https://archive.ph/fekOe link to The Sun article
A GIANT nuclear-powered 'flying hotel', complete with a gym and swimming pool could carry 5,000 passenger in unparalleled luxury.
A new CGI video details how the AI-piloted Sky Cruise plans to remain airborne for months at a time, while also docking to take on new passengers, or to drop off anyone board.
The futuristic hybrid between a plane and hotel - which has 20 engines powered by nuclear fusion - is designed never to land.
Hashem Alghaili, who created the incredibly detailed mockup of the monster aircraft, says the nuclear-powered sky cruise “could be the future of transport”.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow concept art
:is-this:
the future of transport?
Designed to run 24/7, Alghaili even adds that running repairs would be carried out in-flight - a first in aviation.
And, when asked how many people it would take to fly this gigantic plane, he said: “All this technology and you still want pilots?
:youre-laughing: pilots?? pffft ha, pilots pft shh haha
"I believe it will be fully autonomous”.
Despite plans for a man-less ride,
:sicko-fem:
the Sky Cruise will still require plenty of staff on board to be at every passengers beck and call.
The greatly detailed video also promises restaurants, a gigantic shopping mall, a gym, theatre and even a swimming pool - all in the sky.
:galaxy-brain: there will still be servants, of course
It's probably just a neat idea to show off to investors in order to get attention to more... uh... grounded projects. I get the impression that some engineers and architects come up with ridiculous projects as a way to generate hype.
First thing that came to my mind: keeping planes in the air for months on end turns out to be a pretty difficult problem to solve. The lift force pushing up on the wings deforms them over time no matter what material you make them out of, the only solution seems to be to make the plane as light as possible, which means you're limited to slow-moving high-flying drones (and it's hard to justify using something like that over a balloon).
This was only ever made as a render, some news outlet made it sound like a serious concept and then a bunch of others copied them. Literally just one dude on twitter
This seems like a good premise for a post-apocalyptic fiction setting. The ground has become uninhabitable due to climate change/ nuclear war/ whatever, and now the human race exists only on giant aerocraft of some kind
That's what I was thinking. Zeppelins are cooler than planes as well
But now that I'm picturing it, the protagonists HAVE to fly Crimson Skies-esque biplanes and stuff.
Oops emergency landing needed. Wait what do you mean there are no airports in the world with runways that can accommodate this?
It's just a world building thing. Was posted on the subreddit a day before news picked it up.
Someone please build this in Kerbal Space Program, I wanna see it crash and blow up
And contrast this with the nuclear powered perpetual ai driven communist high speed rail :train-shining: :traingang: :train
It's all well and good on the perpetually flying cruise ship until there's a norovirus outbreak.
Hope it falls out of the sky into a mountain and they all did
They looked at the feasibility of nuclear aircraft engines back in the 1950's. The air force took a B-36 and flew an active nuclear reactor in its bomb bay, but that was kinda the extent of it before the program was cancelled.
