'Manned Cloud' Airship, Around the World in Three Days
While I try to quell thoughts of "Oh, the humanity," take a look at another fanciful attempt to bring back the glory days of the Zeppelin airships. This one is called the Manned Cloud, and can fly fast enough to take a round trip around the globe in three days. The 1640-square-foot craft, whose French designers say could take to the skies in a year or so, will have 60 rooms and travel at a breakneck speed of 173mph. Since this behemoth gets its lift from helium, there's not much danger of a fiery hydrogen explosion like that ill-fated Hindenburg, so we're thinking it might be fun to float around the world in a luxo-hotel. Of all the ideas like this, maybe this one will be the one to actually fly. [Born Rich]
View: AU Comments (1) | US Comments (44 comments)
any real technology behind such an optimistic idea??? I am sure NOT... Check the Aeroscraft development at www.aeroscraft.com. This company developed real solution...
as a concept airship not bad.it would be like taking a cruise around the world in a cruise ship. before long a normal person will be able to travel in it. look how the ship started and the airplane,only for the rich!
bd3684
looks pretty sweet from the outside. I could do without the retro-futuristic uncomfortable chairs though. Giant airships should definitley be decorated with 1940s decor - elaborate paneling and moulding, giant chairs, etc.
It needs to be a giant floating palace, not some wanna-be enterprise whale.
m4ximusprim3
Oh, and nice one, cupidpsyche - I WOOD BEEZ impressed.
leMel
Is this the work of Luigi Colani, undisputed king of industrial vapor? Since the 70s, that one.
Genius guy - incredible designs far ahead of their time.
But maybe he should just try getting out, like, a truck first.
leMel
Come on, there would be only one decent form of travel:
[home.att.net]
fed1
That looks sweet. How much?
slingblade
Trivia time! Did you know that the Zeppelin company never went out of business? They make construction equipment, among other things: www.Zeppelin.de . They're also getting back into the airship business: www.zeppelin-nt.de/index_e
@four12: LOL! "Oh no, not again!"
FredicvsMaximvs
I'm going to avoid the Hindenburg jokes, and just say I hope it doesn't fly too close to Korean airspace, ala Korean Airlines Flight 007.
"Korean Airlines; our flights don't just feel shorter, they are shorter!"
GforGRENADE
@rhainor: And we know that Mythbusters has never been wrong. Because it is on TV.
But you are close enough. The basics as I understand it - and because this is the interwebs I must be right! - is that the ignition happened because of the rocket-fuel paint. The hydrogen then, as it spewed off, fed the flame and it became bigger. However, hydrogen does not burn until it dissipates sufficiently - so it was mostly the edges, around the pain, that was actually burning.
Sure, the hydrogen did not help anything. But the paint started it and kept it going.
maztec
@chigga: Those would be futurish internal square feet - like they use on Dr. Who.
The metric system will fall out of use - logic be damned.
I also don't get how this big beast will make that kind of speed.
hakubak
@doofusgumby: Mythbusters covered this controversy. They found that the paint mix alone wasn't enough to get a burn like what actually happened. IIRC, the closest they got was with a combination of the rocket-fuel paint and the hydrogen. So it was both.
Rhainor
1640sq foot and 60 rooms out of it... my house is 3500 sq ft and i don't think we can fit more than 20 decent sized rooms... what are these guys thinking?
chigga
@cupidpsyche:
Well done.
Sora57
@greyer:
And if they're playing fast and loose with what latitude "around" is, then watch me break all records by hobbling around the north pole in a 20-yard circle, thereby circumnavigating the globe in a matter of minutes.
It takes you "minutes" to run 60 feet?
TerryinSt.Paul
Hey, if I can board this monster without the hassle of TSA sticking their grimy fingers up my netherlands, it might be worth the exorbitant price. "But they're just doing their job!" Yeah, read through some of the testimony at the Nuremberg trials and see how well that defense flew! OK, ok, that was extreme, but just wait, that slippery slope is beckoning!
banmojo
is this badboy transparent? i mean no windows or anything unless it's invisible windows... hmm... from the pics above, looks like they have a nite view?
maybe it's just my eyes that are deceiving..
mr_oshodi
I think you're fucked in the head. I'd give my left nut to cruise around in that thing for a couple days.
analogs
That thing looks like the StarWhale Enterprise. TO bad its just a photoplop.
StackyBotrus
What happens when there are strong winds? Also, will parachutes be provided? It looks like a death trap to me...
Noobs-R-Us
@doofusgumby: CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL!
@greyer: Actually, IIRC, Mythbusters (the source of all truthyness in the galaxy) proved that it was neither the thermite paint nor the hydrogen alone that did the deed, it was the perfect combination of the two.
@Technogen: You're on the right track, but I think a Galactic Empire logo would work much better. Plus, being painted black would allow it to absorb more solar heat, and give more lift for lofting a belly full of the corpulent, rich A-holes that would be the only ones affluent enough to get tickets.
DirkusMaximus
Douglas Adams would smile at this, I'm betting.
dawn703
@cupidpsyche: I got that! Aaaahh hahahahaha. Very good!
That thing is beautiful. I want to live in that future.
hakubak
OMG, its the Fhloston Paradise. Say hello to Ruby Rhod for me.
bms74
just don't fly it over japan XD
discounteggroll
I would so love to take a trip in something like this. Beautiful.
Funny how we now we would never fill an airship with cheaper, more easily available and relatively safe hydrogen but instead be perfectly willing to put it in our cars if they could make it cheaper than gasoline.
BigDogues
It's early, but if it goes a maximum of 173mph then it's going to take closer to 6 days to go around the equator, right? And if they're playing fast and loose with what latitude "around" is, then watch me break all records by hobbling around the north pole in a 20-yard circle, thereby circumnavigating the globe in a matter of minutes.
And like the nice man with the caps lock problem mentioned, the Hindenburg did what it did so well because they painted it with powdered aluminum, among other things.
greyer
@krisve: looks like GIZ converted linear meters to feet rather than surface area from square meters to square feet.
500 sq m = 5,382 sq ft so an average of 90 sq ft per room but since there is probably a lot of common space, that figure would be less.
HoseHead
The orginal story says 500 square meters, that is NOT the same as 1640 square feet.
krisve
What century are we living in? I mean we go from NO supersonic commercial flight back to airbaloons? WTF? We are going backwards.
nosauten
Oh the huge manatee!
cupidpsyche
@pokebud: aerodynamic/hydrodynamic. SAME DIFF YOU IGNERT!
doofusgumby
GORAMIT!! IT WASN'T THE FRICKING HYDROGEN THAT IGNITED ON THE FRICKING HINDENBURG!!!
it was that stupid paint they slathered on the canvas, who's chemical formula is remarkably similar to the solid rocket fuel of the space shuttle.
GET IT? IT WAS PAINTED WITH ROCKET FUEL!!!
doofusgumby
Whales are aerodymanic? who knew?
pokebud
The 500 square meter spec. translates to almost 5400 square feet. Still not a lot of space for 60 rooms, but then again, this is more like a cruise ship than a hotel.
whodat
@whootowl: Was just thinking that, has to be a typo but then again it is French design.
@Technogen: XD
sprice82
So I hate being "that guy", but the hydrogen systems on the Hindenburg were pretty well thought out. The problem was that they didn't bother to ground the skin properly, and painted it with a compound chemically similar to rocket fuel. Quit your job and watch the history channel all day, then you too can be enlightened.
In other news, this thing looks cool.
stampy398
of course it blends, look at that big blender it has on the back of it.
Technogen
...but does it blend?
crewsm
WANT!
dead_red_eyes
This would be pure awesome to have, must paint it black and put a jolly roger on it though. That or a mouth and make it look like a large flying whale.
Technogen
It looks like a flying whale.
DetergentDinners
That's like 27 sq ft per room, about the size of a coat closet.
whootowl
Looking at the second picture, I wondered... where is the bowl of petunias?
four12
I want one. But I'll need Rocket Ranger to defend it from Nazis!
crazygolucky