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Homeland Protection Professional, June 2004
A new sphere of influence
It's a balloon. It's the moon. No its Aerosphere, a novel, round gas-bag air craft due to begin flying this summer. Its designers plan to use the vehicle and its siblings as sensor platforms for homeland security and communications relays for both civilian and military uses.
Unlike a balloon, Aerosphere isn't at the mercy of the wind. The unique airship, which comes in manned and unmanned versions, features as outer Kevlar like shell on which are mounted lightweight, swivelling propellers for propulsion and control. The unique aircraft can hover like a helicopter, but for days at a time.
"Among suitable tasks are airspace and maritime surveillance, communications relay, and weather monitoring," says designer Hokan Colting, CEO of 21st Century Airships, Newmarket, Ontario. www.21stcenturyairships.com. Techsphere Systems International, Columbus, Ga., builds the spheres.
Homeland security applications include using the giant globes as stationary surveillance platforms over ports and borders. U.S customs already uses a similar technology called the Tethered Aerostat Radar System, a balloon-borne radar that provides drug traffic surveillance.
Early Aerosphere versions measure 60 feet across and can lift a 1,000 pound payload 10 15,000 feet for 72 hours. The next generation, due to launch before the World Series, will be 90 feet, capable of carrying similar payloads twice as high, for twice as long.
Then, a 300-foot diameter ball scheduled to roll out next year will lift two-ton payloads to 70,000 feet, twice as high as commercial jetliners, and remain on station for perhaps a year or more on solar-powered electric motors.
"We think time-on-station can eventually be extended to several years," Colting says. "Our prototypes have already flown much higher than any traditional cigar-shaped airships."
Interest in airships has picked up recently, with nearly 20 companies developing them in the United States and elsewhere. The attraction is a more flexible bang for the buck. Each Aerosphere carries a price tag of between $4 million and $30 million, less expensive than satellites and manned reconnaissance aircraft.
Lockheed-Martin Corp. plans to produce airships in an old blimp factory in Akron, Ohio, by 2006, after being awarded a $40 million defence contract to build unmanned helium-filled airships designed to provide aerial reconnaissance from 65,000 feet and lift 4,000 pounds. -Douglas Page
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