
2) The Fox lawyers heard about it and sent a cease and desist letter that persuaded him to stop.
3) He got the fuel mixture wrong and....KABOOM!
4) He managed to build it and take off but the fuel mixture was still wrong and he is currently fertilising farmland somewhere between Indianapolis and San Diego.
5) He succeeded 100% and now works for NASA developing several ships. This is the real reason they abandoned the Space Shuttle.
6) He got to space and encountered a huge black monolith. He currently shares a room with a man called Dave singing "Daisy, Daisy...."
6) My favourite though is that he built it, flew it and achieved a low orbit but didn't stop. He is now frozen, floating through space, in an orbit that will return him to Earth 500 years later where women wear tight jumpsuits and there are annoying gold robots that go "Biddi biddi."

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

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 3:13 PM

WISHIMAY

You haven't been thinkin' on this AT ALL, have you?

I'm still gonna keep my fingers crossed. Maybe someday I'll get one helluvan invite.

Although I figered the words "stock broker" were the problem. It's been a fun year for that, I hear...

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 3:55 PM

RAHLMACLAREN

"Damn yokels, can't even tell a transport ship ain't got no guns on it." - Jayne Cobb

I hope at very least he builds a Firefly shaped RV. He can convert it to a spaceship later.

--------------------------------------------------
Find here the Serenity you seek. -Tara Maclay

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 5:43 PM

WISHIMAY

Now THAT'S an idea!

I just may hafta do that one a these days....

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Saturday, December 3, 2011 11:10 PM

CALHOUN

Muahahahhaha! Classic!

He is an engineer who knows EVERY SINGLE FORMULA there is to know about rocketry and advanced hypersonic ballistics.. he did some SIMPLE calculations and decided the Firefly spaceship is EXTREMELY realistic.

He is also a stockbroker who created an AI software and will shortly have a billion dollars to play with..

Quote:
IanR wrote:
Saturday, January 01, 2011 22:52

After all don't we aspire to misbehave?

misbehaving by telling lies mayhaps?

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Sunday, December 4, 2011 1:03 PM

JO753

rezident owtsidr

Had a look at hiz blog. Sez he secured financing on Feb 27. Sum stuff about finding supplyrz and machinez.

Still checking in here, Ian?

He obviously haz no notion about the cost uv R&D.
Just az an example, developing a new car iz about a billion dollarz, and it won't be much different frum the rest uv the carz rolling around now, or for that matter, carz frum fifty yirz ago!

Plus, he duzn't hav a good handle on how much a real Firefly woud weigh. Frum wut we see, we're talking about ocean going ship style construction here - not aircraft at all. So you gotta figure the serenity iz going to be 10,000 tonz, maybe 50,000. Bottom line - again quite obvious - we need sum form uv gravity control at least and preferably a way to negate inertia also.

Az for propulsion, I actually hav an idea that coud work pretty well, but just to test it coud cost 10,000,000 or more.

If it works, then all we need iz a breakthrough in science that figurez out how the UFOz work, and we're in bizness!

Doing the impossible often starts with ignoring wut the 'experts' say iz impossible.

-------------------------------------------------
MOR XeN 70 RxS SPINING UBoWT XU GaLIKSE & XU MEK HaV INHeRITID NoT U 1. - MaL
http://www.nooalf.com

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011 4:14 AM

WISHIMAY

Well, he popped in chat...but that was that...Guess he remembers we're still here...

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Thursday, February 2, 2012 3:23 PM

IANR

Hi all... project is on track. I have about 1/2 of the necessary money.

I also created the brains of such a spaceship using a neural net enabled training to stabilize using the 2 reactors.

Yes from the get go the Firefly is an extremely realistic design. Its center of gravity is near perfect in the center where the hinges for the engines are.

Soon!

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Thursday, February 2, 2012 3:35 PM

WISHIMAY

Well, I for one am stoked to hear you are still plugging along, an even more amazing feat considering the fabulous economic state.

Maybe SOMETHING in this decade won't completely suck.

Keep at it, Darlin'- I have faith in ya...

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Thursday, February 2, 2012 3:35 PM

CHRISISALL

Quote:
Originally posted by IanR:
Hi all... project is on track. I have about 1/2 of the necessary money.

Oh please, PLEASE just go to Joss Whedon with that coin & offer to bankroll a new Firefly movie/series...

The laughing Chrisisall

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Thursday, February 2, 2012 3:40 PM

IANR

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by IanR:
Hi all... project is on track. I have about 1/2 of the necessary money.

Oh please, PLEASE just go to Joss Whedon with that coin & offer to bankroll a new Firefly movie/series...

Come on will be more fun to have them fly in a real spaceship :)

I think the reemergence of a new series will be a matter of what offer is the best from all the networks lining up. I expect HBO to win that one maybe and add more interesting material :)

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