Joe Orgren, Airship Pilot

Recently I had the opportunity to see the TechSphere "AeroSphere" airship. This vehicle is dramatically different from airships of the past. Traditional blimps and dirigibles have been limited to about 2,000 feet altitude, due to their designs. The AeroSphere can currently fly at 20,000 feet (10,000 feet manned). The next version will fly at 100,000 feet, have a diameter of 200 feet (vs 62 feet), and remain airborne for a year continuously. It will automatically maintain a fixed position in the sky, acting like a "local satellite" - carrying various kinds of communications equipment and enabling radio communication for hundreds of miles.

Back to the main gallery.

The TechSphere Airship
No gondola: the cockpit is internal.
It was lots of fun flying the airship around over the Chesapeake and the Potomac.*
Inside the envelope. The cockpit is at the right.
Twin generators provide electricity for the inflation fans (gray cylinders, left & right) and the drive motors.
The cockpit "tent" is attached at one of four identical zippered circular payload ports (a vacant port shown here).
With Dawn Gibbons, wife of Congressman Jim Gibbons (R, Nevada).
The control panel in the cockpit.	The helium bag expands downward as the airship rises.

* OK, that's a lie. Unfortunately they were unable to launch the airship that day. The prototype's motors can't handle more than 10 knots of wind. They are installing larger motors now.