Get ready for a fresh rash of UFO sightings when this thing starts being tested. I can see the headline in the Sun now: ET Soars With Eagles!

But seriously, its just as well Concorde isn't still flying, I bet these things don't show up very well on radar.

a rise in UFO sightings over Germany - cigar shaped ones but pointing upwards rather than the tradional zep. ones (oh wait, is that what the UFO is, a balloon ?).

All hail our helium breathing overlords....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUspLVStPbk

Not my first thought, but...

...mine's the one with the latex products in the pocket.

Presumably they make a giant condom shaped airship to catch them in.

i wish they'd draw a big happy face on the front of it.

US military has been experimenting with high altitude baloons for years.

Cargolifter AG had been developing long distance zeppelin -like cargo transports , before they ran out of money. (Just like the original zeppelin maker - hence the REALLY bad sponsorship deal)

Since it is the greenest way to fly, and since Iceland has plenty of hydrogen (Volcanoes,produce energy, crack H2O) but no efficient way to transport it, I think we might see a lot more of these in the future.(Unmanned, of course..lets hope no-one jams their gps)

Wait a second.... how far back in time exactly does it go? I mean if we were talking days or weeks I can see it catching on. But if it can only go a few minutes back in time then I really don't get the point of it at all.

You fargin' bastidge, you read my mind.

Brilliant bit of technology, I thought, but my brain can't stop it from looking like a goddamn' giant sperm.

On top of it, you spot one of these from the ground, flying at around 70k ft, and man, does it _ever_ start looking like a giant sperm. People really _will_ think we're being "invaded".

Oh, and I can't wait to see the first high-res orbital fotos from the ISS of one of these bad boys flying over water, while the crew and MCC joke about how it...

...ohh, never mind; the black trench, thanks.

65 feet is a bit low for cruising height

Are we being politically correct on The Reg now?

So -this thing has a large white head and a flex-tail?

and it looks like a tadpole?

What were these chappies doing in Biology class?

It is without doubt or procrastination - a large Sperm cell.

[Shock -Horror]

None of you see the dreaded "planet eater" / doomsday machine that Captain Kirk bravely fought from his La-Z-Boy recliner many years ago? Hmm. Tadpole it is then.

If it really looked like a flying sperm cell, we surely would have been treated to a dozen or more Paris references by now. Tail's much too thick.

Why go to the expense of using large volumes of neutral buoyancy gas for fuel when you could use cheap, low volume, high energy density petrol or LNG and compress the excess expensive helium into a tank, replacing it by pumping air into a bladder, to keep the buoyancy neutral.

This is not new technology, it is analogous to the way submarines vary their buoyancy.

Wow Reg editorial standards are really slipping first not calling it a giant sperm and then not googling Sanwire and Securities Fraud. This company is well know amoung airship enthusiasts, unforunately not for good reasons.

at first, but then I thought

"..add some wings and a forky tale-PUFF ! the magic dragon !"

This invention only has a future as a Children's Entertainer, if such a thing's still allowed these days.

Tadpoles have always been segmented... they have vertebrae ;-)