There's only one Spirit of America.
| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| High Altitude Airship for Wireless Comms |
| 2005-04-18 |
| GlobeTel Communications Corp. has introduced a new genre of air craft dubbed Stratellite™, by Sanswire, its wholly owned subsidiary. It is not a balloon or a blimp. It is a high-altitude airship designed to provide a stationary platform situated in the stratosphere, from which it will be able to transmit wireless communications services presently transmitted from cell towers and satellites. The craft is powered by solar powered electrical engines. The outer envelope is covered in film photovoltaic units. |
| Posted by:too true |
| #14 There's only one Spirit of America. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-04-18 5:59:27 PM |
| #13 For comparison purposes: Goodyear Spirit of America: 192 ft long, 50 ft wide, 59.5 ft high. Boeing 747-400: 211 ft long, 231 ft wingspan, tail 63 ft high. |
| Posted by: Mike 2005-04-18 5:30:19 PM |
| #12 The news article didn't say how it is built but at 245 feet long, 145 feet wide and 87 feet tall it's pretty dang big. Even at partial inflation something with that much surface area will have a lot of stress on it from high winds. One thing that was suggested was sending an aircraft ahead of it to monitor wind speed and direction so the safest course could be plotted. It's not impossible to do. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-04-18 3:56:55 PM |
| #11 Hmmm .... Sanswire is a small company that went public by a reverse merger into an existing shell. It's in the process of being bought by Global Tel Corp. |
| Posted by: rkb 2005-04-18 2:33:48 PM |
| #10 DOD has been investingating potential uses of HAA of late. This has the smell of a placeholder until they can demo something to any of a variety of potential backers / buyers. |
| Posted by: rkb 2005-04-18 2:28:45 PM |
| #9 This smells a little bit like the Sky Station International Inc. spiel. Is Al Haig Jr. or Martine Rothblatt (formerly known as Martin) or Richard Butler on board? |
| Posted by: Tkat 2005-04-18 12:33:55 PM |
| #8 Um, wrong thread? |
| Posted by: .com 2005-04-18 12:26:18 PM |
| #7 Ima grinding the heads Mr. Blues and adding methenol injection. |
| Posted by: Frank Luke 2005-04-18 12:22:52 PM |
| #6 Why aren't they doing it the same way you do with the high altitude weather ballons? Partial inflation so they can take the stresses - the gases will expand at altitude anyway - and hold off on full inflation until past the jet stream. If they haven't figured out how to get them aloft, then this is a wank-fest, lol! |
| Posted by: .com 2005-04-18 12:04:45 PM |
| #5 I saw a brief segment about this on the news over the weekend. It's really interesting but it seems the biggest problem is how to get the thing up to 65,000 feet without the winds at lower altitudes tearing it appart. Frank, I don't think your SE5A will get to this altitude. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-04-18 11:58:59 AM |
| #4 Hot Dawg! |
| Posted by: Frank Luke 2005-04-18 10:44:07 AM |
| #3 Will these be affected by sunspots, too? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-04-18 10:07:01 AM |
| #2 Yargh! Thar she blows. |
| Posted by: Captain Ahab 2005-04-18 9:05:49 AM |
| #1 Wouldn't it be cool if it were shaped like a giant pig with little wings? I wonder if we'll be able to see it at night? |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-04-18 8:56:47 AM |