alt Hacker NewsThanks for providing the source.
I'll just note that again, my hypothesis and the actual way it works are very similar to each other, and both are very dissimilar to the suction cap analogy. Suction cap works by passively utilizing atmospheric pressure, this utilizes moving a large amount of air in the direction opposite to the road. The only difference is that it's taking the air from below instead of pushing from above. I imagine that is the case to utilize the same outlets that are used for lifting the car.
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> this utilizes moving a large amount of air in the direction opposite to the road.
False.
The air from the fans is ejected out of rear of the vehicle, not the top. The kinetic energy of that air is neglible at best. The vehicle uses retractible fairings to create a partial seal and the fans create a low pressure zone inside the zone that holds the vehicle to road.
The cold gas thrusters are a completely different system that expels high pressurized air from canisters in the vehicle.
The difference is approximately mass counteracting the force of gravity ejected on a continuous basis versus a modest expense in power to run fans. The two are not even remotely similar.