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" Call me crazy, but I think zeppelins have gotten a bad rap. Sure, the Hindenburg went up in flames on its maiden voyage, and airplanes made slow-moving dirigibles all but obsolete after World War II. But I still love giant floating gas bags. So this announcement that a team of French engineering and tech students have come up with a solar-powered blimp that uses flexible solar cells gets me all giddy. Called Project Sol&amp;#039;R, the team hopes to cross the English Channel using its blimp, simply to prove that it can be done. The 22-meter-long blimp (about 72 feet) is made from nylon and polyurethane and covered front-to-back in semi-flexible solar cells. The great thing about a blimp&amp;#039;s natural shape is that it allows the panels to cover a large area in all directions; as long as the sun is out, there will be a solar cell to collect the energy. Oh, and in case you were wondering, the difference between a blimp and a zeppelin is the rigid frame. Blimps lack a frame, making them lighter, while the zeppelins of yesteryear used large steel frames with bags full of hydrogen gas.  The solar cells generate 2.4 kilowatts of power, driving a small motor which turns two small propellers. The Sol&amp;#039;R team estimates it makes enough power to get a single person across the channel. Project Sol&amp;#039;R is following in the footsteps of Louis Bleriot, the first person ever to cross the English Channel. He flew from Les Barraques, France, to Dover, England, in his self-named plane in 1909. Unlike Bleriot, who was competing for a 1000-pound prize, Project Sol&amp;#039;R has no commercial or military plans for the blimp. Well...why not? According to the team, this blimp should make the entire trip without emitting any harmful pollutants. It can reach a maximum speed of 25 mph too, which, while it isn&amp;#039;t Concorde-jet fast, isn&amp;#039;t too shabby either. The Goodyear Blimp has a top speed of just 53 mph in zero-wind conditions and can usually cover about 300 miles in 8 hours. Project Sol&amp;#039;R could give all new meaning to the phrase, &amp;quot;Oh, the humanity!&amp;quot; For more on the solar-powered airship, visit Gas 2.0.  RELATED STORIES * PLUS: Four New Airship Designs  * GAS 2.0: Click here for more analysis and news on alternative vehicles.  * EARLIER: Are Dirigibles the Future of Aviation?  * RESEARCH: Scientists Track Whales From an Airship  * FOLLOW US: Popular Mechanics Is Now on Twitter!  * FRIEND US: Find PM on Facebook   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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