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Here is an interesting approach to lighter than air craft: Instead of a balloon envelope, the Turtle Airships concept envisions a lightweight rigid shell for the craft. While this might be impractical at a smaller scale, on an extremely large vessel, this pays off, since the enclosed volume, which provides the lift, increases cubically as the size increases, while the area of the shell, which is responsible for the weight of the craft, only increases with the square of the size.
Like Projet Sol'R, the Turtle Airship would also use photovoltaics on its exterior. With such a large vessel, covering the exterior with lightweight, thin-film solar panels to provide power for propulsion and on-board use is a very obvious concept. These photovoltaics could provide up to 45 kW of electricity for the ship. For backup, the vessel would have a diesel generator on board, using biodiesel fuel. Because the vessel would operate at lower altitudes, there are fewer concerns about problems with the diesel fuel.
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AUG 03
"Thanks for the article about the Turtle Airships. I will visit their w..."
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