Slashdot Mirror
The Age of the Airship Returns?
Popular in Victorian and Steampunk fantasies, airships and zeppelins evoke a certain elegance that most modern travelers don't associate with the airplane. Some companies are capitalizing on that idea, and a need to move cargo by air in an era of ever-increasing fuel costs, to re-re-introduce commercial zeppelins. Popular Mechanics notes four notable airship designs, all with specific design purposes. One craft in particular, the Aeroscraft ML866, is being funded by the US government's DARPA group. It looks to combine the best elements of the helicopter and the zeppelin. "The Aeroscraft ML866's potentially revolutionary Control of Static Heaviness system compresses and decompresses helium in the 210-ft.-long envelope, changing this proposed sky yacht's buoyancy during takeoff and landings, Aeros says. It hopes to end the program with a test flight demonstrating the system. "
So does this mean that the DoD isn't developing anti-gravity technology in Area 51? Or does it just mean that DARPA isn't privy to that knowledge?
he wants his world of tomorrow back.
--- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
(sorry, had to be said)
Table-ized A.I.
Actually, we are now falling long love with airships.
Cool.
= Hindendicer: explodes and chops all in one step
Table-ized A.I.
But since love is irrational, then only a float is going to be at all useful.
And it lifts better too!
Of course vacuum would provide the best lift of all in the atmosphere. So why is it that my beautiful 21" crt monitor, which is little more than a big cube of vacuum, is so damn heavy?
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
That means it's not too long 'till the Golden Age of Colonic Irrigation!
Brett
Shouldn't all comments referring to the Hindenburg be modded "Flaimbait"?
I know what you did last summer. Just kidding, I don't work at the NSA.
Think how crushingly heavy it would be if you broke the vacuum!
Blimps don't need to make economic sense because they are fun. Also, if we don't have zeppelins, then how am I supposed to fulfill my dream of throwing somebody off of one and then saying "No ticket"?
If only love were rational then a float would be useful. But love, being irrational, is greater than all things - even long doubles.
hth,
r0k
>>The Hindenburg disaster wasn't that bad. It only killed a few dozen people.
>Was the second sentence meant to support the first? Because I don't really think it does.
I think he's saying that the Hindenburg disaster didn't lead to a scarcity in the supply of people. The person supply being as plentiful as it is, we shouldn't be so afraid of spending it once in a while.
Because it is too small to have much lift. Depending on how it was built, you might need weights to keep a 21 meter monitor from drifting off.
You can't see ANYTHING from a car, You've got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk...Edward Abbey