Sanswire Stratellite
Stratellite was an airship project by Sanswire Networks, LLC from Florida / USA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GlobeTel Communications Corp., with the aim of building an unmanned rigid airship that, similar to a satellite, is used to transmit telecommunication data at an altitude of around 20,000 meters should. Such efforts are also known as high-altitude platform ( high altitude platform combined).
Such an airship is said to remain in the air for up to 18 months before another ship takes its position and returns to the ground for maintenance.
development
On April 12, 2005, the prototype "Sanswire One" (Sanswire 1) was presented to the public. At the beginning of May 2005 it was filled with helium and then completed, tested and prepared for its maiden flight in San Bernardino . In contrast to the planned airship, it was only 57.30 m (188 ft) long, but was nevertheless the largest rigid airship in the world at the time. Inside there were fixed struts, which, like the frame, were made of aluminum . The gas cells were installed in the spaces in between.
"Sanswire One" was a technology carrier that was supposed to be used to test all components.
On September 6, 2005 u. a. signed a letter of intent with the German Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW). Research into the development of the solar-electric drive should be carried out together.
The US Department of Defense also took an interest in this technology and worked with Sanswire. Part of the Stratellite program is therefore subject to military secrecy. The first flight was planned with the help of the US Air Force and NASA at Edwards Air Force Base . According to a Sanswire press release on October 11, 2005, the maiden flight was carried out in front of the military and invited guests. Further details were not given.
On November 15, 2005 (Sanswire press release of November 16) demonstration flights were undertaken with invited guests on two military test airships of different sizes under the designation “Sky Dragon” in front of an invited audience on the Sanswire site in Palmdale / California. The University of Stuttgart was also involved in the project through its collaboration with Sanswire. No details were given about the airships themselves. They were manufactured in Palmdale and previously tested. The name "Sky Dragon" has also been used by the US American Eros Corporation for a long time for its manned impact airship type Eros-40B.
At the end of 2005, work was still being carried out on Sanswire 2, which should serve as a technology demonstrator for Sanswire 3, the first commercial ship, but failed due to technical problems.
In the same year, the company turned to the German TAO Technologies GmbH under its founder Bernd-Helmut Kröplin , who was already working with the Cargolifter's ideas . Together they founded Sanswire-TAO in Florida . Sanswire was to be responsible for marketing the German TAO products in the USA, Mexico and Canada. In 2010 the cooperation was officially dissolved again, the technology and the corresponding rights are still with the TAO-Group in Germany. The term "Sky Dragon" is also used for the corresponding altitude platforms of the TAO Group.
communication
From its position in the sky, an area of around 775,000 square kilometers is within direct view of the horizon. Theoretically, the radius for wireless direct communication should be around 320 kilometers. However, topographical features can limit the radius. With a maximum of 575 km in west-east extension (corresponds to a radius of 288 km), Austria could only barely (but perhaps sufficiently) be supplied with a location, taking into account the shadowing on the western mountain flanks in Vorarlberg .
Drive and control
It is controlled from a ground station, with most functions running automatically. Several GPS sensors help the ship to keep its position above the ground or to follow the given course.
The drive energy for the electric motors comes from flexible solar cells on the outer of the two airship hulls and is temporarily stored during the day for night operation. For this purpose , fuel cells developed by Proton Energy Systems are to be used, which can generate hydrogen in reverse operation during the day (RFC-regenerative fuel cell).
The shell itself was made of Spectra , a high-strength polyethylene fiber (PE-UHMW), which z. T. is comparable to aramid fibers .
Technical data of the planned airship Sanswire 2
- Length: 75 meters (245 ft)
- Width: 44 meters (145 ft)
- Height: 26.5 meters (87 ft)
- Lifting gas volume: 2,000 cubic meters (69,000 cft) filling on the ground
- Total volume: approx. 76,000 cubic meters (2.7 million cft)
- Payload: 0.5 to 1.5 tons, depending on the configuration of the ship
- Summit altitude: 21,300 m (70,000 ft)
- Planned altitude 19,800 m (65,000 ft)
FBI investigation into former GlobeTel executives
Former GlobeTec CEO Timothy Huff was sentenced to 50 months in prison in 2010 for "Securities and Tax Fraud Conspiracy". Among other things, he and accomplices had fraudulently driven up his company's share price. Other former managers were sentenced to heavy fines, imprisonment and professional bans, including a. Lawrence Lynch (CFO), Joseph J. Monterosso (CTO), Luis Vargas.
GlobeTel Inc. became part of the World Surveillance Group, Inc. , which disappeared from the market shortly afterwards.
Web links
- Archived version from http://www.sanswire.com ( Memento from February 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Homepage with photos (only general to UAV - unmannes air vehicles)
- Product homepage (English) of the World Surveillance Group Inc. ( Memento from September 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive )