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Oh the Huge Zeppelin! World's Largest Airship Set to Launch This Year
Before you start wondering, the ship is filled with helium, not infamously inflammable hydrogen. Seven bags of the gas we found so amusing in our youth give the airship its lift, while the inner hull is full of ambient air. While the outer shell is only a sixteenth of an inch thick, its Kevlar composition makes for a skin that's tougher than steel. And, in case you're worried about the Bullet's carbon footprint, it's powered by algae biofuel.
While the Bullet could be used for sightseeing, its ability to hover in place gives it an edge over airplanes and satellites. The blimp could monitor weather patterns, serve as a near-space satellite itself or even keep watch over accidents like oil spills (ahem).
At a build cost of $7.9 million, we sure hope that this thing's safer than the ill-fated Hindenburg, but we're pretty confident that it is. One of the project's developers told the Daily Mail, "If you hit a hard landing, the airship is just going to kind of bounce." Well, hey! That seems like a lot of fun. Though... maybe not from 20,000 feet. [From: The Daily Mail]
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Comments
60
Subscribe to commentsdockneelMay 24th 2010 5:38PM
JFC you're the moron. Inflammable oddly enough means that it IS combustable. Sorry the nuances of the English language escaped you.
offcrgentlemanMay 24th 2010 5:48PM
That thing's got "UFO" written ALLLLL over it.
JerseyguyMay 24th 2010 9:16PM
Frenchblue, very well said. It is true many people can't handle the English
language in speech, diction or in expressing themselves in a written item.
I don't believe we met at Lakehurst, I was not there for that particular date
you mentioned. I lived in Toms River at that time and my kids were young
so we would "explore" the area around Ocean County and we obviously
visited Lakehurst. I was totally amazed of the size of the blimp hanger it
seemed large enough for about 10 football fields, lol I'm just joking but it
was HUGE. I now live in Northern NJ and my kids are grown but I still
miss "goin down the shore" as we used to say euphemistically when I
was younger. The Jersey shore was the place to go in those days. Maybe
when I retire I will head back down I always loved the bay and boating and
of course the boardwalk where we would try to find chics and eat cheese steaks
and pizza like slobs.......lol.....those were the days.
frenchblue367May 24th 2010 6:09PM
Hi again--no I'm not talking about any specific date, there was always some sort of function regarding airships and blimps at the LNAS. I've heard that they usually have some sort of commemorative tribute on May 6th, though I've never been to one, I would like to one day. I've been VERY interested in airships for some 30 years or more. Perhaps when the movie Hindenburg hit the theaters. In fact, when I'd met Charles Durning, I'd mentioned that movie had been one of my favorites. He must've thought I was nuts, with all the great movies he'd done!
Funny, we seem to have traded places. I'm from North Jersey originally, and moved to South Jersey (just a TAD less expensive here, but not much!) and there's always something to do here. Maybe someday I might just bump into you at that enormous hangar (the one that gets 'weather' inside!) at Lakehurst!
RemoteGirlMay 24th 2010 6:30PM
My father was a well-known physicist who knew everything there was to know about helium. He was Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research & Development and designed a nuclear submarine (which my mother christened). Dad used to get angry when people said the world "flammable," assuming it was the opposite of "inflammable." "Inflammable" is preferred as meaning "able to burn," and "non-flammable" (as "non-inflammable" is awkward to say) means "not able to burn."
Another thing Dad used to freak out about was when he observed helium being wasted. It is depletable, and someday there will be none left. If my father hadn't died ten years ago, he would have surely dropped dead when he saw the waste of helium in this airship.
co30opMay 24th 2010 7:01PM
Looks like a huge flying condom
RWL in SW ILMay 24th 2010 6:59PM
worlds largest? ZRS-4 & ZRS-5 were 785 feet long in 1930's and the
ZPG-3's were over 400 feet long in the late 1950's!
RWL in SW IL
HenryMay 24th 2010 7:09PM
Why is this called "the world's largest airship" when it's smaller in every dimension than the Zeppelin NT?
This press release is great if the reading public knows zero about modern aerostatics.
magus 47May 24th 2010 9:52PM
THE WORSE AIRSHIP DISASTER BY FAR WAS THE LOSS OF THE U.S.S. AKRON WITH THE LOSS OF 74 LIVES.
IT WAS FILLED WITH HELIUM.
THE HINDENBURG BY CONTRAST LOST 33 LIVES. A LOSS OF ONE THIRD OF THE PASSENGERS AND CREW.
IF A 747 OR AIR BUS HAD SUCH A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE AND TWO THIRDS OF THOSE ABOARD SURVIVED THEY WOULD BE GIVING OUT AWARDS FOR SAFETY. THE HINDENBURG LOOKED FAR WORSE THAN IT WAS.
Gary WilkesMay 24th 2010 7:15PM
Mindless headline...again. All Zeppelins were derigibles... rigid airships. They had steel inner frames with a cloth outer skin. If you look at a picture of one you can see the hard lines of a metal structure underneath the fabric outer... They also had internal divisions for the gas in sections. This thing is a blimp -- the name comes from the US Navy... A type airships had rigid frames. B type airships were "limp" ....so, A-Rigid and B-Limp = Blimp. So, no, it's not a Zeppelin...it's simply a very big blimp.
frenchblue367May 24th 2010 7:26PM
I must agree with you regarding your facts. However, if we're splitting hairs, I respectfully must point out something about the frames. They were not made of steel, they were fabricated from a lighter metal alloy, aluminum. The Germans called it Der Alumen (spelling? Sorry, not sure of the spelling). The lifting gas capacity was limited to the size of the ballonets inside the envelope, so the lighter everything was, the more lift it had, the more payload it can lift. But the aluminum frames were not only lighter, they were stronger.
coolabahMay 24th 2010 7:34PM
It not a Zepplin ( ridged air frame) it is a blimp ( big cigar shaped balloon)
frenchblue367May 24th 2010 7:37PM
After France, England and the USA got out of the airship business after costly and tragic wrecks, Germany was the only country producing airships. And the Zeppelin Class of airships, consisting of the Graf Zeppelin (LZ127), Hindenburg, (LZ129) and the Graf Zeppelin II (LZ130) were all 803' 10" (804 feet for all intents and purposes) were the biggest in the world. The USS Akron and the USS Macon, (the ZRS4 and ZRS5, respectively) were not at 785ft each.
frenchblue367May 24th 2010 7:39PM
Sorry, this comment is in response to RWL in SW IL.
nancyMay 24th 2010 7:39PM
Sorry, but I will not be taking a trip on that thank you, I dont even like planes.
Myles O'TooleMay 24th 2010 8:03PM
"...serve as a near-space satellite...", at a max. altitude of 20,000 feet????
JerseyguyMay 24th 2010 9:16PM
Yes I started out in Palisades Park, NJ then moved to Toms River then back up
North to Morris county and thats where I am today. In those days Toms River
was cheap for housing and it was a nice community but I reached a point when
I missed North Jersey and tried to buy back in Bergen county but it was way to
expensive so I decided to head out to Morris county which at the time was much
cheaper. Today Bergen and Morris are about the same in cost of housing with
high taxes and all so now I am of retirement age and feel the need to head back down the shore and live back there again.
MadbeachcondoMay 24th 2010 10:31PM
Flammable.....inflammable...doesn't matter. The damn thing looks like a giant condom.
john gannonMay 25th 2010 2:46PM
Space Ship Ventures air ship is bigger. It is 246' long, 57' high and 64' wide. It operates out of Moffit Field. Look at there web sight www.airshipventures.com
john gannonMay 25th 2010 3:08PM
Oops, spelling seems to be a issure. The word is "their" not there.