Sunday, June 13, 2010

Airships Satellites; Not Just For Football Games Anymore

Long before airships were used to advertise Goodyear products at football games, Airships had practical use.

It was used as long range surveillance and for transport.  And for years, people thought about using it to provide communications for urban use as well as battlefield communications.

Now meet Bullet 580:

  • With a 48 hours hang-time
  • Up to 80 mph (cruising at 40mph)
  • Payload: 2,000 lbs
  • 235 feet long (goodyear blimp, 195 feet, Hindenburg 804 feet)
  • Cost:  $8 million a pop.  Talk about cheap.  
  • 20,000 feet
  • NEW TERM:  Stratellite
  • Runs on algae - so it's green as well
  • Functions: weapons platform, communication broadcasts and monitoring, GPS, weather monitoring, defense shields, and possibly transport in larger versions of the Bullet
Yes, I am very very excited about this.  This is both a big retro in a futuristic sort of way.  In anime and scifi movies, you can occasionally see airships.  Especially in steampunk societies.  

In our world, I'm sure there are tons of applications for just such a use.  And this is still first generation airships.  I'm sure bigger and faster versions can be built should this one really take off and operate as expected.  The skin is made of kevlar which is a pretty good thing if these might end up over the skies of battlefields.  I'm sure cheaper and stronger materials will also be available soon.  

Personally, I cannot wait for this thing to happen.  Oh, and did I mention that if the uses of these airships take off, it'll create thousands of jobs?

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