Friday, August 24, 2012

Cargo zeppelins may cruise Alaskan skies

If it can garner enough funds, a California company will soon be flying its cargo Zeppelin up the Inside Passage of Alaska.

NASA's Ames Research Center is offering technology expertise to the fledgling Zeppelin airship industry, which may be used in the future to deliver cargo to hard-to-reach destinations.

S. Pete Worden, director of the center, spoke Wednesday at the second Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop, where airship builders gather with representatives of mining, gas and communication companies who operate off the grid in Alaska.

NASA has been working with Airship Ventures, which owns a 246-foot helium-filled Zeppelin that is currently based at Moffett Field outside San Francisco. Worden said NASA has concluded that hovering airships are an asset for climate studies, earth science and astrophysics research.

In addition, Zeppelins meet the criteria of a major new NASA initiative that involves developing "green aviation" that reduces the amount of greenhouse gases typically released by cargo jets, Worden said.

Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell said Alaska is a "ready-made market for airship technology." Alaska has 200 villages without major roads that need economical cargo deliveries.

For more of the Huffington Post story: huffingtonpost.com

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