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Construction Begins of the 200 mph, Solar Powered Turtle Airship

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ureapwhatusow

http://nextenergynews.com/news08/next-energy-news7.4.08b.html

pictures in like .. very cool looking like greenhouse in the sky

Construction Begins of the 200 mph, Solar Powered Turtle Airship

A new way to fly! Turtle Airships company announces the beginning of construction iof a demonstration model of a new form for lighter-than-air airships. The airships are not blimps. They are solar powered and will reach speeds of 200 mph.

We can save over $100 billion each year on fuel costs alone, another several hundred billion dollars in airport construction, and eliminate a major source of carbon emissions. Airships are a trillion dollar industry, still in its' infancy, that will grow for decades.

Turtle Airships company will change the world aviation industry with 200 mph solar powered airships. Constructed with rigid shelled hulls of aluminum and carbon fiber, the airships look like giant turtles. These "turtle" airships are not blimps or zeppelins. The airships are being designed in Spain and the U.S.

Construction has started on a first prototype and the first flight and testing is scheduled to be done in Singapore this year. Turtle Airships will make a demonstration around-the-world flight of the new solar powered airship in 2009.

The airships' hulls are covered with solar cells which power the airships during daylight hours. For flying at night or cloudy weather, the airships use bio-diesel fueled jet engines as a back-up system. The airships cruise at speeds which are comparable to some airplanes.

The airships take off and land straight up and down like a helicopter and are amphibious. They land directly onto the water and take on water ballast for stability like a boat. The airships can land in harbors, rivers, mountain lakes, or the middle of the ocean.

The airships will also land on any empty field or at airports, and use built in systems to anchor to the surface without ground crew assistance. Turtle airships do not need huge hangers and can fly in any weather.

"Almost everyone immediately thinks of blimps or the Hindenburg," says company president, Darrell Campbell. "The Turtle airship is far more advanced in technology and capabilities."

Although there are less than fifty blimps or zeppelins in the world now, Turtle Airships expects to field hundreds of its' solar powered airships. Turtle Airships plans to invest over $200 million in airship manufacturing plants and airship operations by 2012; with an expected (IPO) public offering to raise over $3 billion scheduled for 2015. To reach these goals the company will work with local and national Economic Development agencies throughout the world to train workers and develop solar powered airship programs. Turtle Airships will also enter into joint ventures and is seeking venture capital and private investments which are directed toward alternative fuels and solar energy.

The company will concentrate on building airships meant for the travel market, with secondary emphasis given to military applications. The company had been originally considered for a U.S. Department of Defense airship program called "WALRUS", which was to create giant airships for military transport. Turtle Airships is designing airships for security surveillance and interdiction of pirates in the waters off of Somalia, Indonesia, and Nigeria.

Turtle Airships will also use "flying hospitals" to deliver worldwide humanitarian :spank:
Darrell Campbell is the designer of the "turtle" airship, and president of the twenty-seven year old company.
 

Verite

My little pony.. my little pony
Veteran
Even better they picked friendly names like Goodyear and Met Life as them german names were scaring people off.
 

greenhead

Active member
Veteran
Color me a bit skeptical, but surely a company talking about their big future plans and those kind of big money figures could have come up with a better webpage than this one?

http://www.turtleairships.com/

But if they're able to realize their plans, and it's for real, then good for them!

:joint: :wave:
 
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Verite

My little pony.. my little pony
Veteran
I noticed the link to the blog page went back to 2002 so I took a peek and this guys been pushing this Turtle Airship idea since then. I would hope after six years this guy would have at least cleared the one hurdle to making them used and profitable and thats FAA approval. Without that there wont be any US flights. The reason blimps get the greenlight is because they cant do 200mph. At those speeds youll have to create a new range of flight altitudes to keep them from interfering with commercial airliners and smaller plane traffic. At 200mph Im more than curious as to how many feet/miles it takes to slow down to zero.
 

devilgoob

Active member
Veteran
This is too futuristic for me and those floating government ships have been in tons of movies.....you know the rest................they have a ballroom, death occurs, president/important person saved.
 

Fafafooey

Member
Not to mention it would be, I believe, the slowest form of commercial air travel. Wouldn't it take like 50 hours or more to fly from LA to Tokyo in one of those? Now, if they had rooms in those things, with a bed and satelite TV, that would be bitchin.
 

Verite

My little pony.. my little pony
Veteran
Thats provided someone gives Tokyo the heads up and they dont have Godzilla take the thing out.
 
D

Don Cotyle

So at 200 miles an hour it would only take 15 hours to go cross country in the US,I sure hope they perfect those used cooking oil jet engines for the night flight portion of the commute...LOL!
 

Verite

My little pony.. my little pony
Veteran
Provided they do non-stops. My vision of them is more like Greyhound buses of the skies where they stop off every half hour in every bumfug town between here and there adding 3 times to the travel time.
 

greenhead

Active member
Veteran
Verite said:
Provided they do non-stops. My vision of them is more like Greyhound buses of the skies where they stop off every half hour in every bumfug town between here and there adding 3 times to the travel time.

Hopefully they'll attract a different clientele than the type that rides a Greyhound bus to get from one coast to the other.

:joint: :wave:
 

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