Tag: AIRSHIP

Share The U.S. Air Force is developing a $211 million surveillance mega-blimp, which, if completed, could stay in the air for a week and will be seven times larger than the Goodyear Blimp. The project, dubbed 'Blue Devil,' could change the way surveillance missions are carried out in Afghanistan by serving as a floating information hub, according to Wired. The 350-foot-long blimp could ascend as ...

We've already told you that the world's largest airship, called the Bullet 580, will depart on its maiden voyage later this year. Now, according to Inhabitat, the world's first solar-powered blimp is set to take flight over the English Channel as early as next week. The helium-filled Nephelios, which measures 72-feet long and 18-feet wide, is covered with a strip of semi-flexible solar cells. ...

In an effort to assist U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the Army has commissioned a company to develop a surveillance airship that's longer than a football field. According to Space.com, Northrop Grumman Corp. recently received a $517 million contract from the Army to build as many as three Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicles (LEMV), which can carry 2,500-pounds while hovering 20,000-feet above ...

For their new airship design, Swiss researchers looked underwater for inspiration. According to New Scientist, researchers at the EMPA, which is the Swiss federal laboratory for materials testing and research, developed a 26-foot-long Airfish that's filled with helium and mimics the movements of a rainbow trout to "swim" across the sky. Rather than engines, Christa Jordi and her team used ...

Share Oh, the humanity! The world's largest airship, called the Bullet 580, is set to take off on its maiden voyage later this year -- and it will do Thomas Pynchon proud. The craft measures 235 feet long by 65 feet in diameter, and reaches an altitude of 20,000 feet. The bulbous blimp can be flown with or without a crew, carrying up to 2,000 pounds of cargo and/or passengers. But jumbo-jet it ...

As the military industrial complex surges forward, so do advances in technology for the public sector. At least that's how the cold-war wisdom goes. Case in point: QinetiQ is developing a lens-less, mirror-less, battlefield imaging system with some help from your DARPA's deep pockets. The LACOSTE project (Large Area Coverage Optical Search while Track and Engage) aims to set aloft high-altitude ...

Bizarre as it may seem, the future of air travel may lie in the past. The past few years have seen a resurgence of interest in dirigibles (like blimps) as a way or carting passengers around the world. According to a report in the Guardian, Germany is getting ready to test the Zeppelin NT -- built with an endowment left by the builder of the original Hindenburg -- by flying tourists over London ...

Long-haul airships got a bad reputation after the Hindenburg disaster, but French designer Jean-Marie Massaud seems to think that the secret to resurrecting the flying gas bags is by turning them into luxurious floating hotels. The so-called Manned Cloud, which isn't set to take flight until 2020, will cart 40 passengers around the world at a height of 18,000 feet. When completed, the flying ...