Someone is not keeping up on their astronomy administration. It could be a refrigerated deuterium slush tanker, if we're getting all Treknological about it.
Where are the docking clamps, some kind of loop on its back for winching on a hook, or other manner of securing / loading these ground vehicles into a (civilian) ship's cargo bays? Does it have a limited anti-grav system for simply hovering itself into position?
It's just a truck. It trundles up next to flying machines, the driver gets out and connects some hoses and starts the pump. Simple is usually best, and sometimes a truck is just a truck. If I made it a fuel 'module' that was driven under a ship and then inserted through some cool technological ballet of arms and levers it would look like Thunderbirds. It would also mean you could only refuel a single type of ship.
Ok, first it looks great. It's smooth and slick and aerodynamic. I do see a few problems though. 1: The large diameter tires would smooth out the ride, but the low profile nature of the tires would undo that advantage unless you are using a futuristic airless tire that takes care of the spongy and springy function of current tire spring systems, inside the hub of your tires. That would be a pretty cool Idea. 2: The wheel base looks a bit short for it's width. Your wheel base should be axle width x phi. For two axle vehicles it's a stability issue. For tandem axle vehicles it is also a leverage issue for turning as you have to skid your rear tires slightly as you turn, unless one of your rear wheels also turns. 3: Also, I've heard that a vehicle where you sit in front of the turning wheels can be tricky if you aren't used to it.
Hi UncleRice. The wheels wouldn't be a problem on an airfield, and I doubt comfort would be an issue when travelling at airside vehicle speed (usually 15mph or less) on perfectly flat surfaces. Like many large wheeled utility vehicles and buses it would probably have a good measure of suspension in the drivers seat itself. There's certainly none worth mentioning under the wheel arches! I wanted the wheels behind the cab so that I could keep it low and mean. Aerodynamics on trucks are appalling, sitting the slab fronted cab on the front wheels means you get more agility, but lose everywhere else. Most trucks are difficult to manouever more because of their length and the back end dragging rather than the lack of turning circle at the front. Driving something with a large overhang would take a little getting used to, but there are plenty of people who do it. In fact last night I saw a new electric bus shown on Jay Leno's website, the Jay Leno Garage. It looks like buses are evolving into my truck design. Check it out...
Phi = the golden ratio = 1.618... You find this ratio in just about all naturally occurring structures. See here. If your truck isn't going over 25 MPH, aerodynamics is mostly irrelevant.
There is a Hot Wheels vehicle out there based on a new type of fire-engine for airports. Not unlike what we saw in Transformers 3 (Nimoy's character) You design is more reality based than Colani's, not that I don't like his take on things. I am reminded of the old NBC "highwayman"? series where some midgetman ICBM rig was modified, IIRC...
Not had a lot of time recently. I was going to add some more detail and maybe do a little animation, but that was it.