From RT.com: ” Exactly a century ago, in 1908, the first Russian airship blasted off in the then capital St Petersburg. Today, after successfully building scaled-down zeppelins, the Russian company RosAeroSistemy is planing to realize the ideas of the rocket scientist – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. The Russian pioneer of space theory predicted that airships with hard shells could be highly reliable and maneuverable once the right technology was developed.
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In February 2008, three individuals with a passion and interest in the development of freight transport airships banded together to begin development of the Airship Prize. Ron Hochstetler, Barry Prentice and Jeff Ashcroft all came to jointly build this initiative from different but very complementary backgrounds, and short Bios of each of these Founders are shown below for your information. Meet the Airship Prize Founders
From cnet news: “NASA celebrated the 75th anniversary of this iconic airfield and research center on Friday by dedicating a brand-new zeppelin from a private company called Airship Ventures. The zeppelin NT (“new technology”), which is one of just three currently functioning zeppelins that exist in the world, and the biggest, at 246 feet, was named “Eureka,” a name that relates to the fact that the ship is based in California, as well as the fact that it is “rooted in scientific principles,” said Brian Bell, a co-founder of Airship Ventures, the ship’s owner, minutes before he revealed the new name.
At an event here to celebrate the two milestones, Alexandra Bell, also a co-founder of Airship Ventures, spoke of the experience of getting the zeppelin program off the ground. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), as well as Pete Worden, director of the NASA Ames Research Center, attended the event.
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From Boeing.com: ” The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and SkyHook International Inc. today announced a teaming agreement to develop the JHL-40 (Jess Heavy Lifter), a new commercial heavy-lift rotorcraft designed to address the limitations and expense of transporting equipment and materials in remote regions. Boeing has received the first increment of a multiyear contract from SkyHook to develop the new aircraft. (more…)
Over the last couple of years my interest and excitment around the concept of reviving and renewing airship transport technology of the blimp or zeppelin variety has been growing steadily. Today I’m now utterly convinced these massive dinosaurs of the sky from the early 1900s actually have the potential to re-emerge and change our world for the better. (more…)
The Airship Prize for the successful development and flight race of a Zero (or low) Emission Transport Airship (ZETA) is now under development guided initially by Ron Hochstetler, Barry Prentice and Jeff Ashcroft.
First step will be the development of very specific criteria for the significant cash award to the winning team based on rate of emissions, flight speed, transport capacity and cargo transfer capability.
In order to develop a fair and robust criteria for the qualification for and ultimate award of the Airship Prize requires significant deliberations and input from the industry.
With this in mind, the Airship Prize will shortly be organizing and announcing an Airship Prize Criteria Development Workshop to gather input from many sources to ensure an effective and quality criteria for the award of the Airship Prize.
In order to develop the framework and significant support required to drive the Airship Prize forward, we’re interested in hearing from any individuals and/or corporations who share our vision for the development of a viable airship transport industry.
Not only does this represent a positive environmental opportunity, the formation and growth of a transport industry could also represent significant heavy manufacturing growth for countries which recognize and embrace this opportunity. We look forward to hearing from those interested in supporting this initiative, please contact us to discuss your participation further.
In 1900, petroleum magnate Henri Deutsch de La Meurthe offered a prize of 50,000 francs to the first man who could fly around the Eiffel Tower, taking off and landing at Park Saint-Cloud. This had to be done by the aircraft under its own power and without landing during the flight, all to be completed in no more than 30 minutes.
The competition, open between 1 May 1900 and 1 Oct 1903, became known as the Deutsch Prize. (more…)
