TPT March 2017

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

The Australia-based technology blog reported that the US Department of Defense has tested a military version of the Malloy Hoverbike – the creation of mechanical engineer Chris Malloy, of Melbourne – and that Pentagon officials envision using the “Amazon on the battlefield” for resupply missions. Having tracked the various iterations of the oversized, electric- powered, rectangular-shaped quadcopter since Mr Malloy demonstrated the prototype in 2011, New Atlas (formerly Gizmag ) noted that the latest version is identified in military jargon as the JTARV (joint tactical aerial resupply vehicle). But, even to the preparers of the US Army press release, it is better known as the hoverbike. It hovers; but that is not the full story of its military potential. (“US Army’s Hoverbike Takes Flight,” 18 January) According to Melbourne-based New Atlas reporter Nick Lavars, the hoverbike in its current form can carry up to 300 pounds. But the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has expectations of an eventual payload of 800 pounds and a reach of up to 125 miles. “We’re also looking to integrate advanced intelligent navigation and mission planning,” said Tim Vong, the associate chief of ARL (Adelphi, Maryland). “We’re looking to end up with a modular, stable platform that can be used for even more dynamic and challenging missions.” There are indications that ambitions for the hoverbike are even more vaulting than that. Mr Lavars noted that, on 10 January, Department of Defense officials paid the ARL researchers a visit “to see the JTARV in flight and up close.” He reported that the researchers are hoping to amplify the skills set of the hoverbike – “what started as a crazy DIY project in an Australian backyard six years ago” – by way of a hybrid propulsion system. That objective could one day see a modified bicycle flying along at altitudes of thousands of feet and speeds of 60 miles per hour. Elsewhere in technology . . . › For some time, difficulties in imparting its two-dimensional strength to three-dimensional applications have prevented graphene from fulfilling its promise as the material of the future. But now Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have announced their discovery of how graphene can be shaped into a sponge-like form that resists forces ten times greater than steel. As noted by Patrick Lynch on the architecture website ArchDaily (19 January), the new accessibility of its lightweight, high-strength properties could commend graphene for building projects from long-span bridges to ultra-efficient water filtration systems. The advance grew out of 3D printing in a polymer of two similar forms – one thinner and one with thicker walls and

of the Liberty-Trillion line of bikes at the London Bike Show in February also marked the 25 th anniversary of the parent company, which pursues what Mr Gupta calls an “end-to-end strategy.” He sees the new bicycle initiative as an example of that strategy in action: competitive British manufacturing supported by an integrated supply chain. “We are producing the steel from which components can be manufactured,” he told the Telegraph . “And then taking them all the way to the finished product.” (“Gupta Puts New Steel in UK Bike Production,” 31 December) One of the first bicycles to be introduced will be a single-speed “commuter model” with a frame of steel tubing produced by Liberty Steel Group – to be followed by aluminium and composite bicycles and, in time, a high-end carbon-fibre bike priced at around $12,250. Liberty Engineering Group will likely be heavily involved in the development of these and all other models in the range. “This is not a vanity project,” Mr Gupta told the Telegraph , while also acknowledging a long-time attachment to the two-wheeler. His first job, in his pre-Cambridge “gap year” of 1990, was selling Victor bikes, made by his father’s company. › Writing in BikeBiz (1 January), Carlton Reid took note of another Liberty House strategy: Green Steel, produced by Green Power. The agenda here calls for steel produced in the UK from UK-sourced materials, promoting a competitive, low-carbon steel sector based on renewable energy and re- melted domestic scrap. The effort is in chime with a national policy of increasing the use of low-carbon energy sources toward the total phase-out of coal-fired power plants by 2025. A combination of renewable energy sources in fact enabled the United Kingdom to hit a significant milestone in the third quarter of last year. According to the late December release of figures from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, between July and September 2016 half of the UK’s electricity was generated by wind and solar farms and nuclear and wood-fired power plants. Technology A ‘crazy DIY project in an Australian backyard’ has serious military potential as a joint tactical aerial resupply vehicle The Trillion Cycles initiative reported above (“In a steel magnate’s vision”) may have a retro tone, but in fact the humble bicycle is the inspiration for what New Atlas has called “a cutting-edge aircraft for the US Army.”

63

www.read-tpt.com

MARCH 2017