Hardly the most robust weapons platform - it would be a sitting duck for modern fighters with Air-to-Air missiles. Then again seaborne aircraft carriers are almost as vulnerable to enemy aircraft.
airborne freight for go-anywhere delivery of parcels at a fraction of the cost of other courier systems
I remember reading about plans to do just this - use airships for air freight transport. It was estimated that a reasonable size airship could carry more than a 747. Of course speed might be a problem.
spawned over 2,200 new companies that generate about $30 billion in economic activity every year
And a handfull of open-sourced research projects (TCP/IP,BSD etc) has generated probably several times as many companies and an uncountable amount of economic activity, not to mention millions of well-paid jobs by creating the internet. I think it's pretty obvious that making public research open has far greater economic benefits in the medium to long term than closing things off.
Making research open means that anyone can start up a company to use that technology. This results in a healthy, capitalist, competitive market instead of one company charging extortionate prices for technology developed with public money.
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Hardly the most robust weapons platform - it would be a sitting duck for modern fighters with Air-to-Air missiles. Then again seaborne aircraft carriers are almost as vulnerable to enemy aircraft.
airborne freight for go-anywhere delivery of parcels at a fraction of the cost of other courier systems
I remember reading about plans to do just this - use airships for air freight transport. It was estimated that a reasonable size airship could carry more than a 747. Of course speed might be a problem.
And a handfull of open-sourced research projects (TCP/IP,BSD etc) has generated probably several times as many companies and an uncountable amount of economic activity, not to mention millions of well-paid jobs by creating the internet. I think it's pretty obvious that making public research open has far greater economic benefits in the medium to long term than closing things off.
Making research open means that anyone can start up a company to use that technology. This results in a healthy, capitalist, competitive market instead of one company charging extortionate prices for technology developed with public money.