Walrus isn't completely dead
It looks like Darpa's Walrus project might have gotten things far enough to get another chance as a sustainable idea.
Aviation Week: Rethinking Heavy Lift
The new Defense Department program uses different technology. Aeros of Montebello, Calif., founded by Russian-born Igor Pasternak, seemed like an outsider in the Walrus contest. But the company is now the sole-source supplier for a project called Pelican, funded via the Pentagon’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office, reporting to Zachary Lemnios, deputy director for defense research and engineering.
In 2012-13, Aeros plans to fly the Pelican, a 230-ft.-long, 600,000-cu.-ft. demonstrator for its rigid-aeroshell, variable-buoyancy (RAVB) technology. Inside the shell, comprising a load-bearing frame of carbon-fiber trusses covered by thin-gauge rigid panels, will be a membrane to contain the helium lifting gas. Inside that membrane will be pressurized pump-fed tanks. More helium under pressure in the tanks makes the vehicle heavier, and less makes it lighter.
Aviation Week: Rethinking Heavy Lift
The new Defense Department program uses different technology. Aeros of Montebello, Calif., founded by Russian-born Igor Pasternak, seemed like an outsider in the Walrus contest. But the company is now the sole-source supplier for a project called Pelican, funded via the Pentagon’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office, reporting to Zachary Lemnios, deputy director for defense research and engineering.
In 2012-13, Aeros plans to fly the Pelican, a 230-ft.-long, 600,000-cu.-ft. demonstrator for its rigid-aeroshell, variable-buoyancy (RAVB) technology. Inside the shell, comprising a load-bearing frame of carbon-fiber trusses covered by thin-gauge rigid panels, will be a membrane to contain the helium lifting gas. Inside that membrane will be pressurized pump-fed tanks. More helium under pressure in the tanks makes the vehicle heavier, and less makes it lighter.