U.f.o's

[Dozy-Mare]

How good or bad is a disc shape for flying? We all know that frisbee's can go quite far but this is because they're thrown if a ufo it had an engine on it where would it go, and wouldn't it make the disc spin around hundreds of times a minute either making everyone on board violently ill or even kill them? Surely this alone should stop the belief in disc shaped ufo's, or are they really the most aerodynamic and best shape for intergalactic travel and us dumb humans just haven't found out the secret yet?

[chakka35]

The comical thing about this is that the first chap (a pilot) to see some airborne things he couldn't identify didn't say that they were shaped like saucers and always denied such a claim afterwards. He said that they moved through the air like a saucer would skimming across a pond.
The press then seized upon his words and distorted them.

But, lo and behold, people who "see" alien space-ships describe them as saucer-shaped. Isn't that amazing?

[jomifl]

To do a 'sharp turn in space' you have to apply thrust at an angle to the direction of travel. Since the source of thrust would be the main engine the thrust would be through the central axis of the spacecraft. This would put no more strain on the spacecraft than normal acceleration.

[naomi24]

Maybe those people are telling the truth, Chakka. Scroll through this lot painted long before the advent of air travel - as we know it.

http://www.2012.com.a...torical.paintings.pdf

[chakka35]

Mildly interesting, naomi, but, like those of the Loch Ness Monster, very vague.

I await the first top-class pictures of an alien spacecraft, which, surely, in this age of universal digital cameras, can't be long coming. Always assuming that there is something to photograph, of course...

[squarebear]

If the subject has changed from designing a spaceship to little green men visiting, I will now bow out of this thread.

[naomi24]

Vague, Chakka? There's nothing vague there. I'll agree with you about the first class pictures though. Odd we don't have any at all.

I see no little green men, SB.

[jomifl]

What is odd about the alleged ufos in the illustrations is the casualness with which some of them occur. Some are obviously an attempt by the artist to depict god in some way influencing someone with a beam of heavenly whatever. To just put in a picture in a casual manner some apparently flying object with no mention being made in literature suggests that they have a meaning that had significance to the culture of the time but they did not depict a real event. The problem with looking for evidence to support a pre-existing viewpoint is that it will undoubtedly be found, somewhere.

[naomi24]

I read in a technical journal (can't remember exactly where) that a ball shaped vehicle would be most suited to travel in space.

[jomifl]

The reason you spin a frisbee when you throw it is to give it a horizontal stability which is due to the gyroscopic effect. Saucer shaped aircraft have been built which did not need to spin as their attitude was controlled by the usual aircraft type control surface. There is no reason why an engine would make a saucer shaped aircraft spin if it is designed properly.

[jomifl]

The shape of a space craft would depend on what its purpose is. If the space craft was manned and intended to travel huge distances under continuous low acceleration from a nuclear powered engine then a long thin shape with the crew as far as possible from the engine would be a good idea, but other requirements would probably modify this ideal. It could of course be made up from a string of spheres.

[naomi24]

Sphere!! That's the word I was looking for!!

[jomifl]

Hi Naomi..no substitute for the 'mot just' is there.

[naomi24]

Ha ha! Do you ever do that? The word is there, you know it's filed in the 'everyday' folder but you just can't locate it? Thanks Jomifl. :o)

[jomifl]

Hi Naomi.. it goes a bit like this..think what I want to say..work out how to say it..find the 'mot just' ..remember how to spell it.. type it..post it... Oh god another bl**dy typo!

[naomi24]

Haaa! I know exactly what you mean. Isn't it frustrating?!! Searching my brain for 'sphere' was like suffering a mental stutter!!