Thunderbird 2 flies again: The astonishing airship set to revolutionise haulage, tourism...

Daily Mail ^ | 1/4/13 | Damien Gayle

[Nachum]

A radical new kind of airship funded by the US military is about to make its first test flight - and it looks uncannily like the Thunderbird 2 craft from the classic TV show.

The Aeroscraft airship will carry three times as much as the biggest military cargo planes over thousands of miles, use a third of the fuel, and it doesn't even need a landing strip.

It could also have major implications for cargo haulage, and almost everything now laboriously transported across the planet's surface by boat, train and lorry could within years be carried through the skies, its makers claim.

[Nachum]

Full title: Thunderbird 2 flies again: The astonishing airship set to revolutionise haulage, tourism... and warfare

It's..um... a blimp

[frithguild]

[Candor7]

Not a blimp. Blimps have no rigid air frame. This has a rigid air frame and it is therefor a lighter than air ship.

[mike_9958]

66 tons of cargo ?

[kingu]

I've seen this from a distance twice - once for a few moments before they rushed to close the doors because there was a very light breeze and it was pushing the blimp across the hanger floor, the second time with it trying to lift off, a slight breeze coming by and it nosing into the ground.

I'm sure this is just the growing pains of a prototype, but this was funded as a long shot program, and so far it's lived up to those expectations. I wish them the best of luck, but if someone’s looking to start placing orders, they might want to hold off. I love the design ideas, seems quite possible to work, just not sure how they'll handle the energy requirements in flight for their fancy ballast system.

[LibLieSlayer]

Fly that over bezerkley and Alien reports will be pouring in.

LLS

[Delta Dawn]

I am confused...

[repentant_pundit]

Overgrown as it may be, I thought it was illegal to let such metallized mylar party balloons fly untethered in most urban areas...shorting out power lines etc.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

No reason to be confused. Candor7 is correct.

[real saxophonist]

It's not a balloon, it's an airship!

[BubbaBasher]

I believe the word is “Dirigible”.

[exit82]

Well, that was uplifting.

[Dead Corpse]

Sexy beast...

Airship Pirates...

[TurboZamboni]

[SparkyBass]

SUPERTHUNDERSTINGCAR!! ??

[Conserev1]

Holy Helium Batman!

[Little Ray]

You mean “dirigible.”

[ThomasThomas]

Thunderbirds go!

[Sherman Logan]

Couple comments.

Would appear to have the capacity to haul a LOT of fuel, so why is range limited to 3000 miles?

For military applications, it looks an awful lot to me like a very large, very slow target.

I would expect the biggest difficulty to be taking off or landing in windy conditions, especially gusting winds.

[lurk]

Tremendous advantage to not need a landing strip.

They conceive of it delivering to the front line of a battle. Not sure what would protect it from arty or missiles.

[vikingd00d]

Is it’s maiden voyage to Lakehurst, New Jersey?

[Dead Corpse]

Don’t most radars need a hard surface to ping off of? That thing would be like trying to get a weapons lock on a cloud.

[petro45acp]

THUNDER-BIRDS ARE GO!!!!

FAB!

[SkyDancer]

Wasn’t some kid floating around inside that thing???

[carriage_hill]

Let the geniuses from Solyndra or one of those 0bummer craphole green energy co’s handle it; that’ll solve everything.

[dljordan]

“66 tons of cargo ?”

Yeah, 66 tons of smart bombs to drop on gun owners. :)

[Vendome]

[Vendome]

[RitchieAprile]

exactly what I thought as well. nice concept but impactical in real life.

[Disambiguator]

Is it’s maiden voyage to Lakehurst, New Jersey?

[Slyfox]

[Crusher138]

Lighter-than-air craft all have the same problem - directional controlling thrust.

If you took the computer controlled gyros of a Segway and mated them with enough directional thrust to counter wind, blow back, etc, then you would have smooth, reliable, lighter-than-air crafts.

[pgkdan]

Hell...fly it anywhere and the reports will stream in...

[LibLieSlayer]

That is what I was thinking Dan. :-)

LLS

[ArrogantBustard]

Helium.

[The Cajun]

Just for a kick, they should fly the big sucker over
Devils Tower, Wyoming.....................Without informing the public :)

[Slyfox]

Does that mean that people will be allowed to smoke?

[ArrogantBustard]

Probably not.

Not because of a fire hazard.

Because smoking is evil.

Smoking is more evil than child molesting, raping goats, or clubbing baby seals.

So ... even though a separate smoking section would be perfectly feasible and completely safe ...

THERE WILL BE NO SMOKING!!!!

Ve vill haff ORDER!!!

[DManA]

Wonderful timing. Just in time for the great helium shortage:

A ballooning problem: the great helium shortage

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/a-ballooning-problem-the-great-helium-shortage-8439108.html

[Galt2010]

cool.

Who has the contract to build the puppets to fly it?

[hinckley buzzard]

66 tons of cargo ?

That's about one Abrams tank with a few accessories, some fuel and a crew...

[DTogo]

Lead Zeppelin.

[Nachum]

Maybe these guys?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfIAKj3Gl1E

[DManA]

I’ve been reading stories about the imminent age of lighter than air cargo airships for 30 years.

[SunkenCiv]

“In a disaster of unexpected dimensions, a pre-teen kid with a pellet gun shot a heavy-lift military blimp out of the sky, destroying a multimillion dollar craft and its millions in cargo.”

:’)

Thanks Nachum.

[Eaker]

Interesting link but sis you see this?

Balloons

Helium, like hydrogen, is lighter than air but unlike hydrogen it is inert, so there is little risk of an explosion.

What a bunch of idiots!

[Basement Dweller]

I thought there was a shortage of helium.

[Eaker]

I don’t know about a shortage but I do know there is zero risk of an explosion when working with helium.