Airships Instead Of Satellites
from the they-fall-out-of-the-sky-more-easily dept
Why do we need satellites to provide our telecommunications infrastructure in the air? Why not just use huge floating airships that don't need to be all the way up in space to provide transponders for mobile telephone, television, digital radio, internet and surveillance services. Of course, the main fear is that when airships fall out of the air they can hurt a lot of people. Satellites, for the most part, tend to burn up on reentry. The makers of these new airships insist they're safe, however. I think I'd feel a little more comfortable if the airship folks explained more about why they are safe. In the article they basically say "trust us, the technology has improved." I'm sure it has improved, but that doesn't mean they still won't fall out of the sky at some point.
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