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Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JMD who wrote (4162)	8/7/1998 10:45:00 PM
From: Drew Williams	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

Thanks to everyone for their responses on the blimps. My first thought on this was what the Wizard said as he drifted away from Dorothy and Toto, "I don't know how this works!" It seems obvious to me that they will need some sort of propulsion system to maintain position. Equally obvious to me is that taking one up and down every couple of days is impractical, so unless they have some sort of solar-powered-battery-backup-electric-fan drive controlled from the ground, it won't work. Actually, this sounds like one of those ideas whose time has come and gone, and it seems like everyone here agrees that LEO satellites can do the job perfectly well.

To: JMD who wrote (4162)	8/8/1998 3:37:00 PM
From: dougjn	Respond to of 10852

Re: blimps. I don't think so. Like most, my first reaction is: ridiculous. My second is...wait, give it a thought. My third, after some thought is....ridiculous. <ggg> Aside from the issues of position keeping in normal wind conditions, there is the little problem of....storms. Most areas occasionally get some very nasty weather. Even it these blimps can move around or land to avoid that (and I bet that wouldn't in practice be anything close to a sure thing), what is to happen to communications for the duration??? Even your garden variety thunderstorm punches quite a wind wallop. OK, in localized areas, but when you see them coming on the doppler radar, or have predicted them, doen't the blimps have to skiddale???? Maybe WAY ahead of time? Which means a wide swath of territory needs to be blimp evacuated. And communications during that duration??? Don't think so. Or are these things able to fly TOTALLY above the turbulance created by storms? Even if they are, can they move up or down to earth in the refueling, servicing cycle if storms are expected anywhere near? I don't know, they just seem so MESSY compared to those nifty satellites. In my high tech engineering savvy judgment. <ggg> Doug