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 ...
Tylenol usually has wings?
Such a pity that thing never flew. Would have been impressive, even if it was a commie machine (they had some really...imaginative aeronautical engineers).
Now that’s a big suppository.
Getting commercial airship production up and running is expected to create hundreds of textile industry jobs in Alabama, according to a statement by E-Green Technologies. It might also lead to aerospace and aviation jobs in Central Florida and Northern California, where the company hopes to set up operational centers.
Textiles and Aerospace. QED.
The solution to the Deep Horizon oil spill has presented itself.
For an airship that is 235-ft long, that is not a bad payload. My question is how many cubic feet of lifting gas is in the lifting cells. The ratio of lifting gas to weight is the real determining factor of whether this puppy has some serious lfting capability.
The focus is about right, but shouldn't the picture be jiggling wildly?
New UFO pictures to come!
Those don't seem like particularly commercially viable statistics to me.
That's like 4 guys, some beer, and a few rifles to hunt deer from the air with.
The more I think about it, it might actually make a great hunting blind.
i l’ll bite. what the heck is it?
Must be French!
Irrelevant. My point is that there are a lot of materials/wealth invested in a vehicle with a very small payload. I'v guessing that this thing cost a lot more than a couple of semi's with a payload of 80,000 lb each.
A few years ago there was an announcement about a company in the SE that was suppose to build airships to move oversize cargo. I haven’t heard a peep about this since.
It was a tripod....
Does it come with batteries?
I think they’ll be WAY above small-arms range.
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I sure hope so.
I’m sure this is being looked at by DHS as a border tool, surveillance and such.
Maybe strap a few HeLLfires on ‘em to sexy ‘em up and watch for Mexican Army helis making guns&dope runs..
Not enough engine and prop area to get that thing off the ground, not even ‘accidentally’ like Hughes did with the Spruce Goose.
And those semi’s do not have to lift any of their load off the ground. Also, an airship does not have lifting surfaces (wings) to provide lift. All lift in an airship comes down to the amount of mass that a volume of lifting gas can lift; the more cu-ft of gas, more lift.
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