DANS LE CIEL DE MAUBEUGE

 2008

Sanswire Partner Tao Technologies Files Patent Application Covering New Airship Design
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., July 28, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Sanswire-TAO Corp., the joint venture equally owned by TAO Technologies GmbH and the Sanswire subsidiary of GlobeTel Communications Corp. (Other OTC:GTEM.PK - News), today announced that Dr. Bernd Kroplin, president of TAO Technologies, filed a patent application in Germany for ``Segmented Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Equipped With Energy Medium.'' A registration number of 10 2008 002 939.4 was assigned to the patent >>>more

                                   http://www.sanswire-tao.com.          http://biz.yahoo.com/pz/080728/147245.html

Blimp surveys for smugglers in Florida Straits

MIAMI (AFP) - A mainstay at sporting events and rock concerts, an airship once used to survey mass revelry on land is currently scanning the open waters of the Florida straits for drug smugglers and illegal migrants.

The 197-foot (60-meter) Skyship 600 blimp, adorned with a US flag where it once wore an advertisement for Fuji Film, is part of a joint US Navy and Coast Guard pilot program to introduce airships to their surveillance of the straits.

The blimp, leased by the US government at a cost of 1.6 million dollars for the six-week trial, is equipped with radar, infrared cameras and other sensors to help vessels at sea track boats smuggling illegal migrants or drugs in the waters separating the tip of Florida and Cuba some 90 miles (145 kilometers) away.>>>more

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080727/ts_alt_afp/uscrimejusticedrugs_080727170427

Zeppelin Flies Over London Again

Ashish Joshi, Sky News reporter

The last time German Zeppelin airships cast their long shadows over London, citizens dived for cover.

Now the mighty airship is soaring high above the capital's skyline again.

And this time the only telescopic sights being trained on the nation's favourite landmarks are attached to cameras.

I was lucky enough to be invited aboard the new generation Zeppelin. I was assured the latest model, NT07, is safer and more advanced than earlier models, such as the Hindenburg which famously crashed in New Jersey in 1937!

The giant helium-filled balloon is bigger than a 747. But the cabin, known as a gondola, is not even 10-metres long.

Inside, it's light and airy. Enormous panoramic windows offer passengers a 360-degree view. And because it seats only 12, everyone on board is guaranteed a window to themselves.

Because the airship is lighter than air, balance is the key. We embarked two at a time but only when a pair got off at the same time. >>>more

BAE SYSTEMS FLOATS AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM AT FARNBOROUGH INTERNATIONAL

A 22 meter long airship, originally developed by balloonist and adventurer Per Lindstrand, could become the latest addition to BAE Systems growing portfolio of autonomous systems.

The GA22 airship, perfect for deployment into roles such as communications relay stations, will be updated and adapted to carry payloads, such as high tech surveillance equipment at up to 150 kilograms in weight, to heights of more than 6,500 feet

BAE Systems plan to integrate their existing Unmanned Autonomous Systems into the GA22 making the technology more accessible to potential users.

“Strategically, GA22 fits perfectly into the autonomous fleet that we are developing“said Richard Williams, Director of Civil Autonomous Systems at BAE Systems “The new vehicle has the possibility of opening up a range of markets for BAE Systems.  It has a range of unique capabilities and we have identified a number of roles at major events, from sporting occasions to floods and forest fires, for which GA22 is ideal”.

BAE Systems designers and engineers have worked with Lindstrand Technologies to update the original design.  GA22 will be able to carry high-tech surveillance equipment, including a payload of up to 150 kilograms, to heights of more than 6,500ft.  In addition, it is being made from a newer and lighter material, which improves the airship’s performance. At the moment GA22 is radio controlled, but the plan is to make it fully autonomous.

Richard continued: “Even more exciting are the long-term prospects for success. I have no doubt that GA22 can make a significant contribution to our civil autonomous systems business,” Richard concludes.

BAE Systems is harnessing its company-wide expertise in unmanned air systems (UAS) as part of a sharply focussed strategy to become a major player in what is poised to become a multi-billion dollar a year international market.

A newly formed global UAS strategy team, headed by Mark Kane, who leads the Company’s UK UAS activities, will allow the individual strengths of BAE Systems’ businesses around the world to support each other in securing UAS contracts in the Company’s home markets and beyond. 

The market for military unmanned air vehicles is growing so fast that estimates of its size become out of date almost as soon as they are published. The Global UAS Strategy Team is aiming to make sure that in coming years, an ever increasing portion of that business comes to BAE Systems.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With 97,500 employees worldwide, BAE Systems' sales exceeded £15.7 billion (US $31.4 billion) in 2007.

http://www.baesystems.com/Newsroom/NewsReleases/autoGen_108612133939.html

Le retour en grâce du dirigeable      mercredi 09 juillet 2008 | Le Parisien

Il a eu son heure de gloire et pourrait redevenir utile pour le transport de fret. Une étude du conseil régional montre les nouveaux intérêts du dirigeable.

IL EST GROS. Il est lent. Mais il est tellement dans l'air du temps.

Le dirigeable pourrait redevenir un moyen de transport efficace pour le fret. Et l'Ile-de-France compte bien être sa terre de renaissance.

Hier, le conseil régional a rendu public une étude économique et technique réalisée par le cabinet Ernst & Young. Celle-ci envisage - à l'horizon de quinze à vingt ans, et à certaines conditions - un retour des zeppelins au-dessus de nos villes. « De prime abord, c'est un sujet qui pourrait faire peur ou rire mais qui est parfaitement réaliste », explique Jean-Marc Brûlé, conseiller régional (Verts) en charge du développement durable, qui souhaite créer un consortium de plusieurs entreprises, universités et laboratoires de recherche afin que soit mis au point un prototype capable de transporter 30 tonnes de marchandises « d'ici cinq ans ». lire la suite 

L'article du journal "Le Parisien" >>>>       http://www.leparisien.fr/home/maville/paris/articles.htm?articleid=298615940

Le journal "20 Minutes">>>    

Le journal "France-soir">>>    http://www.francesoir.fr/societe/2008/07/10/fret-des-dirigeables-volent-au-secours-des-industriels.html

Airship designed to fly through remote skies  July 8, 2008

A Calgary company is spearheading development of a new aircraft, filled with helium and powered by four rotors, which will be used to move materials in remote areas including the Canadian North.

SkyHook International announced Tuesday that it will build the Jess Heavy Lifter (JHL-40) in conjunction with aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co.

The JHL-40 takes elements of a blimp and a helicopter to lift up to 40 tonnes in one load and travel up to 320 kilometres without refuelling. It will have a top speed of 70 knots.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/07/08/skyhook-boeing.html

Boeing Teams With Canadian Firm to Build Heavy-Lift Rotorcraft

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2008/q3/080708c_nr.html

http://www.skyhookinternational.com/

Blackwater Airships tests new prototype    Friday, July 04, 2008
Unmanned ship can fly up to 48 hours

Blackwater Airships officials demonstrated Wednesday a prototype for an unmanned surveillance system that they say satisfies a growing need in aerial reconnaissance. The prototype, which is basically a 170-foot unmanned airship, was tested Wednesday afternoon outside the TCOM hangar in

Weeksville.

http://www.dailyadvance.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/07/04/0704blackwaterDM.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=7

NASA ARC Solicitation: Low-speed Control - Thruster Demonstration Flight Experiment Using The Aeros 40-D Airship

NASA/ARC has a requirement for Low-speed Control - Thruster Demonstration Flight Experiment Using the AEROS 40-D Airship

Conventional control surfaces, such as fins and canards, have quite limited control capability when air vehicles fly at low speeds (e.g., take-off and landing) or hover. Utilizing the moment generated by thrust is an efficient way to solve this problem. As for the thrust source, compressed cold gas, micro turboprop, and ducted fan are possible solutions. Aeros has done the preliminary design of the thruster nozzle, and implemented basic ground test using compressed air as the thrust source. During this project, Aeros 40D airship will be used as the flight demonstrator to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed method to low-speed and hover flight. The major tasks are listed as follows.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.rss.html?pid=28416

Blimp joins anti-smuggling patrols off Florida

MIAMI (Reuters) - With oil prices rising sky-high, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard will test a helium-filled blimp to see if it can supplement the fuel-hungry aircraft that search the Florida Straits for smugglers and boats in distress.

The Navy is leasing a Skyship 600, about the size of a Boeing 747, for the six-week test mission between Florida's southern coast and Cuba, Coast Guard Lt. Matthew Moorlag said on Tuesday >>>more

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080624/us/usreport_usa_security_blimp_dc

https://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/586/213452/

Pedal-power 'Airship Man' foiled again

An amateur pilot is being frustrated in his attempt to become the first man to cross the English Channel in a pedal-powered airship.

Frenchman Stephane Rousson, 39, had hoped to make the journey from Lydd Airport to coastal village Wissant in France in his helium filled machine on Wednesday and again on Thursday, but was halted by bad weather conditions.

He has now postponed his attempt yet again because of high winds and hopes to make his flight sometime between June 9 and June 18.

He has also decided to change the venue for his take off to Dungeness beach where he thinks wind conditions will be more favourable.

~ Read the full story at eastkentmercury.co.uk >>>                http://zeppy.skynetblogs.be/

Zeppelin airships to fly over London again

A German airship operator is to start Zeppelin sightseeing flights over London's most famous landmarks from next month.

After two years of planning, five sightseeing flights of London onboard a Zeppelin airship will take off every day from July 10 and run for six weeks over summer.

The flights will take off from east London and climb to 2,000 ft above the Thames. The longest flights will see the airships cast shadows over Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament before returning to its base at Damyns Hall airfield, Upminster.

Tours will last between 30 minutes and an hour and will accommodate 12 passengers per flight, with every ticket offering a window seat in the 35-foot long cabin.>>>more

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article4074413.ece

Frenchman foiled in cross-channel pedal power mission

An amateur pilot is being frustrated in his attempt to become the first man to cross the English Channel in a pedal-powered airship.

Frenchman Stephane Rousson, 39, had hoped to make the journey from Lydd Airport to coastal village Wissant in France in his helium-filled machine this week, but was halted twice by bad weather conditions.

He hopes his mission will now take off sometime between June 9 and June 18 and has decided to change the venue for his take-off to Dungeness beach.

He thinks wind conditions will be more favourable there.

Mr Rousson said: “There are tide problems, wind problems and convection problems.

“We also have the problem of the sunrise because the sun heats the gas in the balloon.

“I am still in high spirits though because I expected these difficulties."

On his journey Mr Rousson will travel just 100ft above water in his craft Zeppy, which is slightly heavier than air and has two tilting propellers powered from his seat.

Mr Rousson has spent five years preparing for his 34-mile trip in his blimp, which is 16 metres long and five metres high.

http://www.kent-online.co.uk/kol08/article/default.asp?article_id=42738

Could Zeppelin's airships soon be gracing our skies again?     

Germany is producing zeppelins again. More than 70 years after the infamous Hindenburg disaster, its latest airship was gently guided out of the hangar doors last month to make its maiden test flight.

The Zeppelin NT, built from endowment money left behind by German airship pioneer Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, will make further test flights around Friedrichshafen over the coming months, before flying to London - where a former contestant from The Apprentice, Rory Laing, plans to offer tourist joyrides over the capital for £150 a throw.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/05/greentech.transport

Re-Introducing the Airship     France considers a slower mode of luxury air travel

Most of us fly for speed, but French industrial designer Jean-Marie Massaud believes that slow cruising in an airship could be the next step in air travel. Massaud has sketched airships since the age of five, he says, and has since collaborated with major brands like Yves Saint Laurent and Yamaha to design, respectively, perfume bottles and submarines. Now he’s partnering with Onera, France’s space agency, to create the world’s first luxury airship. The design of the Manned Cloud calls for a double-decker, 5.6-million-square-foot airship shaped like a whale. Boasting a top speed of 105 mph and outfitted with all the amenities of a cruise ship, it would ferry 55 passengers from Paris to Madagascar in four days, offering a turbulence-free, unpressurized flight at an altitude of a mere 9,800 feet.>>>more

Un dirigeable robotisé pour aider les secouristes     Le 2 juin 2008     Futura-Sciences

Au salon aéronautique de Berlin, une équipe universitaire a présenté un dirigeable automatisé, capable de transporter des caméras et destiné aux secouristes qui fouillent le lieu d'une catastrophe, à la police ou encore sur un chantier. >>> lire la suite

http://www.futura-sciences.com/fr/sinformer/actualites/news/t/aeronautique-1/d/un-dirigeable-robotise-pour-aider-les-secouristes_15724/

http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/etit/proaut/      http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/etit/proaut/forschung/luftschiff.html

The Airship

An autonomously flying airship as part of a team of cooperating robots can provide valuable information (terrain characteristics, hazard zones etc.) for the other robots operating on the ground and thus support them in many ways. Civil protection authorities as fire brigades, police or the German THW are interested in using autonomous or semi-autonomous airships for monitoring and surveillance as well as for measuring concentrations of certain toxic substances or pollutants in the air.
We added a Blimp (an airship without rigid skeleton) to our robot team in May 2006. The maiden flight on June 15th was used to determine some of the airship's parameters and its flight characteristics. During the following months, we developed a new and now patented propulsion system. It was first tested on May 23rd 2007.
http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/etit/proaut/the_airship.97.html