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Sergey Brin Is Reportedly Building 'Massive Airship' In NASA Research Center (bloomberg.com)
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is secretly building a "massive airship" inside of Hangar 2 at the NASA Ames Research Center, according to a report from Bloomberg. "It's unclear whether the craft, which looks like a zeppelin, is a hobby or something Brin hopes to turn into a business," reports Bloomberg. When asked about further details, Brin wrote in an email: "Sorry, I don't have anything to say about this topic right now." From the report: The people familiar with the project said Brin has long been fascinated by airships. His interest in the crafts started when Brin would visit Ames, which is located next to Google parent Alphabet Inc.'s headquarters in Mountain View, California. In the 1930s, Ames was home to the USS Macon, a huge airship built by the U.S. Navy. About three years ago, Brin decided to build one of his own after ogling old photos of the Macon. In 2015, Google unit Planetary Ventures took over the large hangars at Ames from NASA and turned them into laboratories for the company. Brin's airship, which isn't an Alphabet project, is already taking shape inside one. Engineers have constructed a metal skeleton of the craft, and it fills up much of the enormous hangar. Alan Weston, the former director of programs at NASA Ames, is leading Brin's airship project, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing the secretive plans. Weston didn't respond to requests for comment.
This will be his Spruce Goose
the real trick is to really be here after... hand in hand we stand... it says in all the manuals...
This is what happens when you have too much money. You just throw money at projects and hope they turn out to be useful. Or like many of Google's projects, you just walk away from them when you get bored.
I don't really see how this qualifies as a 'secretive' project.
I'd be interested to know how this might size up to the new British heavy-lift airship, Airlander 10: https://www.hybridairvehicles....
--- To save space, would readers please insert their own witty comment -here-
Googles Evil Lair. Code name: OVER-LORD
Has Hollywood taught us nothing? Men with private airships are always villains intent on world domination.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-j1o-...
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
some gargoyles, other religious figurines... accommodation details could make or break the trip..
the Sproogle Google
Airships have to be hollow to work.
These rich people and their explosive Zeppelins!
much like the unpopularized clinton trump cage match? replace the rothschilds with those rabbit people? change is good for us... until the moms can stop crying....
....a lot of hot air.
Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy,
Boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl,
Girl Dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year's Day.
Take it easy, Charlie, I've got an Angle...
In 1996 a company in Germany called CargoLifter AG had big dreams and tried to build a giant transportation airship, but they failed miserably.
The only thing they ever achieved was to build an enourmous hangar in the middle of nowhere. After CargoLifter went bankrupt a Malayan investor changed it into a tropical theme park, which seems to be doing quite well now.
I sincerely hope that Sergey will achieve what he is trying to do. It would be sad to have a NASA hanger transformed into a tropical theme park.
Signature deleted by lameness filter.
I'm not impressed. We have been hearing about this for several years now.
Builds Ark...
A billionair, Silicon Valley, and an airship. But who will act as Grace Jones ?!?
After the blimp is created will he reveal his plot to destroy Silicon Valley to create a monopoly?
I am an engineer
Just a guess.
I saw an article on the topic about ten years ago in Popular Science.
And how did he end up in such an esteemed position? Oh, that's right. He bribed them. This is not good, folks. We are getting dangerously close to living in a totalitarian country in America, and it's coming from all sides.
This could be used to carry large ungainly freight, like lifting a factory-built house onto a mountainside.
I'm rather dubious that there is sufficient market demand for remote heavy lifting to make it economically viable. I could be wrong of course and I'm certainly no expert but is getting heavy equipment into rural locations a really big unsolved problem? We don't seem unable to get heavy equipment into pretty remote locations today. Superficially it sounds like a solution looking for a problem.
Then of course there is the seemingly needless use of (probably) helium on what stands a strong chance of being a frivolous project. While we aren't going to imminently run out of helium, the supply on Earth is finite and should be tended carefully.
I say we call it "Floaty McFloatface".
As a person of leiesure (sp?) i have always thought, a flying boat may be ideal way to pass time,
some people spend 4 quarters per rack just to play billiards, seems costly
would be nice if somebody got around to proper air travel.
8)
"never underestimate the bandwidth of a zepplin filled with zipdisks". He'll be able to transmit ten times the annual internet data of the US from one google data center to another in a week.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Budding supervilian.
Rich folks like this guy have the funds to build nice post-apocalyptic shelters; Mr Brin appears to think having an aerial shelter would be best, and I think it's a clever way to get away from the zombie hordes, nuclear mutants, etc.
...it doesn't seem like a smart thing to build an aircraft that can be tossed around by the wind like a party balloon.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin is secretly^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H building a "massive airship" inside of Hangar 2 at the NASA Ames Research Center
-FTFY
it's not a secret anymore
This is a cheaper solution.
That has yet to be established. Building a small number of very large airships is an extremely expensive endeavor. It's not even remotely clear that there is enough business for them to recoup their cost much less be a cheaper solution. If you have actual data to support it being a cheaper solution and for the value of the business to be had by all means share with the rest of the class. This is not remotely the first time this has been discussed on slashdot and those who think it is a good idea (and it might be) almost universally assume it is economically viable despite a near complete lack of evidence to support that assertion.
That's what technology is after all, the ability to do things more efficiently.
Just because you come up with a technological solution it does not automatically follow that it is more economically efficient than the alternatives.
Plus: who gets to decide what's "frivolous"? Certainly not you.
The market decides what is frivolous ultimately. But that doesn't mean I cannot look at a project and determine that there is high probability of it being frivolous without spending the money to build it. I could be wrong of course but I'd be mildly surprised if this turned into an economical solution to a real world problem. If it were obviously a better solution to a pressing problem chances are someone would have already done it. We've known how to build large airships for about a century.
Probably played too much of the old Final Fantasy games.
You know - this moment when you finally get the airship - and the whole world opens up to you :)
Well - in his case the "whole world" part is kinda already done. So why not just put the airship on top.
"we are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."
The blimp is to hang a yuge advertising banner for 23andMe.
North Slope of Alaska. Siberia. Anyplace in the enormous expanse of the boreal forest / not-so-permafrost and targa regions that encircles the planet.
You're talking about places, not the amount of actual stuff that needs to get there that could be economically transported by airship. It would have to have such a huge cost advantage to overcome the need for in place roads and other infrastructure.
Roads are becoming a big issue with global warming (which, of course isn't happening except in the arctic and nearby regions). Even a month less of ice road makes a number of projects economically infeasible because helicopters and bulldozers don't get along all that well.
If the ice is melting on the north shore then you don't need an airship. You need an ocean going ship which will be MUCH cheaper and more reliable than any airship. It's not like you are going to send an airship during a winter storm anyway...
Of course, we are talking about things that are on the edge of possible, much less not actually existing at present. But the market is probably there if you can deliver.
You're just doing a hand wave and assuming that stuff we currently send by truck is practical to be transported by airship. It's not remotely clear that this is the case. If it were obviously economically sane companies like ExxonMobil have a lot of smart people who would try to make it work. They spend billions on technology and the cost of an airship wouldn't be a big deal at all to them. To a degree you're arguing that the profit motive of oil and gas companies isn't actually that strong.
I'll show them! Let's see one of those stupid Amazon drones deliver a Tesla to someone's driveway!
Since there is a helium shortage. Any new airships should use hydrogen.
The Uncoveror: It's the real news.
Instead of going off on tangent projects, get back to basics and fix Android. Why the hell do Google-branded phones (not just Android, but Google-branded Android) lose apps and panels on update? I lost count how many near-accidents I had because of the free Google navigation app. Fix the the core business before you off on your tangent projects.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
The problem with airships, ultimately, is their cross-sectional area.
No one has filled an airship with hydrogen since the Zeppelin era, so that's just not a valid critique. Yet so many tech and aviation dreamers keep trying to resurrect the airship, and they keep failing.
The sky is full of wind (duh). The wind is unpredictable and often strong. The thing that makes airships uncontrollable are unfavorable or excessive winds. Getting the airship into a hanger isn't an answer when the airship is already out on mission!
You can't make an airship sufficiently aerodynamic, nor give it powerful enough engines, to adequately control this. Heavier than air aircraft don't have this problem. Their power to cross-sectional area mean that heavier than air craft, simply overpower the wind. Airships cannot do this.
Look, what is the flight speed envelope of a conventional, heavier than air craft? Roughly, 120-1000+ knots. What is the flight speed envelope of a lighter than air craft? Roughly, 0-150 knots. What is the probable range of wind speeds and conditions any flying craft will encounter? Roughly, 0-200 knots.
That should tell you everything you need to know. Airships can be overcome by atmospheric winds they are very likely to encounter. And that makes them needlessly dangerous at the margins.
"A sucker is born every minute."
"A fool and his money are soon parted."
"...has more money than sense."
Any other ideas anyone?