"Researchers" hope to launch paper airplanes from space
By Donald Melanson 
posted January 16th 2008 6:17PM
posted January 16th 2008 6:17PM
There's certainly plenty more than just hard science going on in space, and it now looks like a group of researchers from the University of Tokyo are aiming to get in on that action as well. To that end, they've teamed up with the brains behind the Japan Origami Airplane Association to develop an origami aircraft that'll supposedly be capable of surviving the flight from the International Space Station to the Earth's surface. They even seem to have made some progress already, with them set to test an eight centimeter long prototype in the wind tunnel at the University of Tokyo later this week, where it'll face wind speeds up to 5,300 miles per hour. Of course, it'll face a few more obstacles than that in space, although the researchers assure us the plane has been "treated to withstand intense heat."
[Via Tech Digest]
[Via Tech Digest]
Actually, there may be something to this.
The reason the shuttle gets so hot is the due to the speed at which it enters the atmosphere. It has this speed because it is orbiting the earth and in order to stay in orbit, it has to have a high speed. If the shuttle were slowed to nothing relative to the rotational speed of the earth, it would eventually drop like a rock. They need it entering at speed in order to "fly"/glide as it comes in to land. Without speed, it can not have any control of where it goes.
A paper airplane on the other hand could conceivably enter the atmosphere at a negligible velocity and thus not get extremely hot from friction. It would effectively drop like a leaf (fluttering, as opposed to a rock) until it got into atmosphere that is thick enough for it to start gliding (assuming there is some weight to the front). The trick would be to "launch" it from the shuttle in a way that negates the orbital speed of the shuttle (about 17000 mph).
The meteors that are mentioned in a previous post burn up because of the speed at which they enter the atmosphere and the high amount of friction they encounter.
As you travel from the surface of the earth up through the atmosphere to outer space, it goes from warm to cold to hot to cold at different levels. In the Thermosphere where the shuttle orbits, the temps range from about minus 100 celsius (90km up) to close to 500 celsius at 500km. The shuttle orbits at about 300km.
If you think that anything entering the atmosphere has to get hot enough to burn, then do some checking on the space elevator concepts. Since they do not move at a high speed relative to the surrounding atmosphere, they would not heat up and burn. The same is true of a paper airplane one it gets into enough air to where it starts to drop like a leaf and then glide like a paper plane.
I was saying this 15 years ago. I am confident a paper airplane will survive unscathed. SPEED does not kill on reentry. MASS AND SPEED kill on reentry. ITs not the 17,000 mph reentry that causes the shuttle to get hot. its the shuttle MASSIVE MASS that resists slowing down at 17,000mph that heats it up. the very tiny WISPS of the upper atmosphere will be more than enough to slow the paper plane down long before it gets anywhere near hot enough to be at risk of burning up. Speed is relative when it comes to atmospheric friction and it wont take much to slow a paper plane down. I think it would slip right into the atmosphere slowing down the whole way way in advance of any potential "heat up" I am not sure what the upper limit is but I am betting even if you "fired" the plane into the atmosphere at 30,000mph I still think it would slow down way faster than it would heat up. As you stated the atmosphere is layers. it gradually gets thicker and thicker. I think the plane will slow down way faster than the atmosphere will thicken up.
>its the shuttle MASSIVE MASS that resists slowing down at 17,000mph that heats it up.
Why did they use massive mass to build the space shuttle? They really should have used the other kind. Maybe it was on sale...
Oh come on you know what I mean. Go look up the mass of the space shuttle on reentry. Its freaking heavy. MASS translate to INERTIA that why a 500 pound pass in order weighs nothing but can still squish you if you try to get in between it and another object while its moving. How this mass and inertia affect re entry is also related to size and surface area. The Paper airplane is ideal for all three. Very Low mass Very High relative surface area and Very Small Size.
If there going to do this I would like to see a lot of things tested. Example how about a baseball? Tennis Ball ? (you can put a transmitter in both pretty easily) How about a DUMMY in a space suit! Fix him in the ideal "sky dive" position and give him a shove. Would be interesting to find out the forces and temperatures involved. Orbital Sky Diving !! Hell Yeah I would jump on that if I thought I would survive it :-)
What about an RC airplane? Badminton Birdie thingy? if your gonna spend the money GO all the way and have a blast with it.
Would be interesting to come up with a formula for mass size surface area to determine the maxes that would permit survival on reentry. Might even lead to the DESIGN of a space craft able to reenter without heat shielding.
Are we forgetting the SpaceShipOne flight during the X-Prize competition?
Their trajectory was screwed up after having control system errors that had plauged the project from the beginning of it's practial tests. The pilot mentioned that he simply aimed the craft in a direct position perpendicular to the atmosphere and decided "If it's going to blow, it's going." Turns out, that the direct entry actually produced far LESS heat and stress instead of the longer, more shallow entry trajectory. The hull of the craft was also far thinner and did not use consumable ceramic thermal shield tiles.
Mass+velocity+resistance=energy (in the form of heat in this case). If an object reduces any one of these variables, then the energy generated will decrease as well. On the SpaceShipOne, it was by narrowing his entry point into the thick atmosphere that reduced his surface area, therefore reducing the amount of resistance. The paper plane will not be traveling at the same speed, and is far smaller, thus reducing it's velocity and mass.
Honestly, I think they have an excellent shot at this.
keep the polish jokes to yourself please.
I hope they do it. What a cool idea! And, funny as well.
Meanwhile most of the earth's surface is water, so the chance of it being found if it makes it is very very low.
Perhaps they should fold it from a free iphone coupon and make finding it a holy grail for engadget staff :)
Millions of people homeless/starving through out the world. Gas prices and cost of groceries rising, but not paychecks.
It's unbelievable that with all the problems this world faces, someone wants to spend billions of dollars researching paper airplanes!! Just how is this nonsense supposed to benefit the world now or in the future????????
The poor and homeless always have access to a piece of paper, whereas planetickets are out of their reach :)