Latest on Altaeros, Joby, AWE pioneers

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Altaeros: The predicted abandonment of their flying donut and original stated AWE purpose, and retreat to “providing wifi”, for Altaeros, was interesting to see.

Strangely, today their website attempts to erase their former position as a top “poster-child” of AWE, pretending it never happened.

Here’s a cut-paste from the above link:

Altaeros’ History
Altaeros spun out of MIT in 2010 on a mission to make the world’s first autonomous aerostat. We released our first autonomous aerostat, the SuperTower, in 2019. The SuperTower is an aerial platform designed to bring affordable services anywhere, and everywhere they are needed to help businesses and communities access the basic building blocks to allow for prosperity.

Huh? No mention of the “BAT” (Buoyant Airborne Turbine), the subject of maybe thousands of articles, still cited as a current, promising AWE design to this very day by uninformed authors?
Just google Altaeros and click on “images” - who are they kidding?

Wow, that is whacky, huh? Not even the slightest mention of their AWE roots. I’m hesitant to point out, to me, this seems dishonest. Saying they started in 2010 pursuing an automated aerostat, with no mention of their original AWE roots, is just a mis-statement as far as I can see. How could they just leave out that “little detail”? I mean, the BAT is what they are famous for, whereas the supposed “wifi” (internet?) thing most people have never heard of. (Note: Google (now Alphabet) has abandoned their balloon-lofted wifi-internet “Project Loon” as just a bit too “looney” to ever work out…)

Well, anyway, at least Altaeros are, supposedly, trying something…

The next topic is Joby - JoeBen Bevirt was originally pursuing a flygen AWE system similar to Makani. That was way back in 2009. It seemed significant that JoeBen quickly (a couple years or so?) pivoted away from AWE, while making his electric motor/generators available for purchase by others, mostly as motors for aviation. Today, Joby Aviation has something like 800 employees and seems to be making significant headway in the “flying car” or “flying taxi” space, which essentially builds multi-rotor drones large enough to carry passengers. While attempts to get a new aircraft type-certified is a classic risky endeavor, they do seem like one of the leaders in this seemingly-futuristic field. How it turns out we have yet to see. :slight_smile:

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The idea of carrying a wind turbine protected by the aerostat is perhaps not so bad. The doughnut shape induces a large consumption of fabric surface compared to the volume, which moreover seems very high compared to the wind turbine itself: a small wind turbine for a large balloon.

Moreover, I am not sure that the wind easily reaches the turbine due to the angle of attack required for additional aerodynamic lift.

It would be interesting if Altaeros would publish the technical and economic reasons for abandoning the project.

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Hi Pierre: Yes, that was the showstopper, right there. One more example of “The Professor Crackpot Syndrome”: adding another invention that ruins the main invention. The donut hole just happened to be where most of the buoyancy would have been without the hole. So the hole ruined the idea. I believe this is one more case of allowing the patent system to ruin an invention. “There’s nothing wrong with this idea except the main feature!”

Many companies hesitate to pursue any idea that is "just " public domain. They have to find a new angle to patent, then they have to (hopefully) “monetize” the patent. So they get stuck with a worse idea than if they had no patent.

Meanwhile the idea seemed compelling at first glance. I’d categorize it at the level of a junior-high-school sketch in the margins of a textbook or notebook. Innovative enough to get attention, yet lacking in common sense, since the benefits of the hole were outweighed by the loss of buoyancy and structural integrity. “But that’s what the patent says!”

Throwing the whole idea away to pursue wifi was disappointing. Seems like the only skill they had attained was filling an envelope with helium and letting it go up. They just totally gave up on AWE and went to a boring old regular blimp, sending power UP the tether instead of down. Predictable example of “mission-creep” and “retreat”.

At that point I figured they would never go anywhere. Joby: trying to remember if I have traded their stock. It’s currently down around $5. On the one hand, JoBen BeVirt is a pioneering person who knows how to get things done. On the other hand, in aviation-related efforts, he has a track record of not quite achieving his stated goals and mission-creep. (Stopping AWE efforts, and just producing motors). Sure has hired a lot of people though. Will flying taxis in common use emerge from his efforts? Hard to say, but at least he is trying.