WHAT goes up, must come down – even if it takes a little effort. After successfully flying an airship into the stratosphere for the first time ever, Japanese researchers had to burst the helium-filled craft to get it back to the ground.
The National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) in Tokyo said that after sending the 47-metre-long unmanned blimp to an altitude of 16.4 kilometres, the quickest way to get it back was to let the helium out.
The airship is a prototype for a new generation of blimps that could carry telecommunications equipment, Earth-monitoring sensors and spy cameras into positions high above…
