Even 35 centuries ago, people imagined using technology to overcome physical limitations.
The Kraken causing today's climate change may have been caused by centuries of human activity that has pumped greenhouse gases into the Earth's atmosphere, but the kraken, which is causing today's climate change, may have been caused by centuries of human activity that has pumped greenhouse gases into the Earth's atmosphere, but it has reversed course and the growing wrath of nature. taming it seems beyond human means, a quest only a mythical hero could undertake. But the dream of human-powered flight, of flying across the Mediterranean relying solely on the strength of mortal limbs, has also been the product of myth for millennia. Until 1988.
In October of that year, MIT Technology Review Published an account of the mission of aeronautical engineer John Langford to recreate the legendary flight of Daedalus, as described in ancient Greek mythology, as recorded by the Roman poet Ovid. Transform. Daedalus, a master inventor, is imprisoned on the island of Crete with his son Icarus, and in order to escape, he fashions wings out of feathers and wax. Icarus gets excited and ignores Daedalus' warning not to fly too close to the sun. His wings melt and he plummets to his death. Daedalus completed his flight and landed in Sicily with a heavy heart.
“Daedalus became a quest to build the perfect airplane,” Langford says, reflecting on the project team's mission. By some measures, they succeeded. their plane is daedalus 88still holds the records for absolute distance (71.5 miles, or 115 kilometers) and flight time (approximately 4 hours) for human-powered flight.
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Of course, Langford's team changed some of the mythical parameters. The plane replaced feathers and wax with carbon fiber wings, and its pilot, Greek cyclist Kanellos Kanellopoulos, pedaled rather than make history. Additionally, his 500-mile trip to Sicily seemed beyond mortal fitness, so Langford and his team set their sights on Santorini.
The problem with the Daedalus program, and with any kind of human-powered aircraft, was the sheer effort to stay in the air, the risk of crash, and the expense, none of which was lost on Langford. “Our Daedalus project itself could not answer the question, 'So what?'” he admits.
At the time, an invisible cloud of human-generated chlorofluorocarbons had gathered in the Earth's stratosphere for half a century, blowing a seasonal hole in the protective ozone layer above Antarctica, and spelling disaster spreading through the Earth's atmosphere. I was there. As the international community rallied, voices arose: “So what?” What he was looking for appeared.
For Langford, an entrepreneur with a dual passion for climate research and sustainable aviation, the perfect airplane would fly through the stratosphere, collect climate data such as ozone readings, and harness the sun for energy needs. It is an unmanned aircraft that can. His first company, Aurora Flight Sciences, unveiled such a plane, Odysseus, in 2018. His latest company, Electra, wants to decarbonize all aviation.
It is in the context of our climate change challenge that a human-powered plane that can fly just meters above the ocean for hours has inspired a solar-powered robotic plane that continuously explores Earth's stratosphere. can only make sense. These novel aircraft symbolize humanity's ability to achieve mythical, if difficult, feats when joined in a common quest.
Bill Gourgey is a science writer based in Washington, DC, who teaches science writing at Johns Hopkins University.
