Smoking room inside the Hindenberg
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 ...
I was thinking retractable roof, or open ended coliseum, ..nope.
the door at the end is big,, but I don’t think it will let the thing thru inflated.. I guess it can be deflated and hauled somehow..
Lots of Vaseline.
If it has a crew of eight, it functionally has no payload. Heck, a Ford F-350 can carry 2,000 lbs.
enuff to hold 4-500 lb. JDAMS. Silent killer. Just go upwind and turn off the motors. Never hear it coming.
/johnny
Surveillance? Microwave relay?
Umbella, Man-Made Global Warming solved.
Smoking room inside the Hindenberg
Among others. Also, specialised cargo delivery to areas without an airfield (can carry more than many helicopters). Even medevac from remote areas. Personally, this particular airship looks more like a “gimmie stimulus money” project than a serious contender.
I don't know. I don't think deer have any natural air-borne predators, so they probably don't look up that often.
And either way, I'd paint my blimp sky blue, and hunt at night...
Yeah, you could just throw beer bottles at them. lol
I’ve read articles about using airships as an alternative to satellites. They can’t cover nearly as much area as a geo-sync orbit sat, but they cost a fraction and are much more easily replaced. Pretty cool stuff.
In the linked article a reference was made to ‘filling it with algae,’ the article simply seemed to disappear and I can’t get it back — so are they using methane for a lifting gas?
Wouldn’t seem practical.
Apart from the irony (and maybe they really felt they had isolated it enough from the gas envelopes), just look at all that polished aluminum. Say what you like about the politics, and the science that used aluminum-based paint, but those were some truly impressive machines.
Here’s the reference to algae, but no explanation...
“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,”
(S)aid Michael Lawson, chairman and CEO of E-Green Technologies.
I think that they were referring to algae-based fuel for propulsion.
Well, they can be used in lieu of transmission towers. An aerostat could be used for TV and Radio broacasting over a wide area.
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