Don't call it a blimp
The solar-powered Turtle Airship: A hi-tech reinvention of the blimp.
Mon, Aug 03 2009 at 10:27 PM EST
Image: Turtle Air Ships "It is a rigid shelled, amphibious, solar powered, all weather, FAST aircraft that is lifted by helium, but it is not a blimp."
Thus explains the blog of Spanish company Turtle Airships. The protoype does indeed look like a turtle, but allegedly the combination of a solar-powered electric drive and a high-efficiency diesel engine will make this both a very fast and very quiet means of crossing the Atlantic.
The top "shell" of the airship will be covered in lightweight CIG (Cadmium Indium Germanium) solar cells, generating enough power to move the giant ship through the air at 40 mph without any fuel whatsoever.
The craft is envisioned as a luxury ship, but the company has a long way to go in convincing investors that all that combustible helium will not blow like the Hindenberg.
Until then, Turtle Airships will be producing a remote-controlled model aircraft to demonstrate the craft's capability and to capture the imagination of a future generation of travelers.
via: Cleantechnica
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Comments
Darrell Campbell
08/05/2009 12:30 PM
Hello! Thank you for the mention of Turtle!
Semantics, of course. We like "will be", just because it's more positive!
always pleased to answer any questions about Turtle Airships!
Darrell Campbell
Johannes
08/05/2009 03:04 AM
Helium as an inert gas is not combustible. The airship that burned in Lakehurst in 1937 was called Hindenburg and not Hindenberg (BTW 2/3 of the people aboard survived).
Since the design of those "Turtle Airships" is unconventional, I'd prefere to read "the airship is intended to be covered with..." rather than "the airship will be covered with..."
