Video: Stratospheric Airship Prototype
This isn’t really directly space related, but fellow ISU alum and Parabolic Arc reader Bojan Pecnik passed this video along of a stratospheric airship prototype that his company is developing. Pecnik is CTO of Hipersfera, a startup firm based in Zagreb, Croatia.
The company is hoping to develop this system as a remote sensing vehicle that can provide continuous coverage of areas. He says that Hypersphere will have the ground footprint of a remote sensing satellite and the image quality of an aircraft while beating both on price.
3 responses to “Video: Stratospheric Airship Prototype”
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Hi folks,
Might make a good UFO, but Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman / Hybrid Air Vehicles will be the only 2 groups that have enough funding and associated contracts to build a High Altitude Airship (HAA) or a medium altitude hybrid air vehicle surveillance platform (LEMV program)
Regards JB (http://www.airshipblimp.com)
PS. If you like UFO’s see http://www.airship.me the worlds only lighter than air comedy web site.
JB,
I’m not quite sure Hypersphere will make a great UFO; it’ll have a transponder, so it should be relatively easy to identify. 😉
Also, a small historical note – if you compare resources (budget, time and “associated contracts”) which were at dr Langley’s disposal, to resources of Wright brothers, and also look at the end result, you might note that more money does not always equate better/faster/cheaper tech.
But, in any case, time will tell.
kind regards,
Bojan Pecnik, Hypersphere CTO
“This isn’t really directly space related …”
In a way, it is. Further commercialization of space will require not only new markets and better ways of serving existing markets, but also staying competitive with up-and-coming substitutes. High-altitude UAVs of various kinds could eat into the market for LEO surveillance satellites and GEO comsats.