Uplifting: Manned Cloud's deisgners say it will offer eco-friendly holidays
Posted on 02/01/2008 5:11:43 PM PST by Stoat
With its fins and whale-like shape, it resembles Thunderbird 2.
But, unlike the huge International Rescue rocket in the puppet series, this gigantic airship won't be roaring off in a blast of flame and smoke to any international emergencies.
Instead, its designers say it will gently lift 40 passengers into the sky for a serene cruise of the world.
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Uplifting: Manned Cloud's deisgners say it will offer eco-friendly holidays
The airship is a floating hotel called the Manned Cloud, and - according to its designers - it will be capable of circling the globe in a few days.
The 20 bedrooms will provide the ultimate room with a view as the airship cruises at a height of 18,000ft.
It has a restaurant, a library, a lounge and a gym on the first deck.
On the second level there will be 20 passenger rooms, terraces with panoramic windows, a spa and a bar room. The airship is powered by a giant rear propeller and also has two further engines pointing downwards for vertical take-off.
However, if you're thinking of checking in, you will have to wait until its expected launch date of 2020.
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The ship could circle the globe in about ten days
Massaud, the French company behind the venture, is billing it as an ecologically friendly way to travel, leaving little impact on the environment - and eliminating the need for hotels.
Designer Jean-Marie Massaud's team has been working in conjunction with the French National Office of Airship Research on the project since 2005.
A spokesman for Massaud, AurÈlie Ullrich, said: !The idea at the heart of this project is that passengers can see fantastic places like Thailand and theCaribbean without the need to build ugly hotels everywhere.
"It could land for a few days or for a week if there is a big event going on.
"We don't want to be carrying around gallons and gallons of heavy petrol or diesel and we are looking into fuelling it with some form of helium gas."
Mr Massaud said: "The Manned Cloud permits you to explore the world without leaving a trace. Passengers can experience spectacular and exotic places without being intrusive or exploitative."
The cost of a night on the airship is yet to be decided, but it is likely to be out of the reach of most pockets.
However, it could provide the perfect hideaway for camera-shy celebrities.
Glimpse of the Blimp
• The Manned Cloud is almost 700ft long, 270ft wide and 170ft deep.
• It has a staff of 15 to look after the 40 passengers.
• Its makers say it will produce a top speed of 105mph and a cruising speed of 80mph. This means it could circle the globe in about ten days.
• It will be able to travel for 3,100 miles --or across the U.S. - before needing to be refuelled by a form of helium gas.
• Airships were the first aircraft to make controlled, powered flights, with French engineer Henri Giffard travelling 18 miles from Paris to Trappes in 1852.
As for safeguards, the standard practice for rigid airships is to have not one, but several (many) gas bags to hold the lifting gas. They’d be using something nonflammable — most likely helium. In the event of a small explosion on board, (something that could take down a jet airliner) there would still be the possibility of landing without a crash.
All excellent points, thank you for posting.
It’s very exciting stuff with myriad possibilities...I can’t wait to see the next-generation airships!
The cost of a night on the airship is yet to be decided, but it is likely to be out of the reach of most pockets.
However, it could provide the perfect hideaway for camera-shy celebrities.
One thing the concept and the article underscore is how enviromentalism is generally driven by ultra-rich folks.
Most folks don't consider hotels "ugly". Most folks don't ascribe any significance to leaving a "trace" of their passage.
Only the ultra-rich can afford to have such pretensions.
Warp 9 Scotty!
Aye but Captain, we’ve burned up all our helium gas!
Very true.
Oftentimes cutting-edge technologies that are implemented for niche markets have a trickle-down effect, and after the inevitable bugs get worked out of the Manned Cloud, perhaps other airships that are more competitively-priced will become available both for popular recreational travel as well as for business and industrial purposes.
I hope that you’re right....having a disaster with loss of life with something like this will certainly cool investment interest in future projects.
Well do you thin they will ever make a UAV carrier out of one of these? An aerial carrier for UAVs would be pretty nifty. Although I am not sure how impractical it would be.
think* unngh
Feed it into your on-board particle accelerator, de-fuse it back into hydrogen, and burn the hydrogen.
Don't ask me where to get the power for the accelerator, or how the balloon will lift the accelerator. ;-P
Actually your answer gave me an idea.
If you get a lot of one of the radioactive isotopes that is a strong alpha emitter, you could use the heat generated by its decay. Since alpha particles are high energy helium nuclei, you could say it’s powered by helium....sort of.
The most famous Airship disaster, the Hindenberg, was caused by using hydrogen as the lifting gas. But a number of American helium filled airships were wrecked, mostly because of winds and storms. Has that problem been fixed?
Perhaps the designers feel that with the new technologies now available, the prediction, mapping and avoidance of high winds and storms is a more realistic possibility. I agree though, I wouldn't want to be in that thing in any sort of a high wind situation.
Make a nice ASW platform.
Not really, kind of hard to fix Nature.
It would look really nice with a big Ron Paul sign on it!
No more flying in circles over the target, and a spectacular payload ability coupled with minimal runway needs :-)
About time. I was wondering when somebody was going to address the ugly hotel issue.
She looks a little wooden to me.
Might we see the term “jet set” superseded by “dirigible set”?
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