false dichotomy (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-03 21:15 (#6CFB) Steam catapults are a remarkably old technology for launching $20M aircraft into the air.Screws/propellers are a remarkably old technology for propelling ships through the water. We still do that on even the newest multi-billion dollar aircraft carrier. We should stop.Do I really need to go on? Re: false dichotomy (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 12:50 (#6EVD) Well, if the complaint about the steam catapult is (per the summary),"There's no smooth acceleration with a steam piston, resulting in increase wear on the body of the aircraft. "Then perhaps the thing to do is look at introducing modern controls into the existing system. I'll bet there is a way to make a proportional steam valve and hook it to a micro controller, with some feedback about the position, velocity and acceleration of the sled... Aircraft carriers seem to have no shortage of steam at high pressures, so it might make sense to keep this as the catapult power source.
Re: false dichotomy (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on 2015-04-05 12:50 (#6EVD) Well, if the complaint about the steam catapult is (per the summary),"There's no smooth acceleration with a steam piston, resulting in increase wear on the body of the aircraft. "Then perhaps the thing to do is look at introducing modern controls into the existing system. I'll bet there is a way to make a proportional steam valve and hook it to a micro controller, with some feedback about the position, velocity and acceleration of the sled... Aircraft carriers seem to have no shortage of steam at high pressures, so it might make sense to keep this as the catapult power source.