WHAT: Mega-Float
WHERE: Yokosuka, Japan
WHY: To test the feasibility of a floating airport. The $170 million project is part of a transport solutions study for overcrowded Tokyo, which has spent a decade seeking a site for a third international airport. Set in the western part of Tokyo Bay, this prototype runway is more environmentally sound and less susceptible to earthquakes than the landfill alternative. Additional floating structures could house storage facilities, energy plants, or shipping terminals.
WHO: The Technological Research Association of Mega-Float and Japan's Ministry of Transportation.
HOW: This 3,281-foot-long, 397-foot-wide pontoon of steel and corrosion-resistant titanium recently accommodated 150 prop-plane takeoffs and landings to test navigational equipment and monitor wave and mooring forces. Researchers will submit the findings from these completed operational trials to the Civil Aviation Bureau. Meanwhile, project leaders are moving forward, developing a program to simulate 747s landing on a structure twice as large as this prototype. They hope to have a 3-mile-long floating airport up and running within five to ten years.
