Dirigibles touted as option instead of cell phone tower; Ex-NASA manager envisions a fleetof robotic airships

PALMDALE, Calif. -- Bob Jones has a lofty idea for improvingcommunications around the world: Strategically float roboticairships above the Earth as an alternative to unsightly telecomtowers on the ground and expensive satellites in space.

Jones, a former NASA manager, envisions a fleet of unmanned"Stratellites" hovering in the atmosphere and blanketing largeswaths of territory with wireless access for high-speed data andvoice communications. The idea of using airships as communicationsplatforms isn't new -- it was widely floated during the dot-comboom. It didn't really fly then, and Jones is the first to admit thelatest venture is a gamble.

Tethered flights of a prototype -- which cost about $3 million tobuild and is about one-fifth scale model of the planned commercialairships -- are scheduled later this month in this Mojave Desertcity, about an hour's drive north of Los Angeles.

Jones says it will be a critical test of the technology.

"I don't want to see it fall on someone's backyard or have itfloat away to Las Vegas," said Jones, president of Stratellitedeveloper Sanswire Networks LLC.

If everything goes as planned, remote-controlled flights wouldlaunch later this year from nearby Edwards Air Force Base. Duringthe tests, the airship is expected to float to 45,000 feet forseveral hours. He envisions the commercial airships will rise to65,000 feet -- or about 13 miles -- and stay aloft for 18 months ata time.

For now, Jones' focus is on testing how well the parts of theairship work. He hopes to build a commercial vehicle in the nextseveral years.

Unlike the cylindrical shape of a traditional blimp, aStratellite has a broad, tapered nose like a shark. The solar-powered dirigible will carry a payload of radio and digital devices.

Interest in airships is on the rise. The U.S. military isexploring them for airborne reconnaissance and homeland security.Corporations also are increasingly eyeing them for civiliancommunication use.

At the height of the dot-com boom, several companies toyed withproviding Internet and phone service from floating communicationsplatforms. Many of those ideas foundered when the Internet bubblepopped -- and broadband delivered over phone and cable linesproliferated.

Still, airships might prove most useful in niche markets -- ruraldead zones, for example, or during natural disasters whenterrestrial towers fail. After Hurricane Katrina, satellite-connected wireless phone providers saw a dramatic spike in usage instorm-ravaged Gulf Coast areas.

That limited market may not be enough for dirigible makers tosurvive, said Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight Research Corp.,a New Jersey-based telecommunications market research company.

"It's an example of a technology that's looking for a market," hesaid.

Jones believes his solar-powered, helium-filled Stratellites --so named because they would hang in the stratosphere -- couldreplace unsightly cell towers and cost less than satellites. Becauseof the airship's altitude according to Jones, its radio equipmentcan cover an area the size of Texas.