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Airships Tested As Two-Way Telecom Beacons

Posted by timothy on from the bouncing-around dept.

sgups writes "The Toronto Star (no registration required:)) is reporting about this firm which will supply spherical airships that will be used as high-flying telecommunications platforms to supply two-way Internet access across the United States and into Mexico and Canada. The article explains little of the technology though."

10 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Technical Hurdle by StefanJ · · Score: 5, Funny
    They're going to need really huge Pringles(tm) cans to support wireless at that altitude.

    Of course, if they succeed, we'll have big potatoid wafers the size of dinner plates.

    Stefan

  2. Huh? by Em+Emalb · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The Toronto Star (no registration required:)) "

    What? Registration not required? What am I supposed to bitch about now?

    Well, hell, guess I have to read the article now.

    *SIGH*

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  3. What kind of internet outage shall we have today? by Quaoar · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Denial of service
    2. Fried router
    3. Blimp attack

    --
    I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
  4. Nasa has a better idea by UrGeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Projects/Pathfinder/

    or search for "Nasa solar-powered Pathfinder" in your favorite search engine.

    This is a solar-powered drone that eventually will fly 24 hours (carrying batteries for night).

  5. Re:Liability by WolfWithoutAClause · · Score: 5, Funny
    Yeah, right. Emotional trauma caused by being hit by an 18 meter beach ball moving at a few feet a minute- you'd get laughed out of court.

    "And then it popped see, and my voice went all squeaky. My friends looked at me and they all laughed. I was so ashamed. I'm asking for 90 billion dollars in damages."

    --

    -WolfWithoutAClause

    "Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!"
  6. Cool Picture by WeekendKruzr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Although I hesitate due to the high liklihood of it being Slashdotted, the company's homepage has a pretty cool picture of the device in question. While the most of the comm gear is hidden within, you can see some antennae's and solar panels on the side. The rest of the site has lots of other interesting pics, but like the article is unfortunately very short of any tech detail. :-/

  7. interesting tangent by zogger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    --I've seen several slashdot threads now on starting your own business, moaning about the company you are in, etc. The two recent were the tech trends thread and the hilarious wobbly headed CEO doll "bonus". Anyway, I found the most fascinating thing in the article was that, to the owner, balloons were just fun! That's how he got into it, doing what he thought was fun and cool! Fun can translate into enthusiasm which leads to making some radical but maybe cool decisions. More power to the guy, and hope he figures out how to keep them in place! And is this a new job title, certified stratonaut network administrator*? CSNA* What a job!

    *copylefted, have fun!

  8. competition by anonymous+loser · · Score: 5, Informative
    There is already another project called SkyStation that has a significant business advantage IMHO. It's already been in development for several years, and is backed by some rather large corporations such as Lockheed Martin (where some of the development is taking place).

    However, given the current state of the telecom industry, I find it hard to believe that *any* of these projects will get off the ground (no pun intended) in the near future.

  9. Re:Liability by Door-opening+Fascist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You're worried about 18-meter 4-ton helium filled balloons over heavily-populated areas? We already have 80-meter 40-ton airplanes flying over heavily-populated areas, and they're filled with highly flammable jet fuel to boot.

  10. Old Hat by A+non+moose+cow · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Oil field trash from Africa's equitorial west coast might remember this being done over 20 years ago (by Conoco? I can't remember). The company needed communications into the jungle, and the anchored dirgibles solved two problems...

    1. They didn't have to cut a path for wires
    2. They could avoid the natives stealing the wire.

    The problem came in the first monsoon season when , although very heavily anchored, the coastal one was blown hard enough to snap the dirgible from the cable. The cable bounded back like a rubber band, and completely demolished the base station. Tons of thick steel cable flying out of the sky. I wish I could have seen it.

    (My dad, now retired from Mobil, told me this story some years ago.)