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Sanswire Demonstrates First Stratellite
Sterling D. Allan writes "Pure Energy Systems News (PESN) reports that GlobeTel Communications Corp. debuted their Sanswire Stratellite last week to over 300 people, including members of the media, personnel from the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. and international commercial interests, as well as investors and shareholders. Stationed in the stratosphere, well above the jet stream, powered by film solar photovoltaic units, the device will make wireless communications available anywhere in the U.S., including on airline flights. One Stratellite will have a payload capacity of several thousand pounds and clear line-of-sight to approximately 300,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of Texas."
Municipal wifi is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of!
Killfile(TGK)
No trees were killed in the creation of this post. However, many electrons were inconvenienced.
The press release fails to point out that the demonstration was an abysmal failure and not even the wasteful spendthrifts from the pentagon were interested in putting in an order. Film at eleven.
Now I can download porn on my cell phone at 20,000 feet! And join the mile high jack off club of dateless Slashdotting losers! In soviet Russia, stratalite launches YOU!
This is impressive. Solar powered, but are there weather problems at this altitude? I guess not, but can we put cameras on this thing too. Better maps for google maps, yea. When does it fly by SF again?
"Those that start by burning books, will end by burning men."
They're not in space, they're in the stratosphere (part of the atmosphere).
Is that a Metric Texas or an Imperial one?
Straight out of Del boys mouth. "I just got one of those new Stratellite dishes"
It doesn't work at night. ;)
As usual I was reading the summary and skipping about every other line. I do this until I find something interesting to me.
I was quite interested to learn that:
over 300 people, including members of the media, personnel from the U.S. Department of Defense, Stationed in the stratosphere, well above the jet stream.
and I think to myself "WOW those guys are WAY up there"
Obama is a twitter sock puppet
From TsameFA (actually, just the line above):
# Line-of-sight to a 300,000 square mile area
# Wireless capability (currently) to an area with a radius of 200 miles
Radius 200 miles ~= 125,000 square miles, anyway... not sure if that counts as "a lot" less.
And it seems to imply that the wireless capability will eventually be extended to approach the entire line of sight area...
ClutterMe.com - easiest site creation on the Net. Just click and type.
Who is going to be famous for shooting it out of the sky?
They are actually building this Hindengurg. If this thing so much as casts a shadow over my house, there will be hell to pay!
They're planning to use such airships to launch ships into space, by slowly achieving orbital speed!
Can anyone parse,
"...utilizing proprietary lifting gas technology",
in a way that makes sense?
change the parent post to Funny rather than Informative or Insightful. The AC post was a joke, made up by the AC, me. Any resemblance to factual matters is purely coincidental.
This really adds a new dimension to the term "Vaporware".
Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein
Having visited Los Angeles, I was shocked by the routine use of helicopters for chasing suspects.
I, too, am shocked that our law enforcement is using helicopters to catch criminals! I think it's a better idea to allow police officers to conduct high-speed car chases through neighborhoods. You are absolutely "Insightful". +1 +1 +1!!!
Somehow I don't think it is going to be on a unlicensed frequency.
savethedollhouse.com
"In my opinion, the media is reporting on the progress of Sanswire One as they recognize the potential of our airship and the potential of causing what I always refer to as a paradigm shift in the telecommunications industry."
and here:
"This shows his belief in what we are trying to achieve at Sanswire. His innovative approach and out-of- the-box thinking is enabling us to successfully execute the program."
This is buzzword bullshit completely devoid of meaning, the kind of stuff you tell potential investors when you realize your scheme is gonna cost a whole lot more than you'll ever make. I'm thinking if they actually had a viable business plan you would hear something with a little more content from the CEO.
Well, I tried to mod this funny, but I was told the comment was at its limit. So I tried to make it overrated, so someone could mod it back up as funny, but it said I'd already moderated the comment. Oh well. Damn slashcode bugs.
The Stratellites are unmanned airships and will be monitored from the Company's Operation Centers on the ground. I wonder what bandwith the connection with ground control would have. For large scale ISP services less than many many Gb/s would be insufficient. Anyone here able to estimate whether such would be a serious bottle neck or not? (I guess they might have just lowered a cable if it wouldn't be accompanied by giant lightning rod like properties)
Read this if you are sceptical about Sanswire claims.
The winds at the altitude these craft are designed to fly at are negligable. They are not hot air balloons, which don't have any propulsion of their own.
These would have means of controlling themselves thru wind layers just like blimps and derigables do today. Once low enough to the ground you can have ground handlers grab the tethers and haul it in.
...are these giant jetstream straddling, solar-powered technological oasies available as luxury homes? I imagine with carefull planning you could drag the definition of "hermit" kicking and screaming in exciting new directions.
They've been hyping this for years, and while the telecom crash of the early 2000s kicked the chair out from under their business plans, they'd still be really really cool if they ever deployed the bloody things.
By the way, their PR mockup picture of the Stratellite looks amazingly like the whale in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
"...utilizing proprietary lifting gas technology"
What, a BALLOON?!
What happens when this thing malfunctions and falls out of the sky?
My bet is that it'll hit the ground.
Mmmh... Forgive the metricness, but assuming that: the supporting structure weighs as much as its payload (not sure about this estimate); it has the same drag coefficient as a Boeing 747; its cross-sectional area is a 44.20*26.52 meter rectangle (probably overestimated?); a constant air density of 1.2 kg/m^3 (sea-level, conservative); a gravitational acceleration of 9.72 m/s^2 (troposphere level, conservative)...
The thing should come down at a terminal velocity of 35.12 m/s, corresponding to a kinetic energy of roughly 1,678,399.48 J or 4.11e-10 megatons. For comparison, a .45 bullet has 779.59 J at muzzle level. Too tired to look up grenades and other amenities.
Not much of a WMD even if it weighs ten times as much as I've supposed, anyhow, but still I wouldn't like it to fall on my home... Especially because that 3,000 lbs. payload should be pretty dense.
I hope someone can check this since I'm tired and I haven't been playing armchair physics for a long time...
If it does, I hope it falls in my backyard. Cause man...I'm gonna e-bay that puppy!
Life is not for the lazy.
I understand the area covered in Texases, but what's this "pounds" of payload? How many VW's is that?
Here's a thought:
If these puppies are to be up there for 18 months (yes, I RTFA), will they comprise a new "environment" that species could adapt to?
The floaty things would make a great rest area for migrating birds or bugs. Birds that migrate at 65K feet, that is. Maybe I should rethink this...
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
Let's assume that the props have to turn at 2500 RPM at ground level for the airship to keep station. If everything falls off proportionally, then at 65 000 ft, the props would still have to turn at 2500 RPM to keep station in a wind of the same velocity. However, aerodynamic drag would be much reduced due to the decreased air density, and so the energy required to turn the props at 2500 RPM would be much less. I'm not sure of the degree to which drag would be reduced, and this also doesn't take into account things like the constant friction of the motor bearings. But this part of their claims sound feasible to me.
I am an aerospace engineer. A few thoughts. . .
.) then they have a lift deficit of 3,750 pounds. They'll never get to 70,000 feet. They might get to 60,000 feet, but then they'll only have around 100-pounds of payload capacity available. Plus, the air is denser at 60,000 feet, the propulsive power is greater, the battery weight is higher, etc etc etc.
1. Regenerative power systems (the kind you can deplete and re-charge, whether that be solar cells and batteries, solar cells and closed-loop fuel cells, etc.) need to mature far beyond what is currently capable in order to make these craft work. Consider that the solar panels need to not only power all the essential equipment (radios, drive motors, wifi, etc.), but they also need to have enough excess to recharge batteries for night operations. For something very flat like the Stratellite(TM), this means they won't be able to operate too far north (or south) because the angle the airship makes with the sun will be too great - too few photons will be striking the cells. For the kinds of power densities they will need, this may mean not operating north of New York City, for example.
2. Now consider what happens at night. You have zero solar power - 100% comes from your storage bank (batteries, fuel cells, hyper-flywheels, etc). In the northern hemisphere at winter, you will need to plan on about 16-hours of power storage capacity before the sun gets high enough in the sky to start powering the ship AND recharge the batteries.
3. Assuming the nominal drag coefficient numbers others have talked about (~.05), an average airspeed of 40-knots, and assuming that the electric motors are 90% efficient at converting electricity to mechanical power, and that the propellers are 60% efficient at converting the mechanical power to useful work (thrust), this craft will need 45kW of power available 24-7 JUST FOR PROPULSION at 70,000 feet. 4. Assuming that their regenerative storage system has a power density of 100 Watt-hours per pound (which is optimistic), this equals 7,200 POUNDS OF POWER STORAGE REQUIRED! 5. Again, at 70,000 feet, assuming the structure weighs in at around 1,000 pounds (I'd like to see that. .
This sig is a test. If this had been an actual sig, you would be reading something quite a bit wittier than this now.