Automotive

Blue-sky beauty: the Astrum Meera concept

Blue-sky beauty: the Astrum Meera concept
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CO2 sensor
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CO2 sensor
Wheels that function using magnetic levitation
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Wheels that function using magnetic levitation
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Clay rendering of the Meera
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Sketch of design
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Initial concept sketches
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Sublime or ridiculous? John Baltazar's Astrum Meera concept car is probably a little bit of both. The beautifully rendered four-seater design combines smooth lines and sporty, low-down fatness with some very ambitious future-tech ideas such as wheels that use magnetic levitation rather than bearings to improve smoothness of ride and fuel efficiency.

The Astrum Meera would also employ carbon dioxide sensors built into the twin rear exhausts for constant real time monitoring of engine emissions, plus retractable side rear-view mirrors armed with cameras coupled with an in-cockpit display.

We're not sure that this idea will ever float, but with the fantastic 3D renderings by Hussain and Ali Almossawi it's almost possible to imagine the Astrum Meera levitating in your garage.

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Via Yanko Design.

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9 comments
9 comments
Sergius
Pure magnetic levitation vehicles will not need wheels.
The future of people mobility will have a more radical design, something just like a remedy capsule.
The exterior design will be focused on the needs of magnetic technology and the interior will have the visual and ergonomic confort for passengers.
Astrum Meera is a blue sky hybrid transition beauty concept.
Bruce H. Anderson
If you think flat-ish glass like the rear window of a Ford Fusion is difficult to look through without distortion, then the windsheild on this baby will really take the cake. And magnetic bearings? Maybe someone could talk to Mr. Baltazar about unsprung weight. That being said, the car is really a stunner in the looks department.
Adrian Akau
I think that the statement\"

\" wheels that use magnetic levitation rather than bearings\"

needs to be changed to \"wheels that use magnetic bearings\".

Magnetic bearings have been around for a few years but this would be the first applicaton to auto technology. The bearings need less magnetic flux if the bearing isfunctions on a vertical axis but horizontal bearings would take an enourmous amount of field energy to function.
kalqlate
@Bruce H. Anderson - Who needs to view directly outside? By the time this thing is production, the driving will be automated. The interior will have wrap-around OLED panels that can project what\'s happening outside inside or allow the passengers to choose their desired virtual environment. The mentioned mirrors are superfluous, and all that would be needed are 360 cameras, as described in this gizmag article: http://www.gizmag.com/epfl-develops-360-degree-3d-panoramic-camera/17205/
Mr Stiffy
It\'s NICE, for another \"pie in the sky\" piece of bullshit... but in Australia we get summer days that are regularly up into the high 30\'s and low 40\'s* C... (like 112*F)...
And it kind of pisses me off that these \"idiots\" just don\'t \"get it\" - like:
a) You do not need to actually have much in the way of a nice vertical over view,
b) That a vertical set of windows is necessary to see around you;
c) A shiny reflective roof over your head is a necessary issue - both for reflecting heat and in case of a roll over...
But what do these idiot designers do?
They make a ROLLING SOLAR OVEN... with a BLACK once piece all over window....
You know like \"Hello dick head\".
rik.warren
If you don\'t like your climate get a suitcase or don\'t buy the car
Mr Stiffy
I gave the issue some more thought last night and decided to really push the point on just how STUPID these car designers are to make rolling death trap solar ovens, and how it makes me utterly insane and I really do feel like jumping the counter and smashing their heads through their desks.....
That big black glass like roof is going to ABSORB every ounce of solar energy that hits it and it\'s going to send the internal temperature up into the 70*C temperatures on a hot day and these are the results.
You won\'t be able to sit in and or park it anywhere unless it\'s in the shade... Or you WILL have to keep the air conditioning going flat out....
If you really are stupid enough to sit in it or to leave kids and or dogs etc., inside the car they will be going dead in about 15 minutes...
Do a google on "heat stroke" death children animals car cars.....
For children and pets, one way for heat stroke to happen suddenly and unexpectedly involves a hot car or a hot room in a house. Cars are especially dangerous. At HowStuffWorks we did the following experiment:
1. We turned on the air conditioner in a car at 3:30 p.m. on a sunny, hot summer afternoon in Raleigh, NC. 2. We waited until the interior of the car cooled to a comfortable 75 degrees F. 3. We turned the engine off.
Within 15 minutes, the interior temperature of the car was 110 degrees F. This temperature is quickly fatal.
The reason the temperature rises so high and so fast is because the interior of a car is an excellent solar oven that uses the greenhouse effect to trap heat. Sunlight heats the sheet metal of the car, and it streams in through the windows to heat the interior. It turns out that glass is completely transparent to visible light but opaque to infrared light -- and infrared light is the heat that is trying to radiate back out of the interior. So the temperature rises rapidly, to the point where you often cannot touch the steering wheel without getting singed. Leaving the window cracked is not going to help -- it is never safe to leave a child or pet in a parked car for any length of time.
The only solution for heat stroke is to cool the person down. You can:
* Try to get the person to drink water if the person is conscious. * Soak the person\'s entire body in cool water. * Sponge cool water onto the person\'s body. * Apply ice packs to the head, neck, armpits and groin.
If not treated, heat stroke can be fatal in less than an hour.
Although experts often focus on more common safety measures, like using car seats correctly and basic childproofing, there are many less well known \'hidden dangers\' that may put your kids at risk.
Your family car is one of these \'hidden dangers,\' and it is not just because of car accidents. In addition to the risk of getting hit or run over by a car, being left or getting trapped in a hot car can be just as deadly a danger. In fact, over 230 children have died after being left in a hot car (sometimes on relatively mild days with only 70 degree temperatures) since 1998.
Situations in which kids get hurt in hot cars include when:
* infants and toddlers are simply forgotten in their car seat
* toddlers or preschoolers sneak into the car to play and can\'t get out
* kids get trapped in the trunk
What\'s the danger?
In addition to the risk of being abducted if they are left alone in a car, on a typical summer day, the temperature inside a car (even with the windows rolled down a little) can quickly rise above 120 to 140 degrees. Even on a relatively mild day, the temperature inside a car can get above 100 degrees. At those temperatures, kids are at great risk for heat stroke, which can lead to a high fever, dehydration, seizures, stroke and death.
If you don\'t think that it can happen to you or your kids, consider these descriptions from the death certificates of children from 1998 that were published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:
* a 9 month old died after being \'left strapped in child safety seat in a sweltering minivan for two hours - misunderstanding between child\'s parents resulted in the child being left alone in the van; one parent believed infant was at home with other\' * a 6 month old \'baby died when accidentally left in hot car for 3 hrs, died when outside 90-degree temperatures rose to 130 degrees inside closed car, parents thought the other had carried the baby from the car to crib\' * a 34 month old \'toddler who recently learned how to open a car door apparently climbed inside family station wagon while parent and sibling were in house\' * a 23 month old died when a \'relative babysitting child, put child in car for trip to store, went back in house having forgotten something, was distracted by something on television, sat on couch to watch, fell asleep, woke up two hours later\' * a 2 year old died after a \'parent left child in car after returning home from errand - was left for more than an hour\' * a 2 year old \'child apparently slipped away from parents and siblings, fell asleep atop blanket in unlocked car in driveway of home, oldest sibling found child 40 minutes later'
Remember, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 'a locked car sitting in the summer sun quickly turns into an oven,' and 'temperatures can climb from 78 degrees to 100 degrees in just three minutes, to 125 degrees in 6-8 minutes.'
That's fairly typical - and yet these " idiot" designers keep right on doing it - making the worst possible ways to design a car that will kill you, the kids or the pets - as quickly as possible... on a hot sunny way.
Søren Algreen-ussing
I\'ve been designing Maserati QuttroPorte this week at ISSAM ( http://www.issam-modena.com ), but this far surpasses any of my efforts. Colani with practicality incorporated.
Walt Stawicki
Future add found in a matchbox cover: Be a respected maglev wheel maintenance tech.....tuition only 100K per quarter, be job ready in 2 years...(hint- do the math and ask yourself...)