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Airships are already capable of staying in the air for days at a time. But they're so expensive to operate that they're no good for most of the possible applica
by hugh3 16y ago
Airships are already capable of staying in the air for days at a time. But they're so expensive to operate that they're no good for most of the possible applications of this thing.
- ww520 16y agoCurious, why are they expensive to operate? How about building a hybrid of airship and plane? Make it more maneuverable than airship with the extra power from solar energy and staying up longer than a plane. It's possible for a robotic hybrid airship to stay up for months and years. Rest floating to suck up solar power when it runs low on energy, then move on when the power is charged up. If it caught up in a gulf stream, just let it ride out the stream to go around the Globe. It would be interesting to see these Solar Birds floating in the sky. (Ha, I even got the name for them. Someone grabs some funding quick to get it going.)
- borism 16y agoFirst, not very easy to put a lot of usable solar panels onto airship, but it requires WAY more energy than a glider to maneuver due to ENORMOUS size. Sure, solar airship may have it's applications too. Second, it's not very exciting to fly around the world in airship if you already did it in a balloon.