World's largest zeppelin dedicated at NASA facility [246 foot Eureka at Moffitt Field, CA]

CNet ^ | November 21, 2008 | Daniel Terdiman

[Mike Fieschko]

The zeppelin, Eureka, sits on the tarmac at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif. The airship was dedicated Friday at an event celebrating the 75h anniversary of Moffett Field.(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif.--NASA celebrated the 75th anniversary of this iconic airfield and research center on Friday by dedicating a brand-new zeppelin from a private company called Airship Ventures.

The zeppelin NT ("new technology"), which is one of just three currently functioning zeppelins that exist in the world, and the biggest, at 246 feet, was named "Eureka," a name that relates to the fact that the ship is based in California, as well as the fact that it is "rooted in scientific principles," said Brian Bell, a co-founder of Airship Ventures, the ship's owner, minutes before he revealed the new name.

At an event here to celebrate the two milestones, Alexandra Bell, also a co-founder of Airship Ventures, spoke of the experience of getting the zeppelin program off the ground. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), as well as Pete Worden, director of the NASA Ames Research Center, attended the event.

Airship Ventures is the first company in the United States to offer public access to zeppelins. And the company will be carrying paying passengers around the Bay Area, as well as helping NASA carry out scientific research.

The co-founders of Airship Ventures pull back the cover on the name of their brand-new zeppelin, the largest in the world, at the event Friday. The zeppelin is called the Eureka.(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

Brian Bell explained that Airship Ventures had a naming contest and received more than 1,500 submissions, five of which turned out to be "Eureka," a name that those involved in the company had already been thinking about anyway.

But Alexandra Bell said that the Eureka may not end up being Airship Ventures' only zeppelin (See video below of the first flight of the Eureka after its dedication).

"We decided we just have to get a couple more," she said, "so we can name them with some of the other wonderful names" we got.

While the Eureka is the largest currently functioning zeppelin, the airships from the golden age of zeppelins were much, much larger. The Hindenburg and the Graf Zeppelin were about 800 feet long, and the Macon, which was based at Moffat for a couple of years in the 1930s, was 785 feet long.

[Mike Fieschko]

Sorry about the typo in the title. It’s Moffett Field, of course.

[dfwgator]

Oh the Hugh Manatee!

[SlowBoat407]

If they strung it with Light Emitting Diodes would it be the LED Zeppelin?

[KarlInOhio]

The zeppelin NT ("new technology"), which is one of just three currently functioning zeppelins that exist in the world, and the biggest

So the "World's Largest" zeppelin is just larger than the other two. I am not so impressed anymore.

[Vroomfondel]

You owe me a keyboard.

[edge10]

I thought a Zepplin had to be made by Zepplin? Wouldn’t this ‘just’ be an airship or blimp?

All colas are not Coke.

[MeanWestTexan]

The Hindenburg class were 804 ft long compared to this paltry 246 ft.

Plus, due to hydrogen being a far superior lifting agent, could carry more cargo.

There was a small problem with H2, however.

[martin_fierro]

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I actually saw the thing puttering around in the skies over Palo Alto the other day. Macht Cool!

[Poundstone]

It’s not a zeppelin or a dirigible. There’s no rigid internal structure in this airship — therefore, it’s a blimp.

Completely different from zeppelins (which were dirigibles built by the German Zeppelin company).

[MeanWestTexan]

zepplins have a metal frame.

Blimps are funny shaped baloons.

[skeeter]

It was cruising up & down the SF waterfront all last Saturday. My birthday’s coming up - I know what I want.

[SkyDancer]

>groan<

[Mike Fieschko]

I thought a Zepplin had to be made by Zepplin? Wouldn’t this ‘just’ be an airship or blimp?

Blimps aren't rigid. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin got a patent for his design in 1895, for a rigid airship (airship would be the generic term for blimps and zeppelins) with a rigid metal alloy skeleton, made of rings and longitudinal girders. I don't think the terms 'zeppelin' was ever trademarked like 'bandaid' or 'xerox', so the word is applied to examples of his design.

[KarlInOhio]

The company's website claims it has a rigid frame, so it's not a blimp.

Now for the bad taste from the company. They had a bad link for guessing the name. Their error message was:

Error 404
Oh, the Humanity!
Looks like the page you are looking for doesn't exist or has moved.

I can make Hindenberg jokes, but I expected better from the company making zeppelins.

Link to a missing page

[Mike Fieschko]

It’s not a zeppelin or a dirigible.

I thought dirigibles had steering surfaces. It looks as if Eureka has them.

There's no interior skeleton? Thanks for the correction.

[Ladysmith]

I thought it was funny! LOL

[ßuddaßudd]

LOL ! you funny man...

[EggsAckley]

About 1960 I was peacefully minding my own business floating in the swimming pool with my eyes closed. All of a sudden the heat of the sun was gone, as if a cloud had moved in.

I opened my eyes and directly above me was the Goodyear blimp, flying extremely low. I literally couldn’t see ANYthing except the bottom of that blimp.

One of the creepiest moments I can remember.

[shorty_harris]

It has a rigid internal structure, therefore it’s a zepplelin. A zepplelin is a rigid airship. Dirigible is the term used to describe all airships, blimps and zeppelins.