Stratellite
Encyclopedia
Stratospheric airship
A stratospheric airship is a powered airship designed to fly at very high altitudes . Most designs are remote operated aircraft/unmanned aerial vehicles. To date none of these designs have received approval from the FAA to fly in U.S...
that provides a stationary communications
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
platform for various types of wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
signals usually carried by communications towers or satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s. The Stratellite is a concept that has undergone several years of research and development, and is not yet commercially available; Sanswire, with its partner TAO Technologies, anticipates its current testing sequence to include the launch of a Stratellite into the stratosphere
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
.
Details
High-altitude airships, like the Stratellite, would hover lower than an orbiting satellite, but far above the jet streamJet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the tropopause, the transition between the troposphere and the stratosphere . The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds...
and most weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...
, in the stratosphere
Stratosphere
The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
approximately 13 mi (20 km) above the Earth. A single unit could then send broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
, mobile phone and digital television
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
and radio signals to a large area. So far, this technology remains unproven, and is very far from commercialization. A working proto-type that can perform all these functions doesn't exist.
In comparison, lag times would be reduced by a factor of nearly 2000 for geostationary satellites, and 15 for low orbiting satellites but with a smaller coverage area. When compared to terrestrial communications towers, Stratellite coverage would be larger, with lag times being more a function of internal communications equipment rather than distance.
Estimated broadband coverage of 300,000 mi² (480,000 km²), roughly the size of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
or France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, is planned. Wireless signals could be transmitted to and from a 200 mi (320 km) diameter, but terrain features and man-made structures could partially or locally interfere with the signal.
Since the Stratellite is designed for regular returns to the surface for maintenance (see below), some overlap and redundancy would be required to maintain continuous service. Sanswire Networks initially plans to deploy this technology over major metropolitan areas.
Proponents claim a high-altitude communications platform, like the Stratellite, could make terrestrial broadcast towers obsolete, reducing the cost and time required for hardware updates. An update made to a single unit would effectively cascade to an entire grid of virtual broadcast towers. It will be possible to bring broadband service to a wide area currently without terrestrial towers quickly and with relative ease.
The unmanned Stratellite would be powered by solar cell
Solar cell
A solar cell is a solid state electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect....
s and propelled by electric motors.
According to corporate press releases, the Stratellite and related assets were shipped to TAO Technologies in Stuttgart, Germany for further evaluation and design revision. Sanswire then formed a new German corporation known as Sanswire-TAO GmbH.
Company details
Sanswire is not the first company to propose such a craft. Similar proposals have been made by Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) in BedfordBedford
Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, SkyLINK
Skylink
- External links :* *...
, Inc, in England, and SkyTower
Skytower
The European Central Bank Headquarters is a building complex under construction in the eastern part of Frankfurt, Germany. It includes a 185-metre-skyscraper which will be the new headquarter for the European Central Bank...
Inc., a subsidiary of AeroVironment
AeroVironment
AeroVironment Inc. is a technology company in Monrovia, California, and Simi Valley, California, that is primarily involved in energy systems, electric vehicle systems, and unmanned aerial vehicles . Paul B. MacCready, Jr., a famous designer of human powered aircraft, founded the company in 1971...
Inc. in Monrovia
Monrovia
Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Specifications
- Dual envelopes, made of Dyneema (sometimes called Spectra)
- Navigation: 6 onboard GPS units connected to the ship's engines
- Payload capacity: 3,000 lb (1,451 kg)
- Cruising altitude: 65,000 ft (20,000 m)
- Lifting gas: HeliumHeliumHelium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
and NitrogenNitrogenNitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere... - Line-of-sight: 300,000 mile² (480,000 km²)
- Maximum duration aloft: 18 months