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Artificial Clouds To Cool Qatar World Cup Stadiums
An anonymous reader writes "In anticipation of extreme heat during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, scientists and engineers at Qatar University have developed a solar-powered gas-filled cloud that will shade spectators and athletes from the intense sun. The $500,000 artificial clouds can be positioned over any of the stadiums in Qatar and can be maneuvered with a remote control from the ground to keep the passing sun off the field."
Congratulations, Qatar, you have reinvented blimps!
Graf Zeppelin would be so proud.
I can't RTFA. I just get to this page.
Thank goodness for this https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/kitten-block/
It is nice that the world is so wealthy we can spend billions of dollars of extra money watching grown men kicking balls into nets. We truly have entered the Golden Age.
Wouldn't some drones/balloons carrying something opaque be easier to handle?
...what can possibly go wrong with THIS plan?
...the Emir will keep up his payments to the Spacing Guild for weather control.
just shows that you can solve anything with enough creativity and enough money
Since when were footballers Athletes and not over paid coked up losers who shepherd a ball of leather in to an outdoor cupboard?
Like so many striking innovations, science fiction writers did not predict this (AFAIK, of course - I can't read everything!)
It's always been amusing and interesting to see which of their many ideas about possible futures really materialize, and which don't. Some of the great authors of the 1950s and 1960s described scenarios in the distant future (2500 CE, etc.) where gentlemen still wore ties and hats, and computers weighed tons so that they could not be fitted into aircraft or space ships. Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke (among others) foresaw the mobile phone by the 1940s, but never considered the ways in which it might be exploited commercially.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/9435035.stm
http://froyonation.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/qatar-invents-artificial-flying-clouds-to-block-sun-over-stadiums/
Isn't this something out of modern SciFi? Ringworld maybe?
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
USA has had blimps flying over their stadiums for years.
I know it would be a question of retrofitting a stadium if not already equipped, but wouldn't a dome be much more flexible in its use? What if there is a strong wind, or rain? wouldn't that make the balloons unstable, whereas a dome would still work perfectly? With a dome, you could even have a massive HVAC unit to cool it down somewhat.
That Qatar no longer exists.. and is replaced by something more... French.. or better yet hand it over to Belgium, so they don't feel left out, when's the last time they had a colony of their own?
Wow, they're building large blimps. That's exciting.
its amazing how far people has come.... its shocking sometimes
Ukrainian women
one million solar-powered Qatar clouds continuously deployed over landmasses
did China start a new trend of coming up with complicated schemes to avoid building roofs on buildings?
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
nt
I for one welcome our solar powered robotic cloud overlords ..........
da da da dum indeed.
Quite the cloud computing infrastructure
What could possibly go wrong?
From mainframe to client-server to "cloud". From hat to roof to cloud too, it seems.
Would the Cloud be controlled from a cloud computer?
it fails and crashes like part of what happen it black Sunday.
any ways nice way to copy mr burns sun blocker idea.
An easier solution would be not to hold the famous sporting event in such an unsuitable country in the first place, although that would mean less bribe money for FIFA delegates.
What is the effect of such a cloud should something go wrong? I cannot help but wonder if perhaps it would be safer and more cost effective if they were to just put a roof over the stadium (could they not do it for half a million dollars)?
What a waste of money.
iCloud or Ms Cloud OS ?
.... is going to sue for an IP violation.
Have gnu, will travel.
When they spend the money, it often trickles down to others that actually need it quite a bit.
On the contrary, football creates a trickle up economy. Where do the million$ spent in all those contracts come from?
But that's not the worse part of it. Most of the best players today come from poor countries in Africa or Latin America. When kids see those stars on TV and hear about the millions they make it looks like a great career choice.
After wasting their childhood playing hooky in the backyard soccer field, they learn that only a player in a million gets millionaire contracts, and the others are left semi-illiterate with no marketable skills.
Too bad Discovery and NatGeo aren't available in free-to-air TV, while football games are. The kids who would profit most from those channels don't have cable at home.
I wonder what kind of perks/bribes FIFA got to place the Cup in a dessert. How about Death Valley next time?
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
the 'clouds' are made from a lightweight carbon structure carrying a giant envelope of material containing helium gas
Looking into my crystal ball I can see this. I can also see an opportunity for them to use rows of lights on it for advertising... Wait, wait, I see, automotive, yes, tire companies doing this... (or there it'd probably be tyre companies...)
Artificial clouds, and next, the machines take over the plant... I see a pattern.
..in related news: giant remote control, artificial gas-filled cloud explodes - destroys stadium in Qatar...
I am open source, and Linux baby!
$500,000 ? Well then in 2022 they should be about $1.99 and available from the vendors along with the game program on the way in.
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
http://www.soft.hubb.co
Use this instead:
http://s1.sidereel.com/episodes/17521/featured/55579.jpg
FIFA (the organisation that decides the rules for football's world cup) doesn't let world cup final games to be played in covered stadia. Might be something to do with not allowing games to be played on artificial surfaces (so you need sunlight etc), can't remember.
It's cheaper and what could possibly go wrong?
The humanity!
just kidding. tehy might be getting tear gassed though, shot at, detained etc... it (fake cloud) would definitely be an improvement on the fake weather systems being foistered on US now. it was mentioned last weak in ten or 12 posts here on slashdot, but did not rate a stuff that matters storIE at that time?
the creators have the 'weather problem' well included in the planet/population rescue initiative/mandate.
as for the fake everything (math, science history religion etc..) death based systems we're using? it's not working for any but a handful of the whole worlds's population, while killing the rest of us. continue to pretend if you must feel safe without being so.
Great, how far away are they from making the cloud rain?
You say tomatoe, I say tomato... you say cloud, I say dirigible. It's a bag full o' floaty gas with some props attached; I think the dictionary already has a good enough word for that, but you go ahead and spin "cloud" for all it's worth.
Why don't they just play in winter? We have such nice winter weather in this region!
The stadium's not going to exist in 2022, that whole part of the world's blowing itself of the face of the earth right now. Qatar is right in the Persian gulf, my family's in gold trading which is big in that area and it's only gotten worse and worse, Gaddafi is crazy but he's not rolling over like Saddam. He's sitting on the biggest oil reserve in Africa and he knows it, I'd be interested to know where he's still getting weapon's and money from since he's been cut off from a lot of his funds and the UN refuses to even supply the rebels fighting Gaddafi. Yemen isn't far and and their president who's been in power for 17 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has repeatedly backed Iran and is letting rebels and freedom fighters run wild, he's also done nothing to stem the flow of arm's trades through and around the area and is facing an uprising of his own. Iraq has never been the same since the US starting in but the US has spread themselves thin with another sustained war in Afghanistan against a religiously driven foreign enemy using their homeland advantage. Obama's administration promised an end to things in Iraq but is now involved in 3 wars, spreading things a little thin much? Abdurahman Mohammed Farole, President of Puntland, an autonomous state inside of Somalia is right in the horn of Africa is worried about the uprising in Yemen affecting the Somalian people as they have already seen 100 refugees come from there in the last week. Dubai has used this technology in the summer months to create fake rainstorms in summer of 2010, but as a bankrupt international hub for big business could it become a ghost town as the more no fly zones are implemented and a recent ban on blackberrys, perhaps smartphones in general. F1 has looked at creating fake rain for when they race in Abu Dhabi, UAE, being the trend in the area this could be implemented fairly easily but with the area affected by No fly zones already. May 1st marks 8 years since George Bush's invasion, taking that as a vague reference point 2022 is 11 years ahead, will this kind of extravagant sporting event even be possible or even heard of in this part of the world by then?
It's like the mind going AWOL, it's there somewhere
Am I the only one who's first thought was: could you actually make some kind of solar power generating device using a huge inflatable structure, maybe taking advantage of internal convection or something? That way you are creating shade at the same time you are generating power..
I think inflatable technology is the future..
* Space habitats (http://www.bigelowaerospace.com/)
* Cars (http://www.myxpcar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=14)
* Telecommunications (http://www.space.com/8973-1st-communication-satellite-giant-space-balloon-50-years.html)
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Another reason why Qatar should not have been selected for the 2022 World Cup host, the US already has the proper accommodations and the weather is much more temperate.
...in case they decide to keep the crowds cool with a little rain.
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Just don't have the World Cup in Qatar.
hiding the sun?
Live Electronic Music
They should invent something to discover who was bribed to vote for Qatar in first place.
Open Source Network Inventory for the masses! Kuwaiba
I do not know if you need to start learning geography or to stop trolling... probably both.
Why can't
Start learning geography? I'm a little fuzzy but i bet this event is moved by 2022.
It's like the mind going AWOL, it's there somewhere
Anyone who believes this is likely to also expect Qatar to win the Cup. Michael http://plumbersstlouis.us/
At that size, and in guaranteed sun, doesn't a solar balloon sound more attractive than one filled with an enormous amount of expensive helium?
The Chinese are seeding the skies with rain, and in Qatar, we create and maneuver artificial clouds.. there's no weather modification technologies, nothing to see here - everyone move along.
The magical number is: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
Let me guess, there's provisions for advertising.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
See http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2011/03/27/geek-news-the-simpsons-already-did-it-of-the-day/ for the original idea by Mr. Burns. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I think what the news means is that it is a flexiable roof that costs 500k. it is worthy building a roof like that. What's more , Qatar is a so rich country that the citizens can afford it. At the same time, I have never seen a roof can be moved which sound a good way to avoid to be hurt by the hot sun.
"can be maneuvered with a remote control from the ground to keep the passing sun off the field."
Passing sun?
Galileo would be so proud!
Wow! I want two of these for my next summer camping trip!