Eco Factor: Sustainable blimp designed to run on algae fuel.
E-Green Technologies has announced that the company has completed its inflation test of the Bullet 580, which is being billed to be the world’s largest airship. The six-hour inflation process took place inside Garrett Coliseum, Montgomery, Ala. The 235-foot long, 65-foot in diameter Bullet 580 is designed to carry payloads of up to 2,000 pounds to 20,000 feet, and a dash speed of 80 mph.
Payloads are carried inside the outer envelope, which is one-sixteenth of an inch thick, but 10 times stronger than steel. The material is a new type of Kevlar, which is used to make bulletproof vests. The airship’s engines that run on algae fuel are mounted on the fuselage. The company plans to build a fleet of hire vehicles that can be rented out for between £200,000 and £550,000 a month.
The Bullet 580 is the first of the company’s airships in production for commercial use. The first flight of the Bullet 580 is planned for later this year and will carry a joint NASA and Old Dominion University agricultural and geophysical payload that will measure moisture content in soil.
The Bullet 580 is a multifunctional airship intended to fly at very high altitudes for long periods of time serving as a “stratellite” for communications relays, broadcast communications, missile defense warning, airspace/maritime surveillance and control, position and navigation (GPS), weather monitoring, battlefield environmental monitoring, electronic countermeasures, and weapons platforms as well as geophysical surveys and other military, and civilian uses.
Images Courtesy: E-Green Technologies
Via: Daily Mail
