Tech Shout!

Bob Jones, a former NASA manager, has a great idea for improving communications around the world by strategically floating robotic airships above Earth as an alternative to unsightly telecom towers on the ground and expensive satellites in space. He envisions a fleet on unmanned “Stratellites” hovering in the atmosphere and covering large territories with wireless access for high-speed data and voice communications.

While the idea of using airships as a platform for communications isn’t something new, Jones is the first to admit the latest venture is a gamble. The prototype could cost around $3 million and is about one0fifth scale model of the planned commercial airships. Jones says that it will be a critical test of the technology, when the flight of the prototype will take place later this month in the Mojave Desert city, an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles.

If everything goes as planned, remote-controlled flights would launch later this year from nearby Edwards Air Force Base. During the tests, the airship is expected to float to 45,000 feet for several hours. He envisions the commercial airships will rise to 65,000 feet — or about 13 miles — and stay aloft for 18 months at a time.

For now, Jones’ focus is on testing how well the parts of the airship work. He hopes to build a commercial vehicle in the next several years.
Unlike the cylindrical shape of a traditional blimp, a Stratellite has a broad, tapered nose like a shark. The solar-powered dirigible will carry a payload of radio and digital devices.

Jones believes his solar-powered, helium-filled Stratellites _ so named because they would hang in the stratosphere — could replace unsightly cell towers and cost less than satellites. Because of the airship’s altitude according to Jones, its radio equipment can cover an area the size of Texas.
Cell towers are hampered by line-of-sight limitations and limited range. Geostationary satellites suffer from the quarter-second it takes a signal to travel out 22,300 miles and back — insignificant in one-way TV transmissions, but terrible for two-way Internet computer communications.
Jones said his floating platforms will carry radio equipment that uses both licensed and unlicensed airwaves. The company will license spectrum if required and also work with companies that already have licenses, he said.

While Jones dreams of covering whole states with wireless services, Arizona-based Space Data thinks it can fill a cellular void by floating weather balloons in the stratosphere that would bring coverage to remote regions.