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World's Largest Airship Inflated to Create Monster 'Stratellite'
Space.com ^ | 5/20/10

Posted on 05/24/2010 10:48:42 AM PDT by NormsRevenge

A huge inflatable vehicle as long as a 23-floor skyscraper is tall has become the world's largest airship in its bid to serve as a stratospheric satellite, or "stratellite," according to its developers.

The 235-foot (72 m) long airship, known as the Bullet 580, has a top speed of 80 mph (129 km/h) and can serve as a high-flying sentinel that stays aloft for long periods of time. Getting the new sky behemoth inflated required six hours inside Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Ala.

"Our airships are radically different designs that move beyond the performance limitations of traditional blimps or zeppelins by combining advanced technology with simple construction and the ability to fuel with algae, protecting our environment," said Michael Lawson, chairman and CEO of E-Green Technologies.

The airship is designed to carry payloads of up to 2,000 pounds (907 kg) at altitudes of 20,000 feet (6,096 m). Any cargo aboard the airship would sit within an outer envelope made from a new type of Kevlar, or the same material used to build bulletproof vests. That allows the envelope to have a width just one-sixteenth of an inch thick, but still be 10 times stronger than steel.

Airships have undergone a resurgence of interest as both military and civilian operators eye their cost-efficient operations compared to traditional fixed-wing aircraft. But even the modern record-holder for size dwindles in comparison to airships back in their heyday, such as the 804-foot (245 m) Hindenberg.

E-Green Technologies considers the Bullet 580 as the first in a wave of airships in production for commercial use. It acquired the airship's developers, 21st Century Airships, in November 2009.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: airship; inflated; monster; stratellite
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To: 1776 Reborn

“I haven’t heard a peep about this since.”

No one is moving cargo.


41 posted on 05/24/2010 11:16:43 AM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
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To: The Comedian

The length does not mean as much as the amount (cu-ft) of helium.


42 posted on 05/24/2010 11:18:19 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: beebuster2000

Honestly, I think it’s an image from a Video game, I’m not sure, but if the Germans had that thing and it flew can you imagine?


43 posted on 05/24/2010 11:18:43 AM PDT by Scythian
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To: beebuster2000

Honestly, I think it’s an image from a Video game, I’m not sure, but if the Germans had that thing and it flew can you imagine?


44 posted on 05/24/2010 11:18:43 AM PDT by Scythian
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To: beebuster2000
Kalinin K-7 It was actually a great deal smaller than it appears in the retouched propaganda pic but still one of the largest aircraft of its time. The specialty model manufacturer Anigrand has a rather pricey 1/144th scale model of it.
45 posted on 05/24/2010 11:20:01 AM PDT by atomic conspiracy (Victory in Iraq: Worst defeat for activist media since Goebbels shot himself.)
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To: Scythian

Is that a movie prop from the USSR version of Star Wars or something?

Check out the guy standing on the observation deck above the flight deck, and the cannon in the landing gear.

Kind of cool, actually, but I just don’t see it ever leaving the ground.


46 posted on 05/24/2010 11:20:10 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: atomic conspiracy

Here’s a great set of CGI images of the thing chasing a Nazi UFO, lol.

http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/01/25/russian-flying-fortresses/


47 posted on 05/24/2010 11:24:06 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Scythian

What’s this anyway? Please provide a link.


48 posted on 05/24/2010 11:25:40 AM PDT by STD (islam an absolute theocratic system of governance which cannot be questioned;)
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To: The Comedian

Yeah, but the deer will see you coming for miles? lol


49 posted on 05/24/2010 11:26:04 AM PDT by 1776 Reborn
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To: Scythian
It was actually a Russian plane and it did fly. It was about 1/3 as large as it appears in the retouched photo. Here is some more fanciful artwork of the scaled-up K-7, including a dogfight with a UFO.
50 posted on 05/24/2010 11:26:07 AM PDT by atomic conspiracy (Victory in Iraq: Worst defeat for activist media since Goebbels shot himself.)
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To: RegulatorCountry

See #50. Beat me to it by a few seconds.

GMTA!


51 posted on 05/24/2010 11:27:50 AM PDT by atomic conspiracy (Victory in Iraq: Worst defeat for activist media since Goebbels shot himself.)
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.


52 posted on 05/24/2010 11:29:12 AM PDT by Semper911 (When you want to rob Peter to pay Paul, you'll always have the support of Paul.)
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To: NormsRevenge
World's Largest Airship Inflated to Create Monster 'Stratellite'

And here I thought it would be shaped like a giant electric guitar.

53 posted on 05/24/2010 11:30:08 AM PDT by Disambiguator (Progressivism, Socialism, Marxism, Communism - it's all shades of black.)
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To: awestk

I think the biggest problems blimps have always had is storage, particularly from storms while being tethered on the ground. Their size to payload ratios just never seem
to make much sense.


54 posted on 05/24/2010 11:30:32 AM PDT by 1776 Reborn
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To: Army Air Corps
And those semi’s do not have to lift any of their load off the ground

Absolutely true, but again irrelevant to my point. There are one heck of a lot cheaper ways of slowly getting something from one place to another than using an airship.

55 posted on 05/24/2010 11:32:13 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your most dangerous enemy is your own government,)
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To: NormsRevenge

Great, but how do they get it out?


56 posted on 05/24/2010 11:32:29 AM PDT by CholeraJoe (Don't mess with Aunt Karen when she's been drinking)
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To: RegulatorCountry
Interestingly enough, Anigrand also has a model of the alleged Nazi flying saucer, the Dornier-Stratospharen Haunebu II
57 posted on 05/24/2010 11:33:14 AM PDT by atomic conspiracy (Victory in Iraq: Worst defeat for activist media since Goebbels shot himself.)
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To: atomic conspiracy

wow


58 posted on 05/24/2010 11:34:16 AM PDT by beebuster2000
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To: NormsRevenge

No one has posted “Oh, The Huge Manatee” pic yet? I can’t believe it!!!


59 posted on 05/24/2010 11:35:30 AM PDT by lado
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To: from occupied ga

As far as regular cargo carrying goes, I agree. There are still some applications for airships, but this isn’t it.


60 posted on 05/24/2010 11:38:55 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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