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It's a Zeppelin NT. One was based in Silicon Valley for several years, but didn't make money after the price of helium doubled. It cost $400 for a sightseeing tour of the Bay Area.

I've heard a talk by the company CEO, who'd piloted the thing. It handles much better than the classic Goodyear blimp, which he'd also flown. With three steerable props and computer coordination, it's much more controllable during landing. It doesn't require a large ground crew hanging onto ropes to get the thing tied down. That's why Goodyear is going with the NT, even though it's more expensive than their classic blimp. There are videos on Youtube of both types landing.

If you want to see what it's like to fly one, the open source FlightGear simulator has a good model of the NT, including the mobile docking truck.

As you can see on their web site, Airship Ventures is out of business and there's a campaign to save the airship from being scrapped.

from the site http://www.airshipventures.com/about "Specifically, Eureka is a Zeppelin NT. The NT stands for New Technology." Are we sure Microsoft isn't an investor too?

Lockheed's P-791 airship has been flying around Palmdale for several years now. This is a product of Lockheed's Skunk Works. It is slightly heavier than air, and those four "feet" are lift fans. This has advantages and disadvantages. It takes fuel to stay up, for one. On the other hand, takeoff and landing are easier; the craft can land on a runway and taxi as a hovercraft. No mooring mast required.

The P-791 looks far more controllable than any previous airship. Rudders and elevators are ineffective at low speed. The P-791 has four propellers, each fully and independently steerable in two axes, plus speed, and maybe blade pitch. Plus the four lift fans. So it is controllable in all six degrees of freedom, even at zero speed. With classic airships, having twenty controls to manage by hand would be hopeless. With flight control computers, it's possible, once the airship has been characterized. That's really what flight tests of the P-791 are for - figuring out the control strategies. In the video,it's clear that the propellers are all being steered independently, which indicates computers and sensors are busily working to stabilize the beast. This is probably an easier job for the Skunk Works controls team than any of the stealth fighters they've done, all of which are unstable in all three axes.

The Zeppelin NT has a similar, but less flexible system, with three steerable fans plus a lateral tail rotor, all controlled by a fly-by-wire system. I suspect that the Skunk Works put more degrees of freedom into their prototype than are really needed, so that they could experiment with different control strategies and find the best way to control their unusual craft.

The Zeppelin NT has a compressor system, so they can reduce lift by compressing some helium into a high pressure tank and letting some of the ballonets deflate a little. This is preferable to dumping ballast or helium.

You are right. I was just about to write this but found your posting first. In addition to the Zeppelin NT being bigger and having more useful lift, it is also being operated commercially. I saw a photo journal of a customer's flight around S.F. It looks like airship ventures http://www.airshipventures.com/ is offering scenic flights in San Diego and San Franisco.

If you read the article, they kinda explain that it's the largest MODERN airship. IE, actually built and operational.

Yes, they do. It's kind of surprising they get away with that, since a bigger ship - and a real Zeppelin, not a mere blimp - is flying regular tours over the San Fransisco bay area.

If they haven't consulted Airship Ventures about it, then I'm sorry but I don't care.

There is only 1 Zeppelin operator here in the U.S. They are the experts.

This is way too much like that dumb Bond movie. First, they get their own NASA airfield for their own private jet. Then they base a Zeppelin there, cruising over the Golden Gate Bridge, no less. Now, a geothermal drilling project? They're definitely on script.

Who plays Grace Jones?

Airship Ventures