---
title: 4 New 'Blimp' Designs Bring Return of the Airship
date: 2008-02-05T22:00:38Z
source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4242974.html
tags: travel, sailing, history, culture, future

---

Always on the verge of a seeming comeback, airships are back in the spotlight, touting new technologies. The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency recently announced funding for an innovative, ballast-free airship technology created by Aeros Aeronautical Systems, based outside Los Angeles. The Aeroscraft ML866's potentially revolutionary Control of Static Heaviness system compresses and decompresses helium in the 210-ft.-long envelope, changing this proposed sky yacht's buoyancy during takeoff and landings, Aeros says. It hopes to end the program with a test flight demonstrating the system. Other companies are planning their own first flights within the next few years. Each has a design that it promises will launch a new era of lighter-than-air transportation.

### HAA

![HAA][1]**Description:** To blanket hundreds of miles with high-resolution radar, the 450-ft.-long, unmanned High Altitude Airship will use old-fashioned lifting gas to ascend. A top-mounted solar array may enable this massive radar platform to stay aloft for up to a month.
**Designer:** Lockheed Martin
**Operational Alt.:** Up to 60,000 ft.
**Speed:** 28 mph (cruising)
**Progress:** The airship's radar system is still being developed, but Lockheed is scheduled to fly a full-size prototype of the ship by the end of 2009. The Missile Defense Agency is a potential user.

### SA-60

![SA-60][2]**Description:** This unmanned, 62-ft.-dia. diesel/electric hybrid broke the world airship altitude record in 2003, reaching 20,000 ft. Designed for scouting and surveillance, the SA-60 can fly autonomously. Its round design gives it more low-speed maneuverability.
**Designer:** Techsphere Systems International
**Operational Alt.:** Up to 10,000 ft.
**Speed:** 35 mph (cruising)
**Progress:** With no major deals announced, Techsphere is putting its best blimp forward, with a higher-altitude followup to the SA-60--the SA-68--scheduled to fly this year.

### Skycat-20

![Skycat-20][3]**Description:** The cargo-hauling SkyCat-20 features retractable hover-cushion engines that allow for vertical takeoffs and landings and can also be reversed, eliminating the need for a ground crew or handling equipment. Variants could include firefighting blimps.
**Designer:** World Skycat
**Operational Alt.:** Up to 10,000 ft.
**Speed:** 97 mph (maximum)
**Progress:** World SkyCat originally planned a first flight for 2002. The updated schedule calls for a SkyCat-20 world tour by the end of this year, and production models in early 2009.

[1]: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/R8/haa-airship-470-0208.jpg
[2]: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/LB/sa-60-airship-470-0208.jpg
[3]: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cm/popularmechanics/images/gw/skycat-20-airship-470-0208.jpg