Skylifter demonstrating a lift.
It’s 500 feet across and can carry 700 times more weight than a heavy cargo helicopter – yet it’s based on technology that was developed in the early 20th century. An Australian firm could make Buckminster Fuller’s 90-year-old dream come true with ‘Skylifter‘, a disc-shaped airship that could be used to deliver entire buildings to remote locations…
Continue reading… “Real-Life ‘Up’: Balloon Transports Entire Buildings”
Felix Baumgartner to jump from the edge of space
This man—looking as badass as Ed Harris in The Right Stuff—is Felix Baumgartner. He actually has The Right Stuff: The cojones to reach the edge of space in a weather balloon. Up to 120,000 feet—and then jump. Video and pic)
Continue reading… “Man To Break Sound Barrier By Jumping From Edge of Space in 2010”
It has the wingspan of a Boeing 747 but weighs less than a small car – and could be the first plane to fly around the world powered entirely by the sun.
Continue reading… “World’s First Solar-Powered Plane Unveiled”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpgV53EWLI0&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
I’m sure we all still fondly remember sitting in our high school science classes, marvelling at how cool liquid nitrogen is. I mean, it freezes anything in seconds – what’s cooler than that? You’ll be surprised – in this week’s video selection we take a look at some of the even cooler things that you can do with liquid nitrogen!
Continue reading… “Cool Liquid Nitrogen Videos”
Cool Earth’s inflated solar concentrators may be the lightest power plants around. Looking like a biggie version of those shiny helium balloons you might see at someone’s birthday party, the concentrators weigh just 20 pounds and, tethered to lightweight aluminum towers, seem to float 20 feet off the ground gathering solar energy. Able to withstand winds up to 125 mph, the 8-foot-wide Mylar balloons are reflective on one side, and each one has its own lightweight tether.
Continue reading… “Solar Concentrator Is A Flying Power Plant”
The best path to a clogged heart may be through the wrist. About a million artery-clearing angioplasties are performed in the United States each year, and the usual route is to thread a tube to the heart through an artery in the groin.
Continue reading… “Angioplasty Through The Wrist”
Researchers in New York are reporting development of the world’s thinnest balloon, made of a single layer of graphite just one atom thick. This so-called graphene sealed microchamber is impermeable to even the tiniest airborne molecules, including helium.
Continue reading… “World’s Thinnest Balloon Developed”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrOAXTkei3E[/youtube]
A man gets 11,000 feet up into the air by hanging onto a bunch of helium-filled party balloons…
Continue reading… “Insane Ballooning Stunt”
It is the one moment every man wants to get right — and which London floor-fitter Lefkos Hajji could hardly have got more wrong.
Continue reading… “Will you Marry Me…I Take It Back”
Google is reportedly looking into investing in or buying a company called Space Data, which provides wireless voice and data services to remote areas with a fleet of weather balloons fitted with transceivers.
Continue reading… “Google Considering Wireless Balloon Network”
