The Manned Cloud
This isn’t a reality….yet! It is a concept / project by the French designer Jean Marie Massaud (of the Massaud Studio in partnership with ONERA – the centre for French aerospace research) and is allegedly planned for completion in 2020 – don’t hold your breath!
The concept is designed to carry some 40 paying (probably very rich) passengers / guests and 15 staff in reportedly between 20 and 60 bedrooms. It is also planned to have a spa, a gym, a library and obviously dining (restaurant) and drinking (bar) facilities. All of this will be provided in a couple of glass storeys hanging under a large (helium filled?) blimp providing unique panoramic views over the world from a height of 18,000 feet.
The aim is to be eco-friendly and, again allegedly, it will be able to circle the globe in 10 days (some reports claim 3 days) on a single tank of fuel at a top speed of 105 miles per hour. I haven’t done the calculation – but is 3 days even a possibility at 105 miles an hour? Also - hum…how big will the fuel tank be, and what fuel will it use (some reports say a sort of gas, or even diesel) are questions that immediately spring to mind about the eco-friendly-‘ness’.
People have likened the structure to a giant sperm whale in the sky or even a manatee in the sky. Still – if it happens it looks like a potentially beautiful and imaginative concept that could provide a wonderful experience – that is, assuming terrorists don’t take pot-shots at it!
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