Wired brings us news of an interesting idea.
With UAVs crowding navigable airspace and plans underway to put giant mega-satellites into orbit, it was just a matter of time before a drone-satellite hybrid was developed to fit between the two spaces.
StratoBus, a new project out of France, is conceptualized to do just that. Designed to be about the length of a football field and 25 yards in diameter, the blimp-shaped vehicle’s shell will be made of carbon fiber.
Without a launcher, StratoBus floats to the lower stratosphere at an altitude of about 13 miles where developers say it will be in a perfect position to carry out a range of functions, including surveillance, border security monitoring, communications reinforcement and facilitating navigation — all from a stationary position with the help of two self-adjusting electric motors. The StratoBus will be able to endure missions of up to a year with a total lifetime of five years.
There's more at the link. Here's a conceptual video of the Stratobus in operation.
It might sound fanciful, but with a major company like Thales behind it, this isn't just some fly-by-night project (you should pardon the expression). I'll be watching this one with interest.
Peter
The biggest issue would be positioning... Winds aloft can easily get over 200kts, and depending on rise time, that balloon could be blown hundreds of miles before it got to altitude. much less maintain position. But it is an interesting idea...
ReplyDeleteI was wondering how it would deal with the winds too.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting idea, and like NFO said, I think they seriously underestimate the problems they're going to face. But I have confidence they'll be able to achieve it.
ReplyDeleteTechno-geeky/fellow engineer stuff aside, it kinda creeps me out. The surveillance state gets into everything. An amazing tool for the increasingly fascistic central governments. Never thought I'd say this, but George Orwell was quite the optimist, wasn't he?