The Airship Prize

A “Green Aviation” weekend workshop was held at NASA Ames Research Center on April 25–26, 2009 to stimulate dialog and foster collaboration among the nation’s aviation and energy technologists. Approximately 80 representatives from government, industry, and academia were in attendance. The workshop was organized into three serial sessions on advanced transportation concepts, advanced propulsion systems, and operational concepts, followed by three parallel sessions on technology priorities, organizational strategies, and metrics. The serial sessions opened with an overview talk on the relevant NASA activities, followed by shorter technical talks relevant to the session’s theme. Ample time was provided for discussion following each presentation. The program for the workshop is included in the report. (more…)

One key goal of the Airship Prize to develop a viable transport airship industry is focused on the potential for the application, renewal and update of the airship transport mode for the safe and effective provision of transportation support and distribution for humanitarian purposes.

Whether reacting to major disasters or providing links to remote or dangerous/disadvantaged communities airship transport shows great potential as a viable solution. Following major disasters requiring humanitarian relief, oftentimes existing transport infrastructure such as roads, bridges and airports are destroyed or damaged rendering them unusable. Airships for Provision of Humanitarian Aid

The Graf Zeppelin ruled the uncluttered skies like no other monarch could. The sight of the silver ship gliding over head brought crowds of people streaming from their houses and into the streets. …

The Northwest Corridor Development Corporation’s 2009 Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) is being held in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. This year’s event will be staged from the evening of Monday, October 5 through the morning of Wednesday, October 7, 2009. All Conference proceedings and related events will take place at the Prince George Civic Centre, 808 Civic Plaza, Prince George, BC. Airship Prize to Present at NCDC “One Mind, One Heart, One Corridor”

From ABC WTVG Toledo: “A new company that will build giant airships is getting off the ground here and it could mean hundreds of jobs!The company is called Ohio Airships and it’s built a prototype of what’s called a Dynalifter aircraft. Right now employees are working on the prototype at Toledo Express Airport. The full scale models will be capable of hauling incredible amounts of cargo.” (more…)

Arctic logistics has historically been a case of doing the best we can with what we have. Consistent delivery success has limitations and transportation costs in the Arctic are extremely expensive. Requirement to store large quantities of goods for a whole season also requires larger warehouses and bigger fuel storage tanks. Opportunities for resource development languish due to the costs of access and exploitation. A new generation of cargo airships would have a revolutionary impact on northern transportation and logistics. View the details and agenda for this year’s event Oct. 7th to 9th and register!

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTI), a developer of state of the art flexible thin-film solar modules, announced today that SkySentry, a high altitude vehicle developer headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, received their first flexible CIGS PV array for an upcoming aerostat test in Sandusky, Ohio, scheduled for mid-September, 2009. The aerostat is part of Army Space and Missile Defense Command’s High Altitude, Long-Endurance Testbed. (more…)

Airship Ventures Zeppelin Eureka — which at 246 feet in length is the world’s largest airship — will return to Long Beach Airport on Sept. 2 for a week of commercial sightseeing flights, and we’re giving away a pair of free tickets. The tickets will go to the person who best answers the following question: “If you could fly over anything you wanted to in the world in Eureka, what would it be?” (more…)

A German-American venture says it is now days from the maiden flight of its 111-foot long, tadpole-esque “segmented” drone airship. The STS-111 “Stratellite”, produced by Sanswire of Florida and TAO Technologies GmbH of Stuttgart, has now been assembled at the firm’s German test centre. According to a Sanswire-TAO announcement issued yesterday, “the first flight of the full scale STS-111 is expected to take place at the end of August”. The test video below shows a smaller prototype Unmanned German sperm dirigible ‘to fly within days’

From DefenseNews: “The U.S. Defense Department’s ISR Task Force will huddle early next month with industry officials about forming a consortium to speed development of high-flying, long-duration unmanned airships to gather battlefield intelligence.” (more…)