{"id":8468,"date":"2013-11-25T10:53:38","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T17:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=8468"},"modified":"2014-07-09T15:28:52","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T22:28:52","slug":"unique-from-a-for-aerodynamics-to-zee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/unique-from-a-for-aerodynamics-to-zee\/","title":{"rendered":"Unique, From A (for Aerodynamics) to Zee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ilan Kroo, according to his biography page, <\/b>is a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, an advanced cross-country hang glider pilot, and designer of the Swift flying wing hang glider, unmanned aerial vehicles, a flying Pterosaur replica, America\u2019s Cup sailboats, and high-speed research aircraft.\u00a0 Currently on a leave of absence from Stanford, he has started Zee Aero<\/a>, \u201ca bay area start-up company focusing on bringing new technologies to civil aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zee Aero, on its first of five sparse web pages, proclaims, \u201cWe\u2019re creating an entirely new aircraft,\u201d a heady claim considering the lack of supporting descriptions or illustrations.\u00a0 But other sources have been made available, including Zee\u2019s patent applications<\/a>, which show a slim tricycle-gear fuselage surmounted by variously drawn structures holding eight upward-facing propellers and two propellers in the tail, apparently to push the whole assembly along.<\/p>\n

\"SF<\/a>

SF Gate added some possibly speculative detail to patent drawing<\/p><\/div>\n

KGO television sent a news crew to Zee\u2019s Mountain View headquarters, and broadcast nice views of the secure building <\/a>in which the company\u2019s workers design their future craft. No one gets inside without an access code.\u00a0 KGO punted with \u201ccanned\u201d interviews with Terrafugia personnel, and footage of the Transition flying over Oshkosh, Wisconsin (mis-identified as Indiana) at the 2013 AirVenture.<\/p>\n

Zee\u2019s second page, headlined, \u201cRE-ENVISIONING FLIGHT,\u201d explains a bit more: \u201cIn the heart of Silicon Valley, at the intersection of aerodynamics, autonomy, and electric propulsion \u2014 we\u2019re changing personal aviation.\u201d\u00a0 Page three continues: \u201cWORKING AND LEARNING: With simulations and prototypes, CAD and carbon fiber, we\u2019re designing, building, and testing better ways to get from A to B.\u201d<\/p>\n

Page four lists 10 openings in the company, ranging from one for an aerodynamics engineer to one for a composites manufacturing technician.\u00a0 We can surmise electricity will power the craft since Zee has two openings for mechanical engineers specializing in batteries.\u00a0 Will the batteries be integrated into the structure?<\/p>\n

\"Model<\/a>

Model of Jules Verne’s Albatross from his book, Robur the Conqueror<\/p><\/div>\n

While the Volocopter VC200 is an egg-shaped people carrier, Zee\u2019s lifter has a slender, sailplane-like look to it.\u00a0 Both vehicles use an array of lifting rotors, not unlike Jules Verne\u2019s much larger machine in Robur the Conqueror<\/i>.\u00a0 Verne\u2019s fictional creation foreshadowed elements of e-volo\u2019s and Zee\u2019s machines.\u00a0 \u201cEngines of suspension and propulsion. – Above the deck rose thirty-seven vertical axes, fifteen along each side, and seven, more elevated, in the centre. The Albatross might be called a clipper with thirty-seven masts. But these masts instead of sails bore each two horizontal screws, not very large in spread or diameter, but driven at prodigious speed. Each of these axes had its own movement independent of the rest, and each alternate one spun round in a different direction from the others, so as to avoid any tendency to gyration.\u201d \u00a0Smaller and more streamlined, Zee’s offering will still follow the general aerodynamics Verne concocted.<\/p>\n

\"Drawings<\/a>

Drawings and reality do not all match, with enclosed rotors on some patent drawings and others looking like this test vehicle<\/p><\/div>\n

A blogger for SF Gate<\/a>, along with\u00a0several other reporters speculate that Zee\u2019s aeronautical offering may be a Google product, since Zee\u2019s office is adjacent to Google\u2019s in Mountain View.\u00a0 So far, that question has been ambiguously answered, with several potential inferences to be drawn about such a relationship. \u00a0Sebastian Thrun works with Google, and it implied in some stories to have something to do with Zee, but the genius behind the Google car cannot be positively identified as having anything to do with a Google aircraft – yet.<\/p>\n

\"Possible<\/a>

Possible prototype vehicle for Zee Aero given papparazi treatment in Mountain View, California<\/p><\/div>\n

Based though on its founders history and achievements, we should expect the Zee aircraft to be at least as interesting as the teasingly revealed machine in a nearby parking lot, an image captured by a local reporter.<\/p>\n