MHD Test firing number 100. A little engine work, a little wind tunnel work, a little balloon work, a little submarine work.#jpaerospace
Concept drawing of the TransAtmospheric Ascender heading for the 100 km mark..#jpaerospace
Once again it's 'Bad Drawing Time'. Here's the development path for the Dark Sky Station.#jpaerospace
New prop for the high altitude airship.#jpaerospace
Ascender in the sim.#jpaerospace
Today we started assembling the keel truss for the airship in the new hanger.#jpaerospace #Ascender
Kevin and Bryan checking torque on over a thousand truss bolts.#jpaerospace
Yesterday we got Ascender outer envelope installed on the truss structure. Over the next few days we'll be installing systems.#jpaerospace #ascender
She Flies!Yesterday we conducted the second float and system integration test of the Ascender 9 airship.#jpaerospace #ascender
Yesterday was an intense day, about 16 hours from first power up to locking the door. The team performed spectacularly. Here we're walking the airship back to give us some room to run the engines.#jpaerospace #ascender
This is a good view of the Ascender 9's keel truss. The Ascenders are not dirigibles nor blimps. They are 'Keeled Airships'. Another example of a keeled airship is the Italian Norge airship.#jpaerospace #ascender
My favorite shot. Ascender 9 eight feet up.#jpaerospace #ascender
Up top on a 2017 PongSat mission.#jpaerospace #pongsat
The launch apron for the Ascender 9 is starting to shape up. Next is the deploy-able wind screen that goes up on the poles.#jpaerospace #ascender
The TransAtmospheric Ascender approaching the Dark Sky Station while the Orbital Ascender departs for the International Space Station.Make big plans, then do them.#jpaerospace #ascender
Bad drawing time. This is a sketch of the next Dark Sky Station test vehicle (view from above). This one is 70 feet across and will fly to 40,000 feet. Serious bell bottom disco action going on....#jpaerospace
Why do they make their vehicles look like UFOs.
It's bad drawing time!!!! This is the layout for the Ascender 36 first flight from above.I'm a big advocate of never spending an hour on a CAD drawing when a 5 min. hand sketch will do. It needs to explain, not look pretty.#jpaerospace #ascender
Success! For the last week JPA, the FAA and the Ascender have been out in the desert. We were issued the Certificate of Airworthiness for the airship. It's the accumulation of 2 years of work. The Ascender is the 1st UAV airship in the world to be so licensed. #jpaerospace
Testing air beam structures for the airship.#jpaerospace
It's bad sketch time! This is an overhead view of Dark Sky Station 3. It's 50 feet in diameter and scheduled to fly spring of 2020. #jpaerospace #darkskystation