some one posted this on RB said they emailed nasa
Splinter113
LETTER FROM NASA: I was doing some DD and I received an email from NASA. Today 25 Feb 2005
The U.S. Air Force, and the NASA Dryden, was recently approached by GlobeTel officials to assist them in conducting flight tests on their one-third-scale and later a full-scale prototype airship, the "Stratellite," which they hope to develop for high-altitude commercial telecommunications relay business. Although we are interested in their proposal since it is an area of aeronautics technology advancement which NASA is exploring, we have no formal agreement with the company to support their project at this time, only an informal letter of intent to explore the possibility of an agreement.
We sent a team of engineers to conduct processes this week, and I have received no feedback as yet as to their assessment of the project's technical viability. Should our engineers advise that the project is technically sound and viable, it is possible that we will formalize an agreement or contract with the firm under the Space Act of 1958 to provide technical and flight-test support and serve as a possible liaison with other with other government regulatory agencies and potential government customers.
The Air Force is interested in their prototype airship as a possible solution to that service's high-altitude sensor platform needs, and NASA would benefit by gaining knowledge of this type of aircraft so we can better serve NASA and science community on performance capabilities of high altitude airships without NASA having to invest in development.
"Staion-keeping" at 65,000 feet altitude is considered difficult for an airship, due to it's slow speed and limited maneuverability, especially when confronting high-velocity jet stream winds on its ascent and descent. GlobeTel officials beleive they have developed a solution to this problem, but it is proprietary information which to my knowledge they have not made public.
Alan Brown
public affairs
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Edwards, Calif.
AI
