JHL-40

The Jess Heavy Lifter – 40 (JHL-40) will have a helium filled envelope sized so that the aircraft will be neutrally buoyant. This means that its four rotors lift only the payload. By comparison, the Russia’s Mil Mi-26, the world’s largest helicopter, can lift only half the payload with a similar power plant because it must lift its own weight as well.

"SkyHook secured the patent for this neutrally buoyant aircraft and approached Boeing with the opportunity to develop and build the system," said Pat Donnelly, director of Advanced Rotorcraft Systems for Boeing. "We conducted a feasibility study and decided this opportunity is a perfect fit for Advanced Systems' technical capabilities."

Designed by SkyHook founder Peter Jess, the JHL-40 will use rotor technology from the Chinook helicopter, avionics and flight controls technology from the 787 and Boeing’s experience as a lead systems integrator. "If you have to develop all of that technology from scratch on this aircraft we wouldn’t be sitting here today," Donnelly told Flight Global.

SkyHook envisages the aircraft operating in harsh environments such as the Canadian Arctic and Alaska providing transport for gas oil and mining industries. It hopes that the JHL-40 will be an environmentally acceptable alternative to building new roadways in remote areas. As it uses less fuel than a helicopter for a given load, the JHL-40 is expected to reduce the carbon footprint of the projects it supports.

Image: Boeing / SkyHook

The Carnival of Space #63 is out edited by Jon Voisey aka The Angry Astronomer. Quite a few entries this week. There is sure to be something to facinate you.

However, no Tomorrow is Here as I have been writing about more Earthly things this week.

The US has a thriving, if dubious, export business in "contract cheating." This is the writing of student papers and course work for money. The UK is a major market for the US. However, this lucrative export trade is under threat from globalization.

UK colleges go to great lengths to detect and punish cheating, employing software to spot outright copying. However, as contract cheats often produce original work, such abuse difficult to detect.

Dr Thomas Lancaster and Robert Clarke at the UKs Birmingham City University have been following the phenomenon since 2004. They told the Deccan Herald that over a 20-month period between 2004 and 2006, they recorded some 1,000 students cheating worldwide. The majority on IT-related courses, a third in the UK.