Posted on 06/29/2010 4:25:32 PM PDT by Willie Green
Is it a bird? Is it is a plane? No, it’s a super solar-powered blimp!
French engineering students unveiled the first ever solar-powered blimp this June at the Paris Air Show. After a summer full of test-flights, the design crew for project Sol’R hopes to launch Nephelios, a giant sun-energized balloon, across the English Channel.
The enormous blimp measures 72 feet long and 16 feet wide. The aircraft is outfitted with a light nylon and polyethylene aluminum frame and is covered in flexible solar panels. Using energy from the sun, these panels power a small motor that turns two big propellers.
According to Inhabitat, a green technology blog, these solar cells can generate up to 2.4 kilowatts of power -- enough to send the blimp flying across the channel in under an hour at 25 mph.
Sol’R was started in 2008 as a collaboration between engineering students at several French technical schools around the country.
The designers told Inhabitat that their motivation for building this unique blimp was “just to show that it’s possible.”
The mammoth aircraft was initially scheduled to launch last year, but was grounded due to technical difficulties. With the kinks finally worked out, test flights could restart as early as next week.
oy.
Why don't they put a freaking windmill on it? And a spotted f(cking owl sanctuary, too.
Sorry...no night travel available...
25mph? A.W.E.S.O.M.E.
While they admit it was “just to prove they could”, what a terrific waste of time and money. Once again doing the inane for the purposes of inanity.
Take the night train to Georgia.
LOL!
Soon the panels will be thinner and lighter. If they can make lightweight batteries, this will permit a ISR UV capable of missions that last MONTHS —maybe years.
For COIN ops this would be a big deal.
72’ long and 16’ wide is enormous?
Next thing you know they’ll be calling it the future of air travel.
It definitely works well for the space station and would be fine for some high altitude uses.
Please, no Michael Moore photos.
If it can go across the English Channel, why can’t it just keep going as long as it has sunlight?
US forces are MUCH more dependent on GPS than we (or even they) suspect.
The first step the PRC will take in ANY conflict with US forces will be to interrupt GPS services —a very crude way of interrupting such service would be detonation of nuclear devices in space, although that would be unpopular. Other ways exist.
Such craft could serve as a pop-up, backup system.
There are also plans to have each US nuke sub feature one or two tubes given over to ferret sats that would go into orbit and take over if the primaries were eliminated.
(/rimshot)
Single passenger/pilot - no means of 'landing' without props hitting the ground - no windshield - no heater - probably no parachute.
Great - hope someone sees you trying to land, and grabs a tether line and hauls you to safety... so it has little future in my estimation.
You can cross the Country in a mere 5-6 days assuming no wind.
Pray for America
If it is on their dime I don’t care what they do.
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