Another agency which could be interested in this technology is the Office of Global Communications, who, by Executive Order of the President, "shall encourage the use of state-of-the-art media and technology and shall advise the United States Government of events, technologies, and other communications tools that may be available for use in conveying information." The Skyhook initiative could provide a remarkable communications-tool technology for a wide range of conceivable requirements in ad hoc, "information conveying" communications.
Skyhook might be welcomed in third world countries, where telecommunications "green-fields" exist. in particular, it would be nice to have right now, in Iraq, where our "nation-building" efforts could benefit from better communications, to promote a freer flow of the dissemination of truthful information. In fact, Iraq could serve as a highly useful laboratory for this advanced communications technology. It wouldn't seem not uncommon to see an undeveloped nation achieving a sort of leap-frogging of technologies, advancing suddenly to a point beyond the experience of first-world nations with substantial infrastructure investment dependent upon technologies somewhat less than state-of-the-art. Skyhook could also benefit from our nation-building efforts there, because Iraq is a nation which as yet has no civil aviation authority - and therefore, no hide-bound resistance from the denizens of the territorial turfs of the technological past. Skyhook may need that, because it represents a major-level aviation paradigm-shift.
Skyhook operations bear similarities to a high-technology manned-spacecraft program, and yet, skyhook technical requirements are somewhat moderated - and therefore, possibly within the reach of developing nations, where advanced technologies may provide rescue or relief from various social and/or economic problems. Skyhook applications could provide them some of the benefits we have derived from our own space program (such as improved communications), without the high costs incurred in the implementation of ultra-high technologies. It may be wise to encourage developing nations in striving for mastery of technologies within their near reach, as a means toward striving for mere glimpses of the technologies of the future.
Technologies of the Future
In regard to imagineering emerging technologies, it is actually hard to imagine the value the development of skyhook vehicles may offer as a stepping-stone, or a spring-board to future, still-more-advanced technologies. Even as possible technologies are imagined, they face inevitable questions about how far it may be possible to advance toward them, or how much may be too much too soon, without radical re-thinking of assumptions. As we have pointed out many times here already, Skyhook does challenge our assumptions. Skyhook could force our thinking out of the current box, only to make us again force our thinking out of the next one.
For example, skyhooks are unmanned vehicles, and unmanned vehicles are really not greatly restricted in range of motion, or excessive "g-forces". This makes possible some radical new options in modes of motional translation. What is unacceptable in passenger mode may be acceptable in unmanned vehicles - or even desirable. Experience with skyhook could promote the development of still further advanced flight vehicles, with still less restriction in motional "degrees of freedom". Advanced unmanned vehicles could derive some benefit from lift augmentation by means of a rotary wing, or vehicle spin (like a saucer, of sorts). And whether spin may be required for its lift, there may be other (less obvious) benefits of a spin component, such as the gyroscopic effect, which could provide enhancement of stability, or control, and either add, or eliminate limitations upon overall maneuverability.
It may be the intuitive that described future flight vehicles as a sort of spinning saucer, or "frisbee". There may be practical possibilities in performing cargo drops with an auto-rotating rotorcraft freight "parachute", for gentler landings. Such a parachute could work in a manner similar to the wham-o frisbee, exhibiting a leveling of its angle of attack as it loses angular momentum of its spin, caused by a rebalancing of flight forces due to an increase of "ground effect", or the force of gravity. Who knows? Maybe there could be no "flying saucer" - and maybe, there should be.
It is a pronounced matter of national priority to develop hydrogen-powered vehicles. Though hydrogen may be a volatile fuel, it may be a fuel whose supply is virtually unlimited, so it behooves us to develop hydrogen fuel sources, and a workable paradigm for a hydrogen fuel system. Hydrogen fuels could be distibuted and marketed as liquid propellants, stored in a stable form, likely a form which is separable into nonvolatile and volatile components in some ultimate fuel-processing step within the consuming vehicle, where the nonvolatile component of the fuel is vented off, and the volatile component is added to the vehicle fuel burn. It's not unreasonable either, to imagine a "flying saucer" aspect to such a vehicle, if it might employ the notion of a centrifuge. No particular paradigm for hydrogen power seems to be offered, as yet, but it is safe to say that its form may resemble the description here offered, at least, somewhat.
In fact, the future of flying may offer a vehicle that operates as a sort of "flying chemical plant", where the fuel-readying process produces some sort of residue in the form of a recyclable, or value-added chemical by-product, all the while the vehicle is providing the benefits of personal (or commercial) transportation. By such rationale, it is not unreasonable to envision futuristic modes of travel as "green" technologies, possibly even capable of reproducing oxygen by scavenging CO2, and other oxides from the atmosphere. Most of us would like to see these vehicles sooner, rather than later. And if we're going to see them in the foreseeable future, proceeding quickly to the next level (the skyhook level) may become a key factor in their rapid development.
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