That thing'll never fly, Orville!

It's never stated, but for a device like this to be even remotely feasible if working primarily according to Robur's description of the technology, there would have to be some extremely efficient batteries involved. It couldn't hover without them; it would have to be in constant motion to be conceivable at all.

...But yeah, in principle, though probably not in practice, a flying device could maybe generate some useful power by using the planet Earth itself as the magnetic component of a magneto-like device. The principle isn't unknown in other technologies; for example, a typical hybrid car generates (or conserves, if you prefer) significant amounts of power by taking it from its own braking system, in effect behaving a little bit more like a perpetual motion machine than if it didn't utilize the car's own inertia as part of its power system.

Which doesn't exactly answer the question of how you get the thing off the ground and moving forward in the first place, does it? I haven't read Jules Verne's original stories, but I'd bet Verne had no idea how to address these questions, either. Unlike science fiction writers of the John Campbell school, Verne didn't strain to be scientifically accurate. His "science fiction" was all about the human adventure. His near-contemporary H.G. Wells had a better grasp of the "science" side of science fiction.

"I don't deduce, I observe."

In the movie Robur does say that the Albatross is made from a highly compressed paper-like material.

Simply put, that is AERODYNAMICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!






I remember back in college one of my biology professors explaining about there were exhaustive engineering studies done that show conclusively, without-a-doubt, that honeybees CAN NOT FLY!

These published reports proved that it is physically, aerodynamically impossible for the little stingers to get off the ground and fly around and pollinate our crops and fruit trees.

Fortunately for us humans, honeybees can't read.

"For as goes the honeybee, so go we!"

..................And what is the power source? In the movie, Robur says the Albatross runs on electricty, produced by a moving metal bar cutting across "magnetic force lines." In other words, he's describing an electrical generator. But what powers the generator?




Robur was describing a D'arsonval Generator powerful enough to propel his ship! I still remember the science experiment when I was in grade school(back when they still taught science.) A magnet had a needle suspended above it. The needle would start spinning from the magnetic force lines emanating from the magnet and consequently cut back across the magnetic force lines while it spun. Two pieces of aluminum foil carefully placed within a fraction of an inch of the opposite ends of the needle, while it was spinning, would register a small current on the meter connected to the foil strips. It's tricky. In a class of about 40, paired in two's, only two teams got their projects to spin, and only one picked up any current readings, but it is possible.

Add a little Verne, a little Sci-Fi, a hitherto fore undiscovered metal alloy for the magnet that holds an unbelievable amount of magnetic charge (thus the paper ship,) and a little Steam Punk, and Viola!, a continuous, uninterrupted source of electricity for the Albatross. Its the magnet that powers the ship.

Unless, of course, Robur was using the earths magnetism as his power source, then the pickup "needle" has to be made of that hitherto fore undiscovered metal alloy.

The technological principles are sound, just not possible on a large scale, even today.