Uses and potential uses of the Hyperblimp

Hyperblimps can be used for aerial photography (still or video), offering smooth and unlikely views that no other aircraft can get (think Hollywood, outdoor events, real estate, search and rescue, education, live news, surveying remote locations, whale monitoring, or traffic control, for a few examples). Hyperblimps can carry instruments for different purposes, such as infrared cameras (think forest fires, heat studies) or sonar equipment that can “see through clouds” and detect objects akin to needles in haystacks. And of course, there is advertising, with the mesmerizing aerobatics and relatively low cost of a Hyperblimp.

These vehicles can fly magnetometers to detect metals, landmines, or various unexploded ordinances. They can carry instruments to detect water deep underground, find wooly mammoths under the ice, or meteorites in remote areas; gravitometers to measure land mass or other objects; instruments for hyperspectral imaging, that can find fissile materials or tell what minerals reside in plants or a particular soil, among countless other tasks. They can detect gas leaks or study glaciers, measure snowfall or monitor croplands, survey power or pipe lines, to cite a few examples.

Hyperblimps can quietly watch wildlife or float into wilderness areas that are otherwise inaccessible. With development, they can identify and selectively spray invasive weeds, or help with pine beetle studies and eradication. They can spot poachers or monitor crime scenes. They can help ranchers keep track of livestock. They can work as communication vehicles, offering broadband or other services where such does not now exist.

Thinking larger, Hyperblimps could carry small payloads over small distances, conceivably within cities (assuming FAA approval); FedEx could conceivably expand and improve their services. Hyperblimps can promptly deliver medicines and water in disaster situations, not to mention providing instant disaster monitoring. They will eventually be able to deliver large payloads over large distances, with no airports or pilots necessary.

With sufficient research and development, they can carry passengers for environmental tours, and ultimately, haul passengers across oceans or around the world, as they did extensively in the 20’s and 30’s. They will solve fossil fuel problems for transportation, given that they can already run on sunshine, with off-the-shelf materials. They may well replace costly and often dysfunctional satellites, for many studies now carried out by satellites—but at closer range, for yet better viewing.

They can conceivably help us study planets with atmospheres–as NASA is already actively working on for traditional blimps-except Hyperblimps will be able to do so more effectively than traditional blimps, as a result of their unique capabilities. Think of the Mars Rover covering hundreds of miles a day, rather than feet or yards.

Your ideas? We’d be happy to hear them and give credit to you for it! Shoot us an email or phone call, and we’ll pick it up from there.