The Spy Blimp

I might try to draw up some sketches at some point, but for now, I want to document a concept here for posteritys sake.

Spy blimps are a whole world of awesome. I spent an hour or so designing a particularly cool one in my head. Well, to me it's particularly cool.

See, blimps have always been fascinating to me...it's one thing to fly, but it's quite another to remain airborne. A propeller airplane is little more than a bird - it can get about much faster than walking or jumping, but it's still severely constrained. What goes up must come down and all that.

I've never been in one though...closest thing I've been in was an airglider airplane - a plane flying on airstreams, very light, requirering no engine...but, while capable of flying quite far, they must keep in motion, must maneuver with the wind, must...well, you get the picture. They're inhibited.

Air baloons, I suppose, are kindof cool too....in the same way hitchhiking is. You never know quite where you end up, but at least you're getting somewhere. It's, again, ihibited.

Not so with blimps. Blimps can remain airborne for as long as they want, like air baloons, but they can go places, like airplanes....Perfect!

Well, when I say blimp, it's because DARPA has been contracted for something the popular news outlets call a spy blimp...what I really thought up is an awesometastic derrigible. See, a derrigible has an internal construction and an internal structure, and the outer coating is not a balloon itself...rather, it's just there to cover the structure of the craft against the elements. Indeed, large derrigibles can be thought of as assemblies of helium or hydrogen balloons, embued with other properties (and engines!).

Large derrigibles are powerful, and are able to lift quite a lot of weight, but the classic ones are run on hydrogen as carrier element, which is highly volatile. The Hindenburg, greatest airship ever made (...somewhat similar to the titanic, greatest passenger craft ever made....) failed on it's virgin journey.

...and, at this point, I realize the irony of scribbling an idea down and the scribbling taking so long that I'm no longer in the mood for it when I just get to the important bits.

But fuck it:

Use carbon nanotube firbres for the internal balloons, rigid enough to maintain shape even when pumped empty of air
vary balloon displacement by means of nanotube fibre patches that can vary in length when electricity is applied
stick solar panels up top
use two dirrigibles side by side with a bridge inbetween
allow dirrigibles to alter outside shape from fairly air-streamlined to completely boxy in order to be rader invisible, using light tent-like material
coat the entirety of the bottom of the airship in blue-grey-black epaper for live action visual cammouflage
built a greenhouse on the bridge section for food
keep stock of new rapid-delivery lithium-ion batteries as those developed at MIT for rapid electricity availability at all hours (fast enough to power laser cannon batteries or railguns - stuff with infinite ammo...probably run dry in 4-5 shots, but hey, laserguns are LIGHT)
keep weight ratio low to be able to go higher than all jet engine missiles and hopefully out of range of rockets using supperior carbon-nanotube balloon goodness
Keep giant kites in top compartments for blazing speed on the jetstream (and maybe even for powering wind turbines...the sun may be blotted out by dust, but the winds will never cease, and ultra violet rays can grow foods! mm mm good)

Ok I think that's all my crazy ideas, for now...more, better, later.