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Prototype of Unmanned Airship Is Unveiled
Wed Apr 13,12:18 AM ET
Science - AP
By JOHN ANTCZAK, Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES - A communications company unveiled a prototype of an unmanned airship that would function as a relay platform while floating in the stratosphere some 65,000 feet above service areas.
The lighter-than-air "stratellite" has been under construction by the GlobeTel Communications Corp. subsidiary Sanswire Networks LLC at an airport in San Bernardino County.
The company hopes to begin flight testing of its Sanswire One later this year over the California desert and is in discussions with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base.
The prototype is 188 feet long, 42 feet high and 60 feet wide — about a third the size of the operational airships being planned, said Leigh Coleman, president of Pembroke Pines, Fla.-based GlobeTel.
Dalje
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