Aeroscraft: The future of luxury travel?

A hybrid airship

coming soon may be the future of luxury travel. It's an airborne hotel with large staterooms, dining areas, theaters, and casinos.

The Aeroscraft is being planned by Worldwide Aeros Corporation and is the result of 25 years of work. It's descended from the canceled DARPA WALRUS Hybrid Ultra Large Aircraft (HULA) airship, a transport vehicle that aimed to carry as much as 500 tons of cargo but was cancelled in 2010.

Aeros says the Aeroscraft family's smallest member -- the rigid-structure, 180 passenger, 20-ton capacity ML866 -- will be 310 feet in length, have a top speed of 120 knots, and a flight ceiling of around 12,000 feet. The company also plans two larger versions, the 60-ton capacity ML868 and the 500-ton capacity ML86X.

source: news.cnet.com

Reader comment Helium news.cnet.com/8 :

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NO ,we have no used all up and YES renewable resource.

Most helium on Earth is a result of radioactive decay. Helium is found in large amounts in minerals of uranium and thorium, including cleveite, pitchblende, carnotite and monazite, because they emit alpha particles (helium nuclei, He2+) to which electrons immediately combine as soon as the particle is stopped by the rock. In this way an estimated 3000 metric tons of helium are generated per year throughout the lithosphere. In the Earth's crust, the concentration of helium is 8 parts per billion. In seawater, the concentration is only 4 parts per trillion. There are also small amounts in mineral springs, volcanic gas, and meteoric iron. Because helium is trapped in the subsurface under conditions that also trap natural gas, the greatest natural concentrations of helium on the planet are found in natural gas, from which most commercial helium is extracted. The concentration varies in a broad range from a few ppm up to over 7% in a small gas field in San Juan County, New Mexico.