Airships making their return?

Image via NASA: http://event.arc.nasa.gov/airships

Airships seem to be making a comeback at the moment, with plenty of private enterprise research for a variety of applications from cargo to military - and NASA is at the forefront of the new developments.

"The first 'A' in 'NASA' stands for 'aeronautics,'" said Pete Worden, centre director of NASA's Ames Research Center. "One of NASA's jobs is to solve the nation's air transportation challenges with research, and airships haven't seen much research in the past few decades. They are potentially an effective solution for challenges that exist in this part of the country."

Image via NASA: event.arc.
nasa.gov/airships

This week, a two-day Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop is taking place at the University of Anchorage, Alaska, co-organized by the State of Alaska and the Ames Research Center, focusing on operational considerations and requirements of heavy-lift cargo airships. Participants will discuss practical approaches to developing and deploying airship systems for commercial transport of goods and materials.

Airship experts will describe both the possibilities heavy lift airship transport offers, and the challenges of developing practical and cost effective airship systems. An introduction to the basics of airship technologies, regulatory issues, weather issues, the likely capabilities and
limitations of heavy lift airships and the current to near-term technology readiness of these aircraft will also be presented.

Those expected to attend include commercial shipping companies, air freight companies, airship companies and aerospace vendors, US and Canadian government organizations that employ cargo transport systems, construction companies, resource extraction companies, researchers from government and academia, government transportation agencies, military organizations, non-governmental organizations and humanitarian relief agencies.

Sponsors of the event include Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited, who together with partner Northrop Grumman Corporation won a $517 million contract to develop the Long-Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) for deployment by the U.S. Army to Afghanistan in early 2012; Discovery Air Innovations, E-Terra  and Windcrafter Incorporated, developers pf the impressive lighter than air Carangifoil (see a demo here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv5p-Klg4qM).

• Event details at: http://event.arc.nasa.gov/airships

Can the Tablet save journalism?

Roger Allen, MD and business director of leading digital agency Zeta has said technology is the saving grace for today's journalists as the tablet succeeds where the web fails. Allen believes the tablet has brought back the archetypal elements of newspapers which have been lost in online versions.

Two crucial points, firstly revenue for newspapers as people are willing to pay for an app whereas they expect content on the web to be free, and secondly, the ability to turn the pages.


Established in 1999, Zeta is an integrated marketing and creative agency specialising in digital strategy. Lead by Roger Allen, Zeta offers innovation, development and creativity, and are dedicated to helping clients achieve growth and profit in line with business objectives. Zeta provides return on investment through data driven, researched solutions setting them apart from their competitors.

"Try reading the online version of any newspaper, sorry it's not just an age thing, its hard work", says Allen.

"Every day, I read the quality business and financial press on the train. I flip through the pages to select articles covering subjects relevant to our business. I cut them out and leave them on the boardroom table for all to see. You might think it old fashioned, but it works. Trying to be smart and cutting edge I decided to also email the links to the team.

"More often than not, even when searching the press web sites using the headline text from the article I would still not be able to find it, never mind finding the article by accident when 'browsing' the pages. In my view, the actual paper still works better than the online version viewed by PC or laptop".

"Not only do tablet apps work better but they also create a much needed income for newspapers," he continued. "The big question recently has been would pay walls work? Would they be viable? My fear has been that hard pressed newspapers wouldn't be able to afford to pay professional journalists and news would vanish into a sea of syndicated mush published on difficult to use web sites; an end to journalism as we know it.

"The advent of tablets is going to change all of that".

Allen closed by asking "Will the tablet bring back the sadly missed Late Edition? Think on newspaper guys the future is bright and it's all to play for".

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