Why an airship was spotted hovering over this central Alberta town
A solar-powered airship was spotted in rural Alberta while conducting autonomous aerial survey tests for pipeline infrastructure. The project is a collaboration between South African firm Cloudline and Canadian partner 3 Points in Space Media.
Why it matters
This demonstrates the growing use of autonomous, eco-friendly aerial technology for industrial monitoring in remote regions.
While some may have seen a Goodyear Blimp at a sporting event, it’s not every day you see such a sight in rural Alberta.
In this case, it was a solar-powered airship, roughly the size of a school bus, testing a new way to collect aerial survey data near Rocky Mountain House, about 200 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.
A joint crew from Cloudline, a South African aerospace firm that manufactured the airship, and its Canadian operational partner, 3 Points in Space Media, ran flight tests with the airship out of the Rocky Mountain House Airport last week.
“It's essentially the same as a helium party balloon,” said Sean Adams, founder and CEO of 3 Points in Space Media, as the crew conducted a trial with TC Energy to inspect pipeline corridors in the region.
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