[ad_1]
“The ultimate in British engineering,” boasts Q. “You must be kidding,” Bond replies. “As I learned from my predecessor, Bond, I never joke about my job,” retorts Q. “Aston Martin calls it the Vanquish, we call it the Vanish. Tiny cameras on all sides project the image they see onto a light-emitting polymer skin on the opposite side.
As Daniel Craig’s embodiment of 007 bows out in No time to die, fans of the franchise will invariably take stock and remember his time as more gritty and more realistic. These qualities are very popular because the swan song of its predecessor, the years 2002 Die another day, derailed by inept CGI and a gadget that many considered the most ridiculous in the entire series: the infamous invisible car.
Chris Corbould, the longtime Bond special effects supervisor and veteran of fifteen 007 films, has seen it all – his first film was in 1977. The spy who loved me, with his Lotus submersible – but even he believes the Aston Martin Vanish has tested the public’s credulity to the breaking point. “Where we stretched it too far was Die another day and the invisible car. I didn’t like it from day one. We have gone too far, ”he later admitted.
That’s a moot point, given some of the ridiculous things Bond has done over the years. Corbould, however, is a strong believer in practicality and believes that, as crazy as it sounds, gadgets should have some basic credibility. But here’s the irony: invisibility technology was firmly grounded in reality and inspired by the work of (the late) Defense Assessment and Research Agency.
Co-writers Robert Wade and Neil Purvis had read it while researching the film and advocated for its inclusion. “When we originally suggested it, we weren’t sure anyone would accept it,” Wade once told me. “The idea is that in Iceland or in the desert, when there isn’t a lot of contrast in the background, it’s invisible, but in an urban environment, you could see it.” Or, as Q says, it’s a camouflage, not a camouflage device.
Corbould is always amused when reality catches up with Bond’s soaring gadgets. And this is already the case with invisibility technology. BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractors, worked with the Swedish Defense Material Administration to develop a system called Adaptiv for use on its tank fleet. The vehicle was covered with hexagonal pixels; thermal cameras scanned the background the tank was viewed from from all angles, then adjusted the pixels to match. Seems familiar?
“Previous attempts at similar concealment devices have encountered problems due to cost, excessive power requirements or because they were not robust enough,” explains Peder Sjölund, the project manager. “Our panels can be so strong that they provide useful armor protection and consume relatively low levels of electricity, especially when the vehicle is idle in stealth reconnaissance mode.”
There were challenges. You can hide the tank, but hiding traces of heat from the exhaust is difficult. Then there is the small issue of noise, a problem shared with Bond’s Vanquish. It was powered by a 5.9-liter V12 whose signature sound was one of the best things about it, but doesn’t help much if you’re trying to be stealthy.
In 2012, Mercedes created a fuel cell vehicle based on its B-Class family sedan that was covered with a $ 263,000 LED mat and a DSLR camera on the opposite side of the car. The images captured on the passenger side were then displayed in real time on the driver’s side. This optical camouflage technology was developed by scientists at the University of Tokyo. The equipment needed for its operation weighed 499 kg, highlighting the problematic dependence on cameras and projectors.
[ad_2]
Source link