Re:Solar powered airships
by stevenrace on Sunday October 23, 2011 @12:32PM
(#3146479)
There has been a sharp uptick in Helium consumption (He3) and a relatively small amount of reserves (a byproduct of Natural Gas drilling). This price instability can't help things.[0]
The US Military, on the other hand, has been increasing it's use of blimps for surveillance and data transmission/networking. These are useful in places were line of sight isn't available (mountains of Afghanistan, for instance) between radio/mobil cellular base stations. [1]
That and rising into the jet stream is a sorta abrupt introduction into 200knot winds. It would be disarming for most 'comercial passengers'.
The US Military, on the other hand, has been increasing it's use of blimps for surveillance and data transmission/networking. These are useful in places were line of sight isn't available (mountains of Afghanistan, for instance) between radio/mobil cellular base stations. [1]
That and rising into the jet stream is a sorta abrupt introduction into 200knot winds. It would be disarming for most 'comercial passengers'.
[0] http://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/student-voices/the_rise_... [1] http://www.navysbir.com/n11_2/N112-169.htm