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World's First Solar-Propelled Blimp To Cross English Channel

Posted by timothy on from the all-I've-got's-this-sunny-afternoon dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Can a blimp propelled entirely by solar power cross the English Channel? We're about to find out! Nephelios, the world's first solar blimp, was built by Projet Sol'r — a collaboration between students at engineering and technical schools in France. Now, almost a year after its debut (and a year after it was supposed to launch), the helium-filled airship is ready for action, with its inaugural flight set to take place next week. The blimp is covered in semi-flexible solar cells that can generate up to 2.4 kilowatts — enough to keep the blimp moving at 25 mph as it crosses la Manche."

7 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. First post. yay. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    first post.

    1. Re:First post. yay. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      And you fucking wasted it.

    2. Re:First post. yay. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Oh I beg to differ! I should have been more clear. I've always wanted to do one of those really lame "first post" posts. Don't know why, but that it just always fascinated me people do that. I thought that trying it myself might lead to a deeper understanding of the practice. No dice. Oh well, Another thing off my bucket list.

  2. ...first post? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Awww! All these years I've always wanted to do one of those really lame "first post" posts. I noticed it got automatically deleted. Sigh.
    I thought I could cross that off my bucket list.

  3. Re:Desperation from France by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    They do even crazier things to get out of the US. Like going trough the TSA.

    And since when is the UK the US?

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  4. Re:English weather by strack · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    best. sig. EVER.

  5. Algore would LOVE this thing! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Too bad he's got his hands full with a divorce and now thesmokinggun.com releasing the police report of a masseuse who claims he nutted on her pants. I always knew there was something phony about that smarmy bastard...