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NFNG - L@@K !! Up in the sky the day they fly it to Edwards AFB I gaurantee the world will see pictures.
Ditto Sans~1. I've been try to bring up this GTEL business vector for the last couple of weeks. Magic Money Card will bring in huge revenues. But I know very little about the competition. Is anyone in the know regarding remittance cards?
Here's a link to a group that does feasibility studies for airship payloads. http://www.auxiliainc.com/platforms.php
Once again I posted before I read the true facts.This why I will miss you Rock. Please delete my last 2 posts.
Thanks for that link. I've been trying to focus more DD on the Magic Money vector.
Gone Fishing ! I hope so.
Fishing for Facts not Bad Attitude Bashers.
You warned us months ago. I'm sorry to see you make it official. I truly appreciate the quality DD I have found on your board. If you need any help on a future effort to document the evolution of GlobeTel & HAA tech I would be honored to contribute. Keep me posted.
Now that we have 3 weeks before Sanswire One arrives I would like to direct this boards attention to DD on one of GTELS other profit vectors. Namely their MagicMoney card and if & how it relates to the International Gateway in Hong Kong. I refer interested parties to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card for background information on the Octopus Card which is widely used in Hong Kong. Will MagicMoney compete with or participate in the Octopus Network ? For further research on this subject check out the "See Also" links in the Wikipedia article.
India to develope Stratospheric Airship
A name from the "Star Wars" days of HAA> James Abrahamson with a new company SkySpectrum LLC is back in India promoting what we all know is the answer to broadband & homeland security. Does anyone have info on SkySpectrum LLC ?
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb142005/snt6.asp
Up Ship^ JC~
Intel : ZDnetUK has posted this article about Intels plans to integrate mesh networks via 802.11s thus expanding the coverage of WiFi. This could very well be the reason they were @ the Tech/Summit.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39189953,00.htm
Aviation Today has posted a new article Airships: Making a Comeback. The article goes into great detail about the current trends in HAA. LockMart,Iowa Thin Films & Worldwide Aeros are mentioned. The Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is currently flight testing a 162' x 40' in diameter ship built by Worldwide Aeros. Unfortunately no mention of Globe Tel !! ??
WWW.aviationtoday.com/cgi/av/show_mag.cgi?pub=av&mon=0404&file=0404airships
Filet mignon is usually rapped in bacon!
Up Ship^ JC
ACCESS5^
If anyone bothered to check the listed membership you might have noticed a heavier than air quality for traditional UAV contractors.
My take on the military interest in the STRAT is for a closer dedicated relay platform to help orchestrate the swarm of UAVs/ROAs that they are already deploying. They've realized the penalty of latency from satallite communications when your trying to fly mini airplanes over the horizon.
Up Ship^ JC
Well Rock maybe the 3rd time is a charm !
Thanks for doing the indepth DD on Access5.
Looks like after 30 yrs of waiting I'll finally see something bigger than a blimp go up.
Up Ship^ LOL JC
I was not suggesting sucking water out of the atmosphere. My first paragraph elluded to water for ballast. 365 days later when you want to land and you want to compensate for the Helium you've lost during your stay in the stratosphere it would be a nice touch to have some H2 on hand.
That's my point it is only a PR problem. But one management must deal with.
Good thinking nFnG. The air ships of old used water as ballast for bouyancy control. I'm sure Vern & the boys are thinking the same way. So if you've got some water on board you've got the potential to make your own lifting gas or fuel to feed a fuel cell. I'll bet they are planing on using both of PROTONs products (in SANSWIRE 2). I know LockMart is.
Now here in lies the tough part. One of the most memorable mechanical disasters (in fact the first one captured on film) was the crash of the Hindenberg. I call that event the "H factor". It burned an indelible image into the public's mind concerning the use of hydrogen. To this day no one in airship development wants to imply that they use anything but helium. The "H factor" has to be overcome for airships to reach the altitudes and endurance the GTEL business plan & anxious broadband customers will demand.
PROTON's systems have been successfully deployed way up in space. When you park that "H factor" 13 miles above a populated area you are inviting the Chicken Little's to make all kinds of assumptions. I trust GLOBETEL & NASA will work out the details.
GOOD LUCK to all the GETEL crew @ the TECH summit!
Stay> On message> On time> On target!
Good Question. You'll have to ask your senator to ask the GAO & DoD that.
Danman, Thanks for the break down now I see the GTEL position & advantage. Secure streaming of voices,moving pictures money in motion. JC
Thanks for the weblink. Sorry, I was pontificating about questions raised earlier today after reading the 100 posts!!!
Rocky I don't know how you do it. And of course I post right in the middle of a visit from Dr. Hinton.
Just my typical bad timing LOL.
Scientific American~ MARCH2005> pg.25
Aerial Base Station by Steven Ashley
Similar skeptical tone to the PopSci article. They quote MK Molen "It's like a big pontoon boat in the sky,"
However sciam.com is better at digging up the crtics:
James D. DeLaurier ~ University of Toronto states "20 kilometers is no atmospheric Shangri-la, as was once thought."
re; helium management "So you have to have a way to replenish lost lifting gas."
I can't wait to hear what the skeptics on this board come up with when they read what's in the rest of the article.
HEY newguy13
~STOP peeping threw Windows & start walking through D@@Rs!
re: PATENTs
Try looking under GOODYEAR-ZEPPELIN Corp back around 1929.
However Goodyear sold its airship technology to LORAL (a defense contractor) in the 1980's. LOCKHEED bought LORAL before it merged with MARTIN. LOCKHEED-MARTIN now hold those assets along with the largest airship hanger in Akron,OH where they are building their HAA. Airships are the oldest form of controlled flight by man. Look-up Albert Santos-Dumont.
My point is we are talking about PRE"rocket science".
Sure Sanswire 1 will benefit from many aspects & advances made by the AEROspace industry but the basic engineering questions were proven by Dr. Hugo Eckener & the Zeppelin Co. in the 1920's & 30'.
Kestrel, Hotzone & the PVfilm manufacturer all have patents on their individual componets.
As long as it is a very sunny day on launch day.
ROC nice link. The P3 costs $ 3,000 per flight hour. Since the stratelite has no on board crew & presumably uses free solar energy for power I wonder what they project for a cost per flight hour. In light of the fact that the flight plan is 24/7 x 365 days this metric will eventually shatter the cost of flight time. The black deltas might have proved this to DoD.
Stahling this concept is exactly what the big TELCOs have been doing. They want business as usuall. That is why they don't like VOIP & WiMaX. As the recent e-mail from the GTEL guy elluded to putting the Strat together its like assembling "tinker toys" the groundstation logistics are a more crucial interface.
Sorry, I quess I was confused with the prior relationship shared by Sans&Tech. Do you know why they split up considering that Proximity/Techsphere seems to be GTEL's most visible competition?
Here is another reason there is more serious interest in HAA's. All is not well in the constellation of GSO satelites. But remember in the big picture all man's creations will have to work together.Sorry I can't find the complete link
"But taken together, the pair of in-orbit problems afflicting satellites built by different manufacturers sent a chill through satellite circles. The malfunctions follow a September 2003 shutdown of the same Lockheed Martin spacecraft model operated by Loral Space & Communications Ltd., which also suddenly lost all power. Industry officials said the problem showed up after an unexplained power surge hit the spacecraft."
I hate to rain on your parade Rock, but a press release I found @ the link just recently posted here got me the following:
(PS. I then did a Yahoo image search and came up with a picture of the beachball shaped "telesphere" with SANSWIRE painted on it. Aparently back in 2002 Sanswire was working with 21st Century Airships/Techsphere. I would like to hear Vern Koenig's description of this.)
Sanswire Technologies Enters Into Joint Venture to Launch Airship Based Communications Platform and Purchase 50% Interest in Telesphere Communications
Related Stocks
SNWR
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 22, 2002--Sanswire Technologies, Inc., (SNWR - news) announced today that it has entered into a Joint Venture with Telesphere Communications, Inc. , a division of Techsphere Systems International, LLC, to launch a series of High Altitude Airships called "Stratellites," that when in place, will allow Sanswire to provide high-speed wireless Internet access to the entire continental United States and parts of Canada and Mexico.
A Stratellite is similar to a satellite, but is stationed in the stratosphere rather than in orbit. At an altitude of 13 miles, each Stratellite could see an area of up to 300,000 square miles. Existing satellites provide easy "download" capabilities, but because of their high altitude, are not practical for "two-way" high-speed data communication. The Stratellite allows subscribers to easily communicate in "both directions" using existing wireless devices.
Sanswire provides wireless Internet access to its customers using the 802.11 protocol. By connecting to the Company's "National Wireless Network," subscribers will be able to access the Internet wirelessly at high-speed from anywhere in the United States and in parts of Canada and Mexico.
The Company will perform a live demonstration of their National Wireless Network using Telesphere's prototype Airship near Phoenix, Arizona on December 11. The demonstration will consist of a series of laptop computers randomly placed within a 10-mile radius all connected wirelessly to transmitters installed on the "Stratellite."
"Users of the Internet want two things: mobility and broadband access. The building of wireless `hot spots' has proven that the demand is there for high-speed wireless Internet access. Our National Wireless Network will make the entire country a `hot spot' and allow subscribers to access the Internet whenever and wherever they choose. The term `last mile' will be a non issue," said Michael Molen, Sanswire's CEO.
Made of "Kevlar" and using technology patented by 21st Century Airships, Inc., each Stratellite will be held stationary in the stratosphere and remotely controlled from tracking stations on the ground. Each Stratellite is designed to stay in one location, for up to 12 months, at which time, it would be replaced by a duplicate Stratellite, allowing a seamless exchange that will prevent outages to subscribers.
"One of the many advantages our High Altitude Airships have over existing satellite technology, is that the payload can easily be recovered, upgraded, and re-launched in a matter of hours," said Frank Lively, spokesman for Telesphere Communications, Inc.
The Joint Venture allows for Sanswire Technologies to purchase up to a 50% equity interest in Telesphere Communications, Inc. In addition to having transmission rights to provide high-speed Internet access from the Stratellite network, Sanswire will work with Telesphere Communications to market antenna space on each Stratellite to other wireless service providers.
In order to reach the same coverage area as Sanswire's Stratellite based National Wireless Network, the Company would have had to install wireless equipment on over 14,000 cellular towers at a capital cost of $56 million and incur monthly tower lease charges in the amount of $5.6 million. The estimated time to complete a tower-based network is five years.
By utilizing Stratellites to construct the National Wireless Network, Sanswire will save over $67 million annually on tower leases while expending less than $30 million in capital costs. The first Stratellite is scheduled to be launched in 2004.
Each Stratellite will be over two hundred feet in diameter, have a payload capacity of thousands of pounds, and is powered by a series of solar powered electric motors. In addition to Sanswire's National Wireless Network, proposed telecommunications uses include cellular, 3G/4G mobile, MMDS, paging, fixed wireless telephony, HDTV and others.
For more information or to make a reservation to attend the live demonstration, contact Michael K. Molen, CEO of Sanswire Technologies, Inc. at 404-591-5801 or mmolen@sanswire.com.
To see the Stratellite prototype in flight, visit Sanswire's website www.sanswire.com and follow the Stratellite link.
For more information about Telesphere Communications, Inc., contact info@telespherecom.net.
I agree. I have avoided BBs for many years because of the jibberish that thet usually turn into. This board is far above the rest on this subject and that is why I keep coming back.
Great link, good overview of the recent history of HAA. But it obviously has not been updated to include Sanswire, Techsphere, Lockheed or JP Aerospace.
At first I thoght this was a bad idea due to the problems stated. But GTEL.OB is in the IP business. Streaming content delivery is part of their business plan. Granted nobody wants to show typically jumpy mpeg movies that won't look good on mainstream media anyway nor do we want any bad images of a stratelite prototype. However the only image of the Stratelite is the one we've seen on the GTEL & Sanswire websites. The image is a vector graphic pulled from I'm sure their engineerring studies. I sure hope GTEL has a slick animation ready for the big presentation backed up by real photos of the STRAT prototype. I hate to say it but 21st Centuriy Airships "Techsphere" has us way beat with this kind of online content. I've sat through enough bad DOD PowerPoint presentation to know that we need something slicker than that. The STRATelite is the slickest/sexist design out their and we need to start showing more/better examples.
SkyStation International had sucessfully lobbied the IEEE to set aside 46-64 gigahertz part of the radio spectrum for stratospheric platforms to operate in. This worldwide authority is really who meters out the bandwidth. This set the stage for the HAA development we see today. To have a globally recognized bandwidth helps to avoid the "free" spectrum limitations and congestion of WiFi bandwidth. I think we can thank the FCC~,Cellular Providers & DOD for the spectrum jockeying we hear about here in the US. In most of the 3rd World you don't see the scramble for bandwidth.
Nice link to the facilities the stratelite will beclosely observed by..@@..You might have noticed their poster project HELIOS a photovoltaic powered fixed wing UAV. What they don't tell you is that it crashed last year in Hawaii while landing after its 2nd test flight.
Did I read that you had posted photos of the Stratalite post#4230 ?
Stratelite in Peru excellant news!!! As one of your previous posters mentioned the South American market is huge. ++ it lacks the wired infrastructure we are so used to. On the GTEL website they show a global graphic which shows the US, Canada, Mexico & China?&SouthEast Asia highlighted in red. Does this show us the market areas they operate in ?
Nice link to the facilities the stratelite will beclosely observed by..@@..You might have noticed their poster project HELIOS a photovoltaic powered fixed wing UAV. What they don't tell you is that it crashed last year in Hawaii while landing after its 2nd test flight.
Did I read that you had posted photos of the Stratalite ?
Rocky I like the count down. Your board has a level of professionalisim unique to this subject. The good news just keeps on coming. Patience ~ Perserverance ^"Up Ship!" as the airship captains of the past would say. Too bad this ship won't have anybody on board.
Sorry ROCKY, I am aware of the purpose of these disclaimers.
I did not mean to spoil the enthusiasim of this board.
WOW the last sentence " However, the technology for the Stratellites is new and we do not know if all of this technology can and will be developed for commercial use."
Hi guys I don't want to curb your enthusiasim but as of yet the only LTA technology that has demonstrated stratospheric operational test flights is JP Aerospace. When you see their lastest test flight "Away25" you might want to rescedule a superhub strategy. I hope I'm wrong but I have yet to see a robust mechanical platform that has performed well in the uncharted ether of the stratosphere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_airship
The wikipedia is a good NPOV (Neutral Point of View) to answer your question. It also contains a link to JP Aerospace ,one of the other contenders I mentioned in my last post. I also suggest that you check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship for some historical background especially the manufacturers links. A recent post to this board also mentioned the Canadian "Techsphere" groups altitude record.
Yes that was the AIAA event. However there were only 2 sessions related to LTA's. The bulk of the presentation were related to other unmanned vehicle experiences.
There are at least 2 other LTA efforts being corted by the army! 1. Techsphere 2. Airships To Orbit (links to be sent later)As you might have noticed @ Mobilus site the Office of Force Transformation is actively seeking to involve private sector funds to develope technologies that will enhance military effectivness. From what I can surmize that means offering cookies of encouragement to any group close to delivering a package they can use. This is not the case with DARPA projects ie. Lockheed/Martins HAP or the Walrus initiative (a large scale heavy lift transport"from fort to front" see AEROS & ATG).
This weekend I enjoyed reading the posts re: Sanswire>GlobeTel. They have given me a unique insight into the realities surrounding the current interest in airship development. I have been collecting information on Lighter Than Air craft for 30 years. I feel compeled to share some of my findings.
The Army has been pushing this fledgling industry recently because they see many advantages in different theaters of operation. I direct your readers to :> www.oft.osd.mil/initiatives/mobilus <. In September I attended an AIAA conference on Unmanned Vehicels. There were 2 sessions devoted to airship trends. Gen. James Abramson Ret. was one of the speakers. He was the chief architect of the Reagan administrations "Star Wars" missle defense program. For the last 5 years he has been promoting High Alttitude Platforms for missle defense. His business activities have been typically secretive over the years. At the conference he mentioned that his new business partners were based in Florida. Can anyone confirm his association with GlobeTel ?