Donald Fagen would be proud: Two guys in a garage are hoping to begin transatlantic flights in a solar blimp. Get your ticket to that wheel in space while there's time, man.
Last year our friends over at Gadget Lab told you about the first concept solar blimp from Turtle Airships, a Spanish company that was big on concept but short on funds. Now, Turtle is working on a genuine solar prototype that will hopefully demonstrate the viability of the concept to potential funders.
"Our goal in flying this remote control model is to get some video of it onto the Web and hopefully attract some financing that will enable us to move on from there to a genuine, manned, demonstration model of a Turtle Airship," Darrell Campbell, one of the guys in the garage, told Autopia. Once the checks clear, he says, it's just a matter of time before the first manned prototypes fly -- three months for a one-person ship, or 8-10 months for a 3-5 person crew.
A silent, solar transatlantic flight that can come to rest on land or water? Count us in for a first class sleeper cabin to the south of France, please. As far-fetched as this concept might seem, we really want to believe in it.
Turtle is looking at two nontraditional technologies for propulsion. The outside of the ship will be covered with Cadmium-Indium-Germanium (CIG) photovoltaic cells due to their light weight. "While less efficient than the traditional silicon wafers, the expanse of the hull is large enough to use an amount of thin films that can make up the difference," Campbell told Autopia. The cells should have enough power for 45 kW -- enough for 70 horsepower, or 40 mph in average conditions.
The Turtle will have one of two diesel drivetrains. "Depending upon the amount of money we have to work with, we'll either adapt a hybrid electric [or] diesel automobile engine for this first craft, or use a small jet such as those used on Very Light Jets which has been adapted to burning diesel." Because airships fly at low altitudes, they don't have to deal with the cold temperatures that make diesel difficult to deal with at 30,000 feet.
According to Campbell, interested parties should be willing to pony up about a million for the first ship. "Less than a million to create such an airship would seem extremely optimistic, but it will be a simple, one-off craft without any 'gold plating' of the design and would not involve the higher costs of true pre-production," he said.
As far as larger models go, "We truly have no concrete idea. We've always figured that, if we can build a, say, 100 passenger airship for the same cost as a current jetliner, that being able to fly on sunshine alone would certainly make it an economical thing to do!"
For now, Turtle is in talks with two humanitarian organizations in Malaysia and Indonesia and -- unlike the folks at ProjetSOL'R -- wouldn't mind a contract with the US Navy.
Images: Turtle Airships
