Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr (Post 623313)

I guess an eventual commercially-viable hybrid aircraft powerplant will be premiered in some military application, as most of them remain using electric starters unlike airliners which now feature air starters more often. But anyway, it's likely to be dependent on the development of solid-state batteries which might be more suitable to the wider range of atmospheric pressures and the faster changes on this parameter they would underwent on flight.

Originally Posted by California98Civic (Post 623314)

Solid state but not the ever ellusive graphene battery?

Originally Posted by q4Fry ( 1322209 )

Thanks for the link. I found the next two paragraphs to be interesting, too. Emphasis is mine.

The question is one of scaling. At the air flow rates (around 1m3/h) and microwave powers (less than 1kW) that the researchers tested, everything scaled very nicely. But the airflows are in the region of about 15,000 times lower than those for a full-sized engine. The thrust also has to scale by about four orders of magnitude (meaning the power does, too). Extrapolating linear trends over four orders of magnitude is a good way to be disappointed in life.

I also believe that the warning signs are already in the paper. If you look carefully, there are some missing data points. For instance, at the highest microwave power, only lower flow rates are tested, while for low microwave power, all flow rates are tested. That seems like an odd omission. I suspect the plasma is not stable at high flows and high powers.

Originally Posted by freebeard (Post 623569)

Did you follow the links?