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SkyLifter hopes to build a better blimp by going round

By Rain Noe - December 15, 2010

in Tech | Object Culture

Most dirigibles are roughly cylindrical, which makes them susceptible to crosswinds. This can make it tricky to, say, lower a heavy load with precision when the wind is not cooperating.

An Australian company called SkyLifter has realized a circular shape would be a better design decision; the wind hits it and goes around it like water flowing around a smooth pebble in a stream. Thus they're developing an eponymous and gi-normous circular blimp that will reportedly be able to haul 150 tons over a distance of 2,000 kilometers without having to set down. That means the SkyLifter could conceivably transport a miniature hospital to a disaster site inaccessible by roads, among other heavy stuff. These things could put the Ice Road Truckers out of business.

Another cool design feature, beyond the circular shape, is the novel Voith-Schneider propellers they use to provide thrust and steering. They're closer in design to paddlewheels than standard fan-style propellors and can change the direction of thrust almost instantly. You can briefly see what they look like in this vid:

SkyLifter is currently in the testing phase, starting with scaled-down versions of the design and gradually ramping up the size.

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ehswan

13 years ago

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Fantastic! I wish them success. Leading to cities in the sky and a culture that rarely sets foot on the ground. Were I one of the many billionaires on this planet I would fund this project in a NY minute!
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red

13 years ago

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As with many technological advancement, there will be financial ramifications which is part and parcel of such ventures. without R&D funds to provide empirical and experimental proof, there is not much alternative, are there? There will be some interested parties who may decide that a balloon arrangement is the way to go as there are parties who like complexities of Hybrids instead of simplicity and cost effectiveness , say why does a concorde ever designed when they were cruise ships and the 747....it is about design and innovation!!! new designs and alternative are necessary as probably one of which may one day pave the way to preserve the environment and save someone, a whole load of pocket money.let us not discount and condemn the creative power of the human mind just to promote one technology over the other just to acquire potential market share but promote the human potential to make the world a better place and welcome any advancement which pushes this often overlooked technology . We had electrical and hybrid vehicle technology since the 1960's, why were they in hibernation till now?
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Joe Bloggs

14 years ago

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Hello All,
There seem to be a lot of these flying model type hybrid airship designs on the internet. I wonder who is going to pay the hundereds of millions of dollars to develop such a machine? Only the US military are investing big money into airships at present, but they have already decided that their funding will go to Northrop Grumman and Hybrid Air Vehicles from England.
Regards Joe (www.hybridairship.net)
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Fabio

14 years ago

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Why exactly solar collectors on top? Wouldn't it be better if there were some small windturbines on this super blimp? Because those will work most of the time. The olar collectors onlyy during day time.
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