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advantages over traditional aerostats. Traditional aerostats need to utilize relatively low-lift helium gas to combat high winds, which means they need to have a lot of gas to cope and so are very large, unwieldy and expensive. Helikites exploit wind lift so they only need to be a fraction of the size of traditional aerostats in order to operate in high winds. Helikites fly many times higher altitude than traditional aerostats of the same size. Being smaller, with fewer construction seams, means
Helikites have minimal problems with gas leakage compared to traditional aerostats, so Helikites use far less helium.
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are popular as they are very reliable but still easy to handle and do not require large expensive winches. Helikites can be small enough to fit fully inflated in a car but they can also be made large if heavy payloads are required to be flown to high altitudes. Helikites are one of the most popular aerostat designs and are widely used by the scientific community, military, photographers, geographers, police, first responders. Helikites are used by telecoms companies to lift 4G and 5G base stations for areas without cellphone coverage.
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structural challenges of building a rigid vacuum chamber lighter than air are quite significant. Even so, it may be possible to improve the performance of more conventional aerostats by trading gas weight for structural weight, combining the lifting properties of the gas with vacuum and possibly heat for enhanced lift.
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and so are simpler in construction than traditional aerostats and
Helikites do not need constant electrical power to keep them airborne. Helikites are also extremely stable and so are good aerial platforms for cameras or scientific instruments. Tiny Helikites will fly in all weathers, so these sizes
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Helistat using the rotor systems from four obsolete helicopters and a surplus Navy blimp, in order to provide a capability to lift heavier loads than a single helicopter could provide. The aircraft suffered a fatal accident during a test flight. In 2008, Boeing and SkyHook
International resurrected
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is a combination of a helium balloon and a kite to form a single, aerodynamically sound tethered aircraft, that exploits both wind and helium for its lift. Helikites are semi-rigid. Helikites are considered the most stable, energy and cost-efficient aerostats available. This gives
Helikites various
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Although not currently practical, it may be possible to construct a rigid, lighter-than-air structure which, rather than being inflated with air, is at a vacuum relative to the surrounding air. This would allow the object to float above the ground without any heat or special lifting gas, but the
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is the lightest of all gases and a manned hydrogen balloon was flown soon after the
Montgolfier brothers. There is no need to burn fuel, so a gas balloon can stay aloft far longer than a hot-air balloon. Hydrogen soon became the most common lifting gas for both balloons and, later, airships. But
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comprises a mix of methane and other gases, and typically has about half the lifting power of hydrogen. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries municipal gas works became common and provided a cheap source of lifting gas. Some works were able to produce a special mix for ballooning
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Helikites range in size from 1 metre (gas volume 0.13 m) with a pure helium lift of 30g, up to 14 metres (gas volume 250m) able to lift 117 kg. Small
Helikites can fly up to altitudes of 1,000 ft, and medium-sized Helikites up to altitudes of 13,000 ft, while large Helikites can
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Although a free balloon travels at the speed of the wind, it is travelling with the wind so to a passenger the air feels calm and windless. To change its altitude above ground it must either adjust the amount of lift or discard ballast weight. Notable uses of free-flying balloons include
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and non-toxic, and it has almost as much (about 92%) lifting power as hydrogen. It was not discovered in quantity until early in the twentieth century, and for many years only the United States had enough to use in airships. Almost all gas balloons and airships now use helium.
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than the surrounding air. A hot air balloon is open at the bottom to allow hot air to enter, while the gas balloon is closed to stop the (cold) lifting gas from escaping. Common lifting gases have included hydrogen, coal gas and helium.
512:, was a hot air balloon. Most early balloons however were gas balloons. Interest in the sport of hot air ballooning reawoke in the second half of the twentieth century and even some hot-air airships have been flown.
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aerodynamically as they travel through the air, using the shape of their envelope or through the addition of fins or even small wings. Types designed to exploit this lifting effect in normal cruise are called
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When heated, air expands. This lowers its density and creates lift. Small hot air balloons or lanterns have been flown in China since ancient times. The first modern man-lifting aerostat, made by the
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More recently, the US Government
Accountability Office has used the term "aerostat" in a different sense, to distinguish the statically tethered balloon from the free-flying airship.
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A rigid airship has an outer framework or skin surrounding the lifting gas bags inside it, The outer envelope keeps its shape even if the gasbags are deflated. The great
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Historically, all aerostats were called balloons. Powered types capable of horizontal flight were referred to as dirigible balloons or simply dirigibles (from the French
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A semi-rigid airship has a deflatable gas bag like a non-rigid but with a supporting structure to help it hold its shape while aloft. The first practical airship, the
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which requires the movement of a wing surface through the surrounding air mass. The term has also been used in a narrower sense, to refer to the statically
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A balloon is an unpowered aerostat which has no means of propulsion and must be either tethered on a long cable or allowed to drift freely with the wind.
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A hybrid type uses both static buoyancy and dynamic airflow to provide lift. The dynamic movement may be created either using propulsive power as a
217:. The average density of the craft is lower than the density of atmospheric air, because its main component is one or more gasbags, a lightweight
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is held down by one or more mooring lines or tethers. It has sufficient lift to hold the line taut and its altitude is controlled by
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For full-size aircraft with powered rotors the rotor is normally tilted to achieve thrust (e.g. in a helicopter). Some toys (e.g.
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the line in or out. A tethered balloon does feel the wind. A round balloon is unstable and bobs about in strong winds, so the
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845:"GAO-13-81, DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS: Future Aerostat and Airship Investment Decisions Drive Oversight and Coordination Needs"
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aircraft functions as an aeroplane during normal (horizontal) flight and as a helicopter during low-speed flight.
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events, incorporating a higher proportion of hydrogen and less carbon monoxide, to improve its lifting power.
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lift which is a buoyant force that does not require movement through the surrounding air mass, resulting in
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hydrogen itself is flammable and, following several major disasters in the 1930s, including the
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in contrast to the free-flying airship. This article uses the term in its broader sense.
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An airship is a powered, free-flying aerostat that can be steered. Airships divide into
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Balloons and airships, 1783–1973: editor of the
English edition Kenneth Munson
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Balloons and airships, 1783–1973: editor of the
English edition Kenneth Munson
622: – Vehicle or machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air
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refers to any thermostat that remains in the air primarily using aerostatic
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https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/805773_eba4ea45e5824133ad520da3a14b5b15.pdf
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A non-rigid airship or blimp deflates like a balloon as it loses gas. The
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meaning steerable). These powered aerostats later came to be called
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709:. Great Britain: Oxford University Press. 1976 . p. 281.
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652: – Gas used to create buoyancy in a balloon or aerostat
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In order to provide buoyancy, any lifting gas must be less
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749:"aerostat Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary"
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was developed with an aerodynamic shape similar to a
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airships of the twentieth century were rigid types.
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and non-rigid types, with these last often known as
477:the concept and announced a proposed design of the
67:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
201:aircraft that gains its lift through the use of a
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354:and notable uses of untethered balloons include
871:EU FP7 ABSOLUTE Project: Aerial Platforms Study
852:United States Government Accountability Office
441:or by tethering in the wind like a kite, as a
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628: – Study of gases that are not in motion
881:Ege, Lennart A. T.; Munson, Kenneth (1973).
817:Ege, Lennart A. T.; Munson, Kenneth (1973).
380:The Goodyear blimps are non-rigid airships.
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1157:with novel thrust / lift solutions (e.g.
933:The principle of a balloon flight – Video
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127:Learn how and when to remove this message
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232:Aerostats are so named because they use
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240:ability. This contrasts with the heavy
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632:Airborne wind turbine#Aerostat variety
551:is the only lifting gas which is both
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727:(first ed.). Osprey. p. 8.
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410:are still a common sight in the USA.
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711:fabric enclosing gas-bags of airship
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145:U.S. Department of Homeland Security
65:adding citations to reliable sources
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694:the gas-bag of a balloon or airship
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197: 'standing', via French) is a
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682:. Allied Publishers. p. 541.
646: – Proposed airborne habitats
472:Piasecki Helicopter developed the
213:. A balloon may be free-flying or
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802:Historical dictionary of aviation
707:The Oxford Illustrated Dictionary
205:gas. Aerostats include unpowered
1173:) or balloon-wing hybrids (e.g.
887:. Blandford Press. p. 110.
774:"Buoyancy: Archimedes Principle"
772:Hodanbosi, Carol (August 1996).
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823:. Blandford Press. p. 11.
52:needs additional citations for
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149:Tethered Aerostat Radar System
143:A modern aerostat used by the
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263:In student usage, the term
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1009:Lift: Lighter than air gas
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676:Chambers, Allied (1998).
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32:Aerostat (disambiguation)
27:Lighter-than-air aircraft
753:dictionary.cambridge.org
725:A Dictionary of Aviation
723:Wragg, David W. (1973).
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180: 'air' and
804:, History Press (2008).
679:The Chambers Dictionary
469:achieve 7,000 ft.
325:meteorological balloons
1207:Balloons (aeronautics)
1147:Ground-effect vehicles
1023:Unpowered free flight
591:This section is empty.
528:, it fell out of use.
460:Helikites do not need
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1155:experimental aircraft
1015:Lift: Unpowered rotor
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315:Balloon (aeronautics)
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1069:(None – see note 2)
1046:(None – see note 2)
1018:Lift: Powered rotor
510:Montgolfier brothers
348:observation balloons
327:and sport balloons.
61:improve this article
30:For other uses, see
1217:Aircraft categories
526:Hindenburg Disaster
415:Santos-Dumont No. 6
244:that primarily use
1136:balloon helicopter
919:DJ's Zeppelin page
560:Low-pressure gases
417:was a semi-rigid.
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332:tethered balloon
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59:Please help
54:verification
51:
1087:ornithopter
929:, June 1930
800:Wragg, D.;
783:January 16,
650:Lifting gas
626:Aerostatics
491:Lifting gas
259:Terminology
246:aerodynamic
223:lifting gas
117:August 2009
1196:Categories
1151:hovercraft
1102:helicopter
1065:Rotor kite
1040:, etc. in
1038:Helicopter
858:2013-06-15
758:2018-01-16
663:References
644:Cloud nine
602:March 2024
390:semi-rigid
276:dirigeable
234:aerostatic
159:(from
87:newspapers
76:"Aerostat"
1202:Aerostats
1159:coleopter
1124:tiltrotor
972:Types of
462:ballonets
242:aerodynes
18:Aerostats
1144:Note 3:
1132:Note 2:
1120:tiltwing
1116:Note 1:
1098:Gyrodyne
1093:Autogyro
1083:Airplane
1074:Powered
1003:Aerodyne
998:Aerostat
974:aircraft
638:Buoyancy
620:Aerodyne
614:See also
537:Coal gas
532:Coal gas
521:Hydrogen
516:Hydrogen
443:Helikite
401:zeppelin
366:Airships
336:winching
298:Balloons
280:airships
269:buoyancy
265:aerostat
227:buoyancy
215:tethered
211:airships
207:balloons
157:aerostat
1167:Avrocar
1078:Airship
1028:balloon
1026:(Free)
994:
937:YouTube
504:Hot air
372:Airship
284:balloon
203:buoyant
101:scholar
1175:kytoon
1089:, etc.
1033:Glider
978:thrust
891:
827:
731:
686:
549:Helium
544:Helium
447:kytoon
394:blimps
192:statós
185:στατός
151:(TARS)
147:, the
103:
96:
89:
82:
74:
848:(PDF)
497:dense
386:rigid
293:Types
163:
108:JSTOR
94:books
1177:and
1169:and
1149:and
1060:Kite
982:lift
980:and
889:ISBN
825:ISBN
785:2018
778:NASA
729:ISBN
684:ISBN
452:The
422:lift
358:and
350:and
249:lift
238:VTOL
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