This airship can study the skies while distributing WiFi to cities

There’s quite a case to make for airships in today’s day and age (or blimps/zeppelins as they’re called). They don’t need an airport or a runway, they’re great at cruising the skies, and make wonderful research vessels. In fact, Amazon’s even planning on deploying one of them in the skies to help bring their warehouses to the skies, eliminating the need to worry about real estate. Maform’s airship, titled the S.H.A.R.K. takes to the skies to help achieve a number of activities, from research to service-providing. The S.H.A.R.K. breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen, using those gases to achieve buoyancy, while the energy needed to break the water molecules down comes from solar-power, thanks to the presence of multiple panels on the airship’s upper surface. Yes, the airship DOES somewhat look like the animal it’s named after, no I’m not going to make a Sharknado reference even though I really want to.

The S.H.A.R.K. has multiple uses, allowing it to utilize its aerial position to study topologies, scanning cities from above, to monitoring the skies and even the edge of our atmosphere. Based on its height, it can either hover directly above cities, providing them with services like network coverage and Wi-Fi, or can scan its surroundings for atmospheric changes… you know, just in case a *ahem* tornado were to brew.

Designer: Maform Design Studio for Endrödi Aircraft

AT&T’s giant blimp will provide network coverage to first responders

FirstNet, the nationwide broadband network for first responders being built with AT&T, just added a giant blimp to its arsenal. The 55-foot aerostat, dubbed FirstNet One, is meant to hover over disaster sites and provide wireless communication fo...

This drone-deploying blimp could be Amazon’s next aerial fulfillment center

While the origin of this video has something, in part, to do with April Fool’s day, there’s some truth to this concept too. Amazon has, for long, been experimenting with aerial deliveries, sending unmanned drones to fulfill package deliveries. In fact, the blimp idea isn’t completely far-fetched, either. A quick look at a patent file from 2014 in the United States Patent and Trademark Office shows Amazon’s intentions to ‘take to the air’.

The idea is to shift their fulfillment center to the skies, unofficially dubbed as ‘Prime Air’. The warehouse would float in the skies, occasionally deploying drones to drop off and pick up packages. It eliminates possibly every point of friction, from the need for human delivery partners, to traffic/connectivity problems.

The video above was created by Japan-based artist Zozi, and was shared a whopping 17000 times and liked by over 52000 users… and while the general response to the video has been to call it horrifyingly dystopic, who can say what Amazon has in store for us in the future??

Credits: Zozi009

This drone-deploying blimp could be Amazon's next aerial fulfillment center

This drone-deploying blimp could be Amazon's next aerial fulfillment center

This drone-deploying blimp could be Amazon's next aerial fulfillment center

This drone-deploying blimp could be Amazon's next aerial fulfillment center

This drone-deploying blimp could be Amazon's next aerial fulfillment center

Adam Savage Shows off Awesome Blade Runner Blimp Replica

One of the coolest things about Blade Runner was its future environment. And in that universe, we saw those cool floating advertising blimps. Sadly, these futuristic airships still haven’t become a reality, so it’s up to us to create them if we want them. Fortunately, Adam Savage and Kayte Sabicer of Tested have done just that, creating an awesome mini replica of the floating billboards.

While Adam led the project, it’s clear from the video that Kayte did most of the heavy lifting on this build, so kudos, Kayte! It took many months of work and it shows. This thing is full of detail and yes, it even displays on its built-in video screen. Plug it in, and an ad comes up for the Off-World Colonies where you can begin again in a land of golden opportunity. Inside, it has fiber-optics and a color wheel inside so that its lights change just like they did in the movie. It even uses the original video files and sound files from the film. And since it was built to half-scale of the original movie model, it required much more precision to put it all together.

You can check out a few more detail images of this amazing build below, courtesy of Norman Chan.

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2019

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I want this thing so badly. Sadly it’s one of a kind. Maybe I can capture Adam and Kayte and lock them in my basement until they make me one? Is that going too far? God, this thing is gorgeous.

 

Fox readies its VR suite for a key college football matchup

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Airlander 10 Takes Flight: I Like Big Blimps and I Cannot Lie

I think Sir Mix-a-lot would love the Airlander 10 blimp. In fact, this airship looks like a giant butt so much that it has earned the nickname “Flying Bum” from the rather reserved Brits who have seen it take flight. Other than looking like a flying butt, it is very big and in fact hailed as the largest aircraft in the world, at 302-feet long.

airlander10-tbzoom in

It is part airplane, part blimp, and part helicopter, and was originally designed as a US military aircraft before the program was canned. The idea is to carry people and cargo to and from areas which don’t have a runway.

The Airlander 10 can fly at an altitude of 16,000 feet with a top speed of 90 mph. With its maiden flight lasting about 30 minutes, the helium-filled monster is one step closer to going into everyday use – and everyday ridicule.

[via Phys.org]

Lockheed Martin SPIDER Robot Patches Holes in Giant Hybrid Airships

Back in the day, I was rather obsessed with blimps. I thought they were super cool because they’re essentially a giant balloon you could fly under. Lockheed Martin has evolved the blimp into something called the Hybrid Airship, a massive flying vessel designed to carry lots of cargo to remote locations – and where it’s going, it doesn’t need roads.

lockheed_spider_robot_1zoom in

One challenge for Lockheed is how to inspect the massive envelope of the airship and repair any pinhole leaks. Originally, this involved a team outside the envelope with a bright light and a team inside the hole to patch any holes when the light shone through. Lockheed’s Skunk Works group didn’t like that approach and invented the Self-Propelled Instrument for Damage Evaluation and Repair, or SPIDER for short.

SPIDER is an autonomous robot with two halves that connect magnetically. One half rides outside the fully-inflated envelope while the other is inside. The outer half shines bright light on the envelope and when a hole is detected, the light bleeds through to the dark interior. The inner half sees that light and fixes the hole. If it detects and/or fixes a leak, it records this and sends images and report back to a central monitoring computer.

The spider bots work autonomously in packs to scour the entire airship and ready it for flight. I have no idea what the holes are patched with, probably duct tape.

Miniature Autonomous Blimp is No Airhead

Instructables employee DJ aka Aleator777 – the genius behind the Apple II and retro phone watches – recently promoted the Intel Edison by creating the Miniature Autonomous Blimp. This brainy balloon can stay afloat and avoid obstacles on its own.

miniature_autonomous_blimp_by_aleator777_1zoom in

It may not look like much, but this blimp is a high tech toy. Aside from Intel’s dev board, it also has a LIDAR sensor, an IR sensor, a laser-cut wooden frame, carbon fiber tubes and 3D printed brackets. DJ wrote an Arduino sketch that tells the Edison to use data from the sensors to detect and avoid obstacles in front and below the blimp.

Float to DJ’s Instructables page for his full build guide.