Low earth orbit is becoming increasingly crowded with satellite traffic and, as Gravity showed us, increasingly treacherous. So rather than try to squeeze yet another spacecraft into the mix, a French consortium has begun development on a super-high altitude, autonomous dirigible that will skim along the edge of the stratosphere.
     |
All Over Albany recently posted this futuristic illustration of Troy, New York, drawn in 1916. The image shows Troy in the year 2016: the streets lined with streamlined buses and trolleys, the sky filled with giant airships, and a rather phallic-looking building towering over downtown.
| |
Faster than a speeding dirigible! More powerful than a horseless carriage! Able to leap short cottages in a single bound! It’s a bird! It’s an aeroplane! It’s a… jumper balloon?
| |
It’s been nearly a century since airships floated by the Empire State Building. But now that the aluminum airship of the future
| |
There was once a time when man looked to the skies and expected to see giant balloons rather than airplanes drifting above. The Hindenburg Disaster promptly put an end to those dreams. But nearly a century later, one company may have finally figured out how to build a dirigible suitable for the 21st century. Just don’t call it a blimp.
| |
The US Army’s not-so-secret Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) spy blimp is better at staying hidden than we thought… if unintentionally. Although it was due to fly the friendly skies of Lakehurst, New Jersey in mid-June, Northrop Grumman’s usually unmanned surveillance was only just caught floating over the Jersey Shore as part of a maiden flight on August 8th. The conspicuous, delayed test run proved that the LEMV could take off, steer and land smoothly, and started a series of exercises that should culminate in combat trials over Afghanistan at the start of 2013. Northrop’s KC Brown Jr. tells Wired that there’s a possible (if purely coincidental) consolation for missing another deadline — the airship could be used in a pinch for carrying as much as seven tons of supplies without getting into harm’s way, albeit at a fairly glacial 30MPH. The successful first flight won’t be much consolation to Mav6, whose Blue Devil 2 was scuttled at the last minute after technical issues; it’s nonetheless a relief for US troops, who may get weeks at a time of constant intelligence on enemy movements. Catch a short snippet of the early LEMV journey after the break.
Filed under: Robots, Transportation
US Army’s LEMV spy blimp spotted hovering over New Jersey, may take up cargo duties (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 06:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
Wired | Email this | Comments
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
