Flying high: U.K.'s modern-day green airship takes shape

Agence France-Presse
March 12, 2024 

Britain's Airlander 10 is being billed as a less polluting alternative 

to traditional aircraft© Daniel LEAL / AFP


Britain's innovative Airlander 10 airship could soon take to the skies to offer leisure passengers panoramic views and far less pollution than traditional aircraft, according to its manufacturer.

On the outskirts of the town of Bedford, north of London, UK company Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) says its plans are well underway for greener but slower commercial air travel.

The Airlander -- which is 300 feet (91 metres) long -- is lifted by its gigantic helium-filled hull, which is then steered through the air by engine propellers powered by conventional fuel.

The dirigible is "unlike any other aircraft cabin you've sat in", HAV chief executive Tom Grundy told AFP on a visit to the Bedford facility.

"It's big, it's long, it's spacious (and) it's very quiet to sit on board.

"There's floor-to-ceiling windows, and the aircraft's unpressurised, so you can even open a window and look at the outside world as you're going over it."

- Cutting emissions -

The airship, initially developed for the US army, is longer than the Airbus A380 jumbo yet pumps out up to 75 percent less emissions than aircraft, according to HAV.

The group plans to start production later this year, while electric- and hydrogen-powered versions are planned in order to further slash emissions.


HAV has already manufactured a prototype, part of which is now on display in Bedford after completing test flights.

The tech hub also features a life-size model of the future airship that allows visitors to step on board and view its "luxury" configuration including a bar, passenger cabins and an observation lounge.

However, experts concede that airships will be hindered as a form of transport owing to its slow speed versus other airborne modes.


Professor Andreas Schaefer, director of the Air Transportation Systems Laboratory at University College London, cautioned that it would be a "niche" market.

"On a commercial basis, as a vehicle for long distance transport, I can't see any future because simply the speed is by far too slow," he noted.

HAV is one of the few companies that it seeking to relaunch the airship, but using the inert gas helium.


Almost 90 years ago, the Hindenburg Zeppelin -- filled with highly flammable hydrogen -- exploded in the United States in 1937, killing 36 people and ending the widespread use of airships.

- Airship revival -

Yet the potential of airships to provide an environmentally friendly, low-cost alternative to helicopters and passenger jets for transportation has now sparked renewed interest.

HAV's French peer Flying Whales is seeking to develop a fleet of rigid airships for carrying heavy cargo.

"The airship revival has been talked about, like the revival of Concord, for about 30 years now (or) more," aviation consultant Philip Butterworth-Hayes told AFP.

"The idea is absolutely great, it should theoretically be able to meet all the environmental challenges that aviation has in terms of being able to reduce carbon emissions."


Yet he sounded a cautious note over the outlook for airships.

"There's a whole number of very complex technical regulatory issues that need to be sorted out before it becomes a reality," said Butterworth-Hayes.

"You need an awful lot of money to certify an aircraft," he added.

Airlander, which is capable of taking off and landing on land or water, can stay airborne for up to five days and travel more than 7,000 kilometres at about 140 kilometres per hour.

Yet its British manufacturer estimates that its first commercial airship flights will not be until 2028.

HAV currently has 23 pre-orders for the airship, with an order book totalling more than £1.0 billion ($1.3 billion). That includes 20 lodged by Spanish regional airline Air Nostrum.

Shortening ice road seasons threat to safety for northern Manitoba First Nation: NDP MP Niki Ashton

Story by The Canadian Press • 20h

The federal Liberals are leaving a Manitoba First Nation in danger and suffering, as shorter ice road seasons lead to isolation and “inhumane” conditions, a northern Manitoba MP says.

“It's time for the feds to act for Wasagamack,” Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton said at a media conference in Ottawa where she was joined by the chief and council of the Wasagamack First Nation on Thursday.

“Prime Minister Trudeau got elected on a promise of reconciliation, and we are not seeing that in action.”

Ashton said she and members of the Wasagamack band council believe climate change is to blame for increasingly erratic weather patterns and for warmer than average temperatures this fall in Manitoba, and the federal government must step in to help the community get an airport, something she said they have been requesting for “decades.”

“As a result of the impacts of climate change we must act now,” Ashton said. “This is having devastating impacts to people’s health for those needing urgent medical care.

“Indigenous Services Canada, you need to step up and work with Wasagamack and with all partners to build an airport, and create all-weather access.”

Wasagamack, a community about 500 kilometres north of Winnipeg, continues to be one of the most isolated communities in Manitoba and in Canada, as it has no airport and no all-season road, and is only accessible via seasonal ice road.

As temperatures across the province continue to sit well above average for this time of year, Wasagamack First Nation Chief Walter Harper told reporters Thursday those temperatures have kept the ice road into his community shuttered.

That closure will have both short and long-term negative effects on the community, he said, as they struggle to acquire basic goods and to get residents who need medical or emergency care out.

“Normally we would have been driving already, but right now we can’t do anything,” Harper said. “We only have a certain window for transporting goods, and because there has been no snow and no cold, we are looking at a very short window of delivering goods this year.

Ashton added the road closure is “devastating” for those seeking medical care, including the elderly.

“As a result of the lack of an airport, people have to rely on inhumane conditions to get to medical care. People rely on boats, and helicopters that can't always fly to get to an airport,” Ashton said.


“When you’re in that situation, those costly minutes and in some cases hours can mean life or death.”

Having no airport also makes it dangerous to live in the community when natural or man-made disasters strike, because of how difficult it can be to pull off an evacuation, Ashton said.

In August of 2017, Wasagamack was evacuated by boat due to wildfire. Once they reached the airport in St. Theresa Point they were flown to Winnipeg, Brandon or Thompson.

Ashton said the conditions of that evacuation were “inhumane.”

“We’ve heard what it was like to be evacuated in the middle of the night by boat because of wildfires closing in,” she said. “This is the lived experience of the people of Wasagamack, and we know with climate change it’s only going to get worse.”

Chief Harper said he also has a personal reason to build an airport as his mother, Bernadette Harper, died on April 23, 1998 when a helicopter taking people to a funeral crashed shortly after takeoff, killing his mother and one other.


“With the fact that this precarious situation led to the death of Chief Harper’s mother, this is heartbreaking,” Ashton said.

The Winnipeg Sun reached out to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) for comment.

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Dave Baxter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Sun


LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for AIRSHIP 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for AIRSHIPS 

Peace pioneer Bertha von Suttner's message still resonates

Blaise GAUQUELIN with Pierre-Henry DESHAYES in Oslo
Wed, September 27, 2023 

The message of Austrian pacifist Bertha von Suttner, the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, still resonates

(Carl Pietzner)

The first woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905, Austrian pacifist Bertha von Suttner's reflections are still cited by peace advocates as the war in Ukraine grinds on.

Von Suttner was looking for a "better ideal", according to French journalist Antoine Jacob, whose new biography "Bertha la Paix" ("Bertha of Peace") will be published next week.

More than a century later, her 1906 Nobel Peace Prize recipient speech -- in which she said happiness is developed in times of peace -- has lost nothing of its acuity.

"Fortresses are being erected, submarines built, whole areas mined, airships tested for use in war; and all this with such zeal –- as if to attack one's neighbour were the most inevitable and important function of a state," von Suttner told her mostly male listeners.

- Provocative work -

She was born into an aristocratic family in the Austrian Empire in 1843.

Burdened by her mother's gambling debts, she became a governess and music teacher in the von Suttner household and married the family's son Arthur, who like her refused to conform to norms.

As journalist and novel writer, the polyglot published 60 short stories, a few essays and 19 novels, including the influential and provocative anti-war novel "Lay Down Your Arms" in 1889.

Thanks to her aristocratic origins, her energy and determination, and her talent for mobilising goodwill, von Suttner became one of the leaders of the international peace movement.

"Daughter of a general, she was raised in an environment where falling at the front with God's approval was an honour," her biographer Jacob told AFP.

"We have to realise how far she came."

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine, von Suttner's reflections on respect for international law, disarmament and multilateralism are "more relevant than ever", said Norwegian Nobel historian Asle Sveen.

"The international order advocated by Suttner and the peace movement is once again disintegrating," Sveen said.

"Her admonishing message 'Lay Down Your Arms' is more relevant than ever in the face of nuclear threat gestures," Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told AFP.

Her cosmopolitan, liberal and anti-clerical worldview, however, earned her fierce enmity in nationalist circles, where she became derided as "Bertha of the Jews".

She died in June 1914 at the age of 71, just before World War I broke out.

- 'Decisive role' -

Von Suttner also played "a decisive role" in convincing her friend and patron, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, to award a prize for peace, according to Jacob.

But since the prestigious prize was first awarded in 1901, only 18 women have obtained the distinction, compared to 92 men.

The second woman to win it was American Jane Addams, 26 years after von Suttner.

Despite her prominence, which included being given a private audience by then US president Theodore Roosevelt, von Suttner did not have the right to vote -- and had to be accompanied by her husband when she travelled.

"Among all these men, she tried to play a role completely contrary to the dominant way of thinking and without anyone pushing her," Jacob told AFP.

Her legacy in Austria also had its ups and downs.

The Nazi regime, which annexed Austria in 1938, burned her books, and a Vienna square inaugurated in her honour was renamed in 1957 after poet Rainer Maria Rilke.

But in 1966 her image was printed on the 1,000-schilling banknote.

In 1986, a small Vienna street was named after her.

And today she appears on the two-euro coin of Austria, a neutral country which is host to several UN bodies.

bur-bg/jza/jj/smw

How solar-powered airships could make air travel climate-friendly

Research team identifies optimal flight routes for solar-powered airships

Peer-Reviewed Publication

FRIEDRICH-ALEXANDER-UNIVERSITÄT ERLANGEN-NÜRNBERG

Flying is the most damaging mode of transportation for our climate. At least, up until now. But work is already underway to investigate technical alternatives to conventional aircraft. For example, airships with highly efficient solar cells and extremely light batteries on board. Prof. Dr. Christoph Pflaum from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), together with Prof. Dr. Agnes Jocher from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the FAU student Tim Riffelmacher, has investigated which route a solar airship would have to take in order to fly from London to New York as quickly and as climate-friendly as possible.

The findings were published in the International Journal of Sustainable Energy.

“If we rely on solar-powered airships, we can make aviation more climate-friendly relatively quickly and economically,” says Prof. Dr. Christoph Pflaum. The computer science professor at FAU specializes in numerical simulation with high-performance computers and has published the paper “Design and route optimization for an airship with onboard solar energy harvesting” together with FAU student Tim Riffelmacher and Professor Jocher from TUM.

Climate-friendly and cost-effective air travel

“Our calculations show that solar airships could significantly reduce both transport costs and the CO2 emissions of air travel,” explains Professor Pflaum. In the course of his research, the scientist has become a true fan of solar-powered air travel and eagerly lists its many benefits: “Solar airships are absolutely climate-friendly because they are equipped with extremely light and highly efficient thin-film solar cells that recharge over again during the flight. As a result, no combustion-related emissions are generated while the airship is flying.”

Energy from the power grid is only needed to recharge the battery before the airship is launched and the charging process has very low CO2 emissions. “A maximum of five percent of the amount of carbon dioxide generated in conventional air transport is emitted,” he says and refers to the figures: Compared with long-haul freight flights, less than one percent is generated, by medium-haul flights almost 1.4 percent and for person transport approximately five percent.

“Unfortunately, this solar airship does not exist at the moment, but in California a company is investing heavily in developing a large, fully rigid airship for the first time in 90 years, which offers a lot of space and is well protected in wind and weather,” says Professor Pflaum enthusiastically.

The technology can be implemented quickly, but has been quite neglected in recent decades. “Of course, the tragedy of the airship LZ 129, better known as ‘Hindenburg‘ has influenced this lack of progress,” the professor acknowledges. “With a length of 245 meters and a diameter of 41.2 meters, LZ 129 was one of the largest aircraft ever built and a real sensation on its maiden voyage in March 1936. But just a year later, it caught fire when it landed in the USA and was completely destroyed.” This meant the end of airships for a long time, but now they are being rethought with solar cells on board and work is underway on a “real game changer”.

With these new models, no one needs to be afraid of a fire, as the airships are neither filled with combustible hydrogen nor with any other fuel.

The researchers believe that cost aspects also speak in favor of solar airships, because the energy consumption costs of solar-powered airships are, according to their current calculations, significantly lower than those of conventional aircraft.

Two to three days for a flight across the Atlantic

Are solar airships a real technical alternative to conventional aircraft? “It looks promising,” Professor Pflaum and Professor Jocher agree. “We only have to lower our expectations for flight time, because an airship flies much slower than an airplane.”

Several FAU students simulated and calculated in their Bachelor’s and Master’s theses how fast an airship with solar cells on board would really be and which route it would have to take in order to optimally exploit wind and weather and sun positions. Most recently, Tim Riffelmacher dealt with the “Charging optimization of the battery in a solar airship with simulated annealing” in his Bachelor’s thesis.

He, too, is very enthusiastic about the solar-powered airships and took a closer look at battery use during day and night in his simulations. “The battery is charged before the flight and then has to last for long distances,” explains the young researcher. “This is easier said than done, because at night there is no sun and the solar cells do not produce electricity.“ But optimizing the charging process makes a lot of things possible.

In their work, Riffelmacher and the other students were able to show that national, continental and even intercontinental flights with a satisfactory flight duration are possible. “According to our calculations, a flight across the Atlantic from New York to London takes about two days and one night,” Prof. Dr. Christoph Pflaum summarizes the results. “In the opposite direction from London to New York we calculated a flight time of three days and two nights.”

Such travel times are acceptable for most cargo flights and he also sees an opportunity for passenger transport: “After all, traveling in an airship is much more comfortable than in a conventional aircraft. There is space for a dining room and a lounge and for stylish double rooms for passengers.”

---

JOURNAL

International Journal of Sustainable Energy

DOI

10.1080/14786451.2023.2189488 

ARTICLE TITLE

Design and route optimisation for an airship with onboard solar energy harvesting

Blazing Green Lasers Spotted Over Hawaii; Japan Blames Chinese Satellite For The ‘The Matrix Code’


ByAshish Dangwal

February 11, 2023

On January 28, a camera from a telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii’s tallest peak, photographed what seemed to be a curtain of blazing green lasers floating across the island’s night sky.

Japanese astronomers believe a Chinese weather satellite was responsible for beaming down green laser flashes.

The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan first shared a video of a string of lights that resembled the green code from The Matrix on January 28.

Initially, the organization’s researchers said that the topographic laser caused the light show on NASA’s ICESAT-2 satellite, which is employed to monitor sea ice and forests.

However, NOAJ updated its YouTube description, stating that NASA’s satellite was not the source of the lasers over Hawaii. The updated video identified a Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite launched a year ago as “the most likely candidate.”

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation stated in a news release from 2021 that the Daqi-1/AEMS satellite is used to detect nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone in addition to carbon dioxide.

Dr. Anthony J. Martino, a NASA scientist working on ICESat-2 ATLAS, was quoted in the video description as indicating that the light show was not caused by their instrument but by others.

His colleagues, Dr. Alvaro Ivanoff et al., ran simulations of the satellite trajectories carrying instruments of a similar nature and identified the Chinese Daqi-1/AEMS satellite’s ACDL instrument as the most likely option.

“We really appreciate their efforts in the identification of the light. We are sorry about our confusion related to this event and its potential impact on the ICESat-2 team,” the update stated.

Another eerie sight was seen in the night sky over Hawaii earlier in January. According to the media reports, the launch of a new Space X satellite was the origin of a mysterious blue light in the form of a vortex hovering among the stars.

This innocuous update gained attention online after two airships were shot out of the sky by F-22s in the past week. According to Pentagon authorities, one of the items was a balloon used by China to spy on the US. Officials in China asserted that it was a weather balloon.

The Biden administration said it was built to intercept communication on the ground as it traveled from Montana to the east coast at 60,000 feet over US airspace.

On January 10, an F-22 downed an unidentified airship flying 40,000 feet above Alaska. Its origin and function are unknown. According to US officials, the object might be dangerous for commercial planes.
Chinese Daqi-1 Satellite

Similar to ICESat-2, the Chinese Daqi-1 satellite was launched in April last year to study the atmosphere. That indicates that it is orbiting the planet to keep an eye on atmosphere pollution and the level of carbon in the atmosphere.

To accomplish this, Daqi-1 is equipped with five instruments: the ACDL—Aerosol and Carbon Dioxide Detection Lidar.

The term “Lidar” stands for laser imaging, detection, and ranging, and it functions somewhat similarly to sonar. However, it uses laser beams to map the area rather than sound waves.

And it is thought that these lasers illuminated the sky over Hawaii at the end of January. With regard to ACDL, it is capable of launching dual-wavelength lasers at particular wavelengths to find distinct compounds in the Earth’s atmosphere.

The amount of time it takes for these laser beams to bounce back reveals details about the atmosphere and Earth below. For instance, by generating two alternating lasers in the 1572 nanometer wavelength range, ACDL can determine how much Co2 is in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Japanese astronomers said the green laser lights spotted over Hawaii in January were likely from a Chinese weather satellite. Photo: YouTube

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which produced Daqi-1, stated in a news release from March 2021 that Daqi-1 “Daqi-1 can monitor fine particle pollution like PM2.5, pollutant gasses including nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone, as well as carbon dioxide concentration.”

In the future, China will launch a number of Daqi satellites that will be used to track atmospheric pollution, support environmental authorities with remote sensing data, and aid scientific investigations into global climate change.

Daqi-1 will be coupled to other satellites, such as Daqi-2, to monitor greenhouse gases and aid China in reducing carbon emissions.

China's spy balloon: inflatable eyes in the sky have been used in war for centuries

Frank Ledwidge, Senior Lecturer in Military Strategy and Law, University of Portsmouth

The Conversation
Wed, 8 February 2023 

One of the more surreal sights of the recent Afghan war was tethered balloons (also known as “aerostats”) looming over the bases of international forces. These “persistent threat detection systems” carried a suite of 360-degree cameras providing a constant view - out to 100 miles - of surrounding areas to the US “force-protection” teams within the heavily guarded installations.

The recent four-day saga of a Chinese spy balloon prying into US nuclear secrets serves as a reminder that the oldest technologies are still being developed to achieve military effects today. Balloons have been in use for military service longer than air forces have existed.

It was the brilliant French engineer Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutell (founder of the French Aerostatic Corps) who first demonstrated the potential of using a balloon to observe an enemy’s positions.

A picture postcard showing a French balloon overlooking a battle in France, 1794.

In June 1794, he ascended above the battle of Fleurus and reported on Austrian positions, dropping messages describing their movements and positions from his tethered balloon, while being unsuccessfully shot at by somewhat surprised artillerymen.

But despite this success, the corps was disbanded in 1799 – after deployment to Egypt with Napoleon, who failed to see the potential of this new weapon.

There was limited use in the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian war. But in the first world war, aerostats came into their own. Dirigibles, the famous Zeppelin airships – which by definition were powered and steerable – had a short-lived role as bombers.

However, the role of balloons on the battlefield was of far more immediate consequence. They offered relatively stable platforms high above the battlefield from which to observe enemy positions and direct artillery fire on to them. The downside, of course, was that they were easily visible from those same enemy positions. Every effort was made to shoot them down, making membership of balloon crews a notably dangerous endeavour.

The size and unwieldiness of balloons compared with powered aircraft – as well as the increased accuracy of anti-aircraft guns – made them an impractical proposition as artillery observation platforms in the second world war. But they did vital if unglamorous service in an air defence role, forming unmanned “barrages” – especially in Britain, where they were deployed in cities and around vital targets.

The cables tethering them to the ground were lethal for low-flying aircraft, which had to fly above and around them. Barrage balloons became an iconic feature of the Blitz.

Iconic: barrage balloons were a familiar sight over UK cities during the second world war.

Somewhat less effective was the attempt by Japan to terrorise the US population by sending thousands of bombs carried by balloons (known in Japanese as “Fu-Go”) over the US mainland. Six people were killed in Oregon – the only casualties to enemy action in the continental US during that conflict.

The next major military use of balloons came during the Cold War, when the US project “Moby Dick” led to hundreds of balloons being sent to spy over the Soviet Union.
Simple but effective

Balloons may seem unlikely candidates for long-range reconnaissance such as that attempted by China recently. They are steerable only by altering altitude, using varying air currents to change direction.

Last week, a skilfully planned use of airstreams and currents directed a surveillance balloon over the single most sensitive element of the US military – the intercontinental ballistic missile silo bases in Montana. The US Department of Defense said that: “Instances of this kind of balloon activity have been observed previously over the past several years.”

China is reportedly denying the balloon was engaged in surveillance activities, maintaining it was a “civilian airship” that was collecting weather data and had been blown off course.

Despite their size and vulnerability, aerostats like this offer advantages over satellites and manned aircraft. They are slow and can persist over a target for far longer than a satellite that passes over at orbital speed. Flying at just 60,000 feet (12 miles or 20km), their cameras can achieve higher resolution than those based in orbit at 100 miles (160km).

They are also cheaper than satellites, drones or manned aircraft, can deploy large payloads, and present a less overtly aggressive face. Indeed, they offer the possibility of a degree of plausible deniability – who would be threatened by a mere hot air weather balloon?.

All that said, it is unlikely that this mission achieved very much from an intelligence perspective At the very least, the US took suitable precautions to jam the balloon’s communications systems and dazzle its cameras.

But it may well have been the medium itself that was the message. China is saying: “Here is this very public dilemma for you. What will we do next?”

The balloon was eventually shot down over the Atlantic ocean on February 4, pulled out of the sea off the coast of South Carolina and taken to the FBI lab at Quantico, Virginia to be scrutinised by military experts.

Ironically, it may well be that the US learns rather more than China did from this particular spying mission.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Frank Ledwidge is affiliated with the Transatlantic Dialogue Center in Kyiv

DTIC ADA391266: What the Chinese Learned from Sun-Tzu

by Defense Technical Information Center
Publication date 2001-04-01

  HOlmes, Colleen K,

  ARMY WAR COLL CARLISLE BARRACKS PA,

The Sun-tzu ping-fa (Sun-tzu: The Art of Warfare) dates back to the Warring States period (c. 403-221 B.C.) making it the oldest and most widely studied military classic. The Warring States period was a formative phase of Chinese civilization. In addition to Confucian, Mohist, and Legalist philosophers, there were specialists schooled in military tactics and strategies for waging effective warfare. Sun-tzu is the best known of the military specialists and is probably best described as a pragmatic realist. This is evident in the use and application of shih as it relates to strategic advantage and strategic positioning. For Sun-tzu, the virtuous leader is able to achieve victory without war if he understands and is able to skillfully apply strategic advantage and strategic positioning. War and its avoidance and the fundamentals of shih have developed into a distinctively Chinese pragmatic and calculative security policy. An analysis of China's policy regarding its strategic periphery is a window of opportunity to see these influences at work. From this analysis we may gain a better understanding of how China views regional and global balance of power. As patterns of behavior, traits, or tendencies become clearer, they may provide insights for more collaborative relations with China and be useful in constructing the basic conceptual framework for the United States to develop its grand strategy for a more cooperative China.

China Spent the Weekend Mocking America Over Its Spy Balloon

Matt Young
Sun, February 5, 2023 

Dado Ruvic via Reuters

As the Chinese spy balloon that soared across American skies was shot down on Saturday and lawmakers argued over who was to blame, Beijing was basking in the bedlam.

Revelations about the balloon—which China dubbed an “airship”—and its numerous counterparts floating across the world trended across social media both inside and out of China across the weekend and while Republicans and Democrats argued, Beijing had other things in mind: memes and mockery.

Comments on social media from Chinese officials and commentators echoed similar sentiments poking fun at the U.S. for making a big deal over what they claimed was simply a whole lot of hot air. It was a trending topic on China’s biggest social media site, Weibo, with more than 130 million views.

“Hate to burst your bubble, #America! But #China simply has better things to do!”

“Perhaps #China was simply giving the #US a balloon. Much like one would give a child to make them feel better!”

It didn’t help that this weekend was the beginning of the Lantern Festival, a traditional Chinese celebration, offering a whole host of opportunities for ridicule.

On Chinese social media, the balloon is referred to not as the spy balloon, as it is known in the West, but the “Wandering Balloon,” according to What’s on Weibo—a pun from the 2019 Chinese sci-fi blockbuster that just saw its prequel released.

According to The China Project, public opinion appeared divided on whether to believe the official lines from the Chinese government. “On Weibo, opinions are split as to whether the balloon is an intelligence-collecting device sent out purposefully by the Chinese government.”

“Some people followed the official narrative parroted by a string of state media publications including the Global Times. But most commenters were skeptical of China’s explanation, writing that with all things considered, they were hard pressed to believe that the drifting was a pure coincidence.” However, the report says the balloon continued to be the butt of the joke.

Across the Pacific, however, there appears to be continuing reason for concern.

The balloon “was being used in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a written statement Saturday. U.S. officials first detected the balloon and its payload Jan. 28 when it entered U.S. airspace near the Aleutian Islands. The balloon traversed Alaska, Canada and re-entered U.S. airspace over Idaho. The high-altitude surveillance balloon was first detected over Montana and spent time above Malmstrom Air Force Base, which stores hundreds of nuclear weapons. It was shot down off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday.

In concerning revelations published by the Financial Times over the weekend, China has boasted of its military use of stratospheric balloons before. The newspaper cited a military channel of the country’s state broadcaster, CCTV, which aired a report in 2018 that claimed “a high-altitude balloon tested hypersonic missiles.”

Video footage carried by CCTV and reposted on social media app Douyin at the time, but now deleted, showed a balloon visually identical to the one over the US last week carrying what looked like three different kinds of warheads.”

Despite the jokes, China responded to the U.S. and expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” against America’s “use of force to attack civilian unmanned airships.”

China said in a statement from its Ministry of Foreign affairs that it had “repeatedly informed the US side after verification that the airship is for civilian use and entered the US by complete accident.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout calls for Nutrition North reform


Thu, December 1, 2022 at 7:09 a.m.·3 min read

Nutrition North Canada needs to support Nunavut hunters instead of subsidizing grocery companies, said Nunavut MP Lori Idlout in Ottawa Wednesday.

Idlout teamed up with fellow NDP MP Niki Ashton, from Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, to call on the federal Liberal government to reform the government-funded program, which Idlout says doesn’t serve Nunavummiut and is a subsidy for companies instead.

“I completely and wholeheartedly agree that the Nutrition North program needs to have an overhaul,” Idlout said during a joint press conference the two MPs held on Parliament Hill.

Nutrition North Canada operates a collection of programs that meant to improve northern residents’ food security — meaning having better and sustainable access to food.

Idlout said that one of the issues with Nutrition North is that it subsidizes fresh produce that’s flown in from the south, which, during the fall and winter months cannot be relied upon due to poor weather conditions.

Idlout held up various pictures of common grocery store items — apples, bottled water, chips — and noted the price differences between Nunavut and Ottawa.

For example, in Ottawa, four tomatoes cost $1.77, whereas in Nunavut that would cost $8.19, she said.

The main change Idlout would like to see is for the program to better support hunters in the territory because “one bullet could provide for 200 to 300 pounds of meat.”

Nutrition North currently has the Harvesters Support Grant which gives money to communities so they can buy harvesting equipment, gas, meals for elders, community feasts and more. The money is sent to Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. for each community.

Idlout said the hunters she has spoken to said they didn’t know that the program existed and that “there’s definitely a disparity between what the federal government is saying and what the communities are hearing.”

NTI did not respond Wednesday to Nunatsiaq News’ questions about where that money goes. The organization has application forms for the program for reach region on its website.

Asked how Idlout would like to see the program benefit Nunavummiut who rely on grocery stores for food, she said that if hunters are better supported, they can provide food for community members who aren’t hunters themselves, or have hunters in their family.

Kyle Allen, spokesperson for Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, the department that administers Nutrition North, said the federal government has increased its funding for the various programs under its wing.

He said the harvesters support grant was developed in partnership with northern communities and supported more than 5,500 harvesters.

The federal government also has programs outside of Nutrition North to help northerners with the increasing cost of living, such as reducing child-care fees and increasing the Canadian Workers Benefit.

“Many Canadians face real challenges with the increased cost of living,” he said.

“That is why we have a fiscally responsible and compassionate plan that is targeted to low-income families and individuals and support for the most vulnerable.”

Allen did not answer if the Liberals would commit to reviewing the program.

David Venn, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for AIRSHIPS NORTH 

Aeronautical Innovations

Conference:

2022 Aviation Innovation

Airship conference: Oct 20, 2022

Time is slipping away. Governments have agreed to a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035, but climate change is not waiting. Floods, droughts, heat waves and violent storms are increasing in frequency. Carbon emissions must be cut before the Arctic Ocean loses all its ice leading to a "Runaway Greenhouse Effect." Innovation is needed. Airplanes have the most difficulty adapting to a low carbon future because they require so much energy

No one disputes that jet engine emissions are large contributors to climate change. The aviation industry is working hard to reduce their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Electrically-powered airplanes are being tested with batteries and hydrogen fuel cells, but significant change in the carbon footprint of fixed-wing aviation is unlikely to be achieved for many years.

A sound economic case exists for continued jet passenger travel, because face-to-face meetings on a global scale are necessary. No similar justification exists for cargo jets, which is the most polluting form of freight transport. Air freight shippers can drastically reduce their carbon footprint by embracing a new aviation age of the electrically-powered airship.

Airships use less energy per tonne-kilometer because they are buoyant and require fuel only for propulsion. Hydrogen can be used as fuel because giant airships have room to store large fuel tanks, without compromising space for freight. Hydrogen fuel cell powered electric airships could meet the transport needs of air cargo shippers and help them meet their commit to green supply chains.


Northern Canada is an ideal place for electric airship cargo operations to begin. Climate change is making the ice roads unreliable. Even existing infrastructure is threatened as the permafrost melts below them.

Electric airships could transport truckload size loads across the wild terrain at about the same price. And unlike roads, have zero environmental impact on the wildlife below. This sparsely populated area would also be acceptable for the introduction of remotely piloted airships.

Year-round cargo airship service would bring prosperity to the Northern economy. Food insecurity, bad housing and poverty could be banished from the indigenous communities. The mining industry would be able to gain economic access to rich mineral deposits. Wind turbine blades could be moved to remote wind farms to power mines, Arctic homes and businesses. The Northern economy would become more resilience, richer and attractive to investment.

Innovations in transportation are transformational. Airships will unlock currently isolated regions from crippling logistical inconvenience to competitive access to economic opportunity. Canada can position itself as a pioneer in what promises to become a huge global industry. Already, FLYING WHALES, a French airship company, has opened an their office in Montreal, Quebec. Homegrown, Buoyant Aircraft Systems International (BASI) has airship research and development offices in Manitoba and Ontario. More airship companies are looking as coming to Canada, soon.

Airship projects are underway in Brazil, Israel, France, China, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada. Like Rip Van Winkle, after sleeping for many decades, the airship industry has awoken, teeming with new design ideas and opportunities. The 2022 Aviation Innovations Conference brings together representatives from all segments of the aerospace and aviation supply chains.

You should participate in these packed days because you are a stakeholder in this critical industry, either as an airship developer, an aviation parts manufacturer, fixed base operator, logistics provider, First Nations leader, government policymaker/regulator, academic, consultant, investor, student, or as an environmentalist.


Why wait?

Time is running out of hand. Governments have agreed to a 40% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035, but climate change does not wait. Floods, droughts and severe storms are becoming more frequent, while the Arctic Ocean is losing its ice. Innovation is needed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and aviation is the most difficult mode of transportation to adapt. Fortunately, electric airships can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of air freight, if the world has the wisdom to invest to bring airship technology to maturity.

No one disputes that jet engine emissions are a major contributor to climate change. The aviation industry is working hard to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. Electrically powered aircraft are being tested with hydrogen batteries and fuel cells, but it is unlikely that a significant change in the carbon footprint of fixed-wing aviation will be achieved for many years. Aerostatic flight, on the other hand, offers a simple and well-understood path to greener flights.

While there is a strong economic case for continued passenger air transport, which makes face-to-face meetings possible on a global scale, there is no similar justification for cargo aircraft. Air cargo could be transported by electric airships to meet shippers' needs, with zero greenhouse gas emissions. Electric airships consume less energy per tonne-kilometre because they float and only need fuel for propulsion, and they are so large that hydrogen tanks can be stored easily, without compromising space for passengers or cargo.

Northern Canada is an ideal place to begin cargo operations by electric airship. Northern latitudes are experiencing unreliable ice routes and melting permafrost. Electric airships could carry large loads over this wild terrain at a lower cost than airplanes and without any impact on the environment. This sparsely populated area would also be acceptable for the introduction of remotely controlled airships.

Year-round airship service would transform the northern economy and improve its resilience. Food insecurity, poor housing conditions and poverty could be banished from indigenous communities. The mining industry could have economic access to rich mineral deposits and wind energy. Wind turbine blades could be moved to remote wind farms to power Arctic mines, homes and businesses. In short, the northern economy would become more sustainable and wealthier. And Canada would position itself as a pioneer in what promises to become a huge global industry, as airships transform tourism, intercontinental transportation, forestry and other industries, and liberate many parts of the world, from islands and poor landlocked countries in Africa to Siberia, Patagonia and the Amazon. crippling logistical inconveniences.

Airship projects are underway in Brazil, Russia/Israel, France/China, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Like Rip Van Winkle, after sleeping for several decades, the airship industry woke up, full of new design ideas and opportunities. The 2022 Aviation Innovations Conference brings together representatives from all segments of the aerospace and aviation supply chains. You should participate in these busy days because you are a stakeholder in this critical industry, whether as an airship manufacturer, stationary base operator, logistics provider, First Nations leader, government policy-maker/regulator, academic, consultant, investor, student, or environmentalist.

AIRSHIPS

Ghost islands of the Arctic: The world’s ‘northern-most island’ isn’t the first to be erased from the map

Kevin Hamilton, Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Hawaii 9/9/2022

THE CONVERSATION 


In 2021, an expedition off the icy northern Greenland coast spotted what appeared to be a previously uncharted island. It was small and gravelly, and it was declared a contender for the title of the most northerly known land mass in the world. The discoverers named it Qeqertaq Avannarleq – Greenlandic for “the northern most island.”

PHOTO © Martin Nissen These 'islands' are on the move.

But there was a mystery afoot in the region. Just north of Cape Morris Jesup, several other small islands had been discovered over the decades, and then disappeared.

Some scientists theorized that these were rocky banks that had been pushed up by sea ice.

But when a team of Swiss and Danish surveyors traveled north to investigate this “ghost islands” phenomenon, they discovered something else entirely. They announced their findings in September 2022: These elusive islands are actually large icebergs grounded at the sea bottom. They likely came from a nearby glacier, where other newly calved icebergs, covered with gravel from landslides, were ready to float off.

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms)

This was not the first such disappearing act in the high Arctic, or the first need to erase land from the map. Nearly a century ago, an innovative airborne expedition redrew the maps of large swaths of the Barents Sea.

The view from a zeppelin in 1931

The 1931 expedition emerged from American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst’s plan for a spectacular publicity stunt.

Hearst proposed having the Graf Zeppelin, then the world’s largest airship, fly to the North Pole for a meeting with a submarine that would travel under the ice. This ran into practical difficulties and Hearst abandoned the plan, but the notion of using the Graf Zeppelin to conduct geographic and scientific investigations of the high Arctic was taken up by an international polar science committee.

The airborne expedition they devised would employ pioneering technologies and make important geographical, meteorological and magnetic discoveries in the Arctic – including remapping much of the Barents Sea.

The expedition was known as the Polarfahrt – “polar voyage” in German. Despite the international tensions at the time, the zeppelin carried a team of German, Soviet and U.S. scientists and explorers.

Among them were Lincoln Ellsworth, a wealthy American and experienced Arctic explorer who would write the first scholarly account of the Polarfahrt and its geographical discoveries. Two important Soviet scientists also participated: the brilliant meteorologist Pavel Molchanov and the expedition’s chief scientist, Rudolf Samoylovich, who performed magnetic measurements. In charge of the meteorological operations was Ludwig Weickmann, director of the Geophysical Institute of the University of Leipzig.

The expedition’s chronicler was Arthur Koestler, a young journalist who would later become famous for his anti-communist novel “Darkness at Noon,” depicting totalitarianism turning on its own party loyalists

.

© Wikimedia Built in 1928 and longer than two football fields, the Graf Zeppelin was normally used for ultra-luxurious commercial passenger transportation. Financing for the science mission came in part from the sale of postcards with stamps specially issued by the postal authorities of Germany and the Soviet Union.

The five-day trip took them north over the Barents Sea as far as 82 degrees north latitude, and then eastward for hundreds of miles before returning southwestward.

Koestler provided daily reports via shortwave radio that appeared in newspapers around the world.

“The experience of this swift, silent and effortless rising, or rather falling upwards into the sky, is beautiful and intoxicating,” Koestler wrote in his 1952 autobiography. “… it gives one the complete illusion of having escaped the bondage of the earth’s gravity.

"We hovered in the Arctic air for several days, moving at a leisurely average of 60 miles per hour and often stopping in mid-air to complete a photographic survey or release small weather balloons. It all had a charm and a quiet excitement comparable to a journey on the last sailing ship in an era of speed boats.”

‘The disadvantage of not existing’

The high latitude regions the Polarfahrt passed over were incredibly remote. In the late 19th century, Austrian explorer Julius von Payer reported the discovery of Franz Josef Land, an archipelago of nearly 200 islands in the Barents Sea, but initially there had been doubts about Franz Josef Land’s existence.

The Polarfahrt confirmed the existence of Franz Josef Land, but it would reveal that the maps produced by the early explorers of the high Arctic had startling deficiencies.

For the expedition, the Graf Zeppelin had been outfitted with wide-angle cameras that allowed detailed photography of the surface below. The slowly moving Zeppelin was ideally suited for this purpose and could make leisurely surveys that were not possible from fixed-wing aircraft overflights.

“We spent the remainder of [July 27] making a geographical survey of Franz Josef Land,” Koestler wrote.

“Our first objective was an island called Albert Edward Land. But that was easier said than done, for Albert Edward Land had the disadvantage of not existing. It could be found on every map of the Arctic, but not in the Arctic itself …

"Next objective: Harmsworth Land. Funny as it sounds Harmsworth Land didn’t exist either. Where it ought to have been, there was nothing but the black polar sea and the reflection of the white Zeppelin.

"Heaven knows whether the explorer who put these islands on the map (I believe it was Payer) had been a victim of a mirage, mistaking some icebergs for land … At any rate, as of July 27, 1931, they have been officially erased.”

The expedition would also discover six islands and redraw the coastal outlines of many others.
A revolutionary way to measure the atmosphere

The expedition was also remarkable for the instruments Molchanov tested aboard the Graf Zeppelin – including his newly invented “radiosondes.” His technology would revolutionize meteorological observations and led to instruments that atmospheric scientists like me rely on today.

Until 1930, measuring the temperature high in the atmosphere was extremely challenging for meteorologists.

© Radiosonde Museum of North America Pavel Molchanov and Ludwig Weickmann prepare to launch a weather balloon.

They used so-called registering sondes that recorded the temperature and pressure by weather balloon. A stylus would make a continuous trace on paper or some other medium, but to read it, scientists would have to find the sonde package after it dropped, and it typically drifted many miles from the launch point. This was particularly impractical in remote areas such as the Arctic.

Molchanov’s device could radio back the temperature and pressure at frequent intervals during the balloon flight. Today, balloon-borne radiosondes are launched daily at several hundred stations worldwide.

The Polarfahrt was Molchanov’s chance for a spectacular demonstration. The Graf Zeppelin generally flew in the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere, but could serve as a platform to release weather balloons that could ascend much higher, acting as remotely reporting “robots” in the upper atmosphere.

© Radiosonde Museum of North America. To launch radiosondes from the zeppelin, weather balloons were weighted to sink at first. The weight was designed to drop off, allowing the balloon to later rise through the atmosphere.

Molchanov’s hydrogen-filled weather balloons provided the first observations of the stratospheric temperatures near the pole. Remarkably, he found that at heights of 10 miles the air at the pole was actually much warmer than at the equator.
Fate of the protagonists

The Polarfahrt was a final flourish of international scientific cooperation at the beginning of the 1930s, a period that saw a catastrophic rise of authoritarian politics and international conflict. By 1941, the U.S., Soviet Union and Germany would all be at war.

Molchanov and Samoylovich became victims of Stalin’s secret police. As a Hungarian Jew, Koestler would have his life and career shadowed by the politics of the age. He eventually found refuge in England, where he built a career as a novelist, essayist and historian of science.

© Wikimedia The Graf Zeppelin was designed for luxury air travel.

The Graf Zeppelin continued in commercial passenger service principally on trans-Atlantic flights. But one of history’s most iconic tragedies soon ended the era of zeppelin travel. In May 1937, the Graf Zeppelin’s younger sister airship, the Hindenburg, caught fire while trying to land in New Jersey. The Graf Zeppelin was dismantled in 1940 to provide scrap metal for the German war effort.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

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