While it doesn’t look like we’ll have one of these in our backyard anytime soon, this solar-powered blimp is still something worth dreaming about. This is really a high-altitude reconnaissance and surveillance platform dubbed the Integrated Sensor Is the Structure (ISIS). It is capable enough to hover over the horizon near conflict zones, feeding real-time radar data to troops and smart weapons. It’s fully automated, and is designed to fly automatically to any point on the planet within 10 days. When hovering at the height over six miles, it’s safe from most ground-based attacks, which is important if you want to keep it floating in the air. The blimp is designed to be self-sustaining, thanks to its ability to harvest solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which can then be combined in a fuel cell to generate the necessary electrical energy. It’s estimated that the blimp will be able to take flight around 2014. Unfortunately there isn’t any estimated date as to when we’ll be able to buy one of these personally.
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