---
title: "NASA Wants Airships For Stratospheric Research Missions"
description: "The airship could be used as a valuable scientific tool if NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory goes ahead with a planned challenge to develop record-breaking stratospheric airships"
date: "2014-11-26"
modified: "2015-08-13"
authors:
  - name: "StefanCretu"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/stefancretu"
url: "https://futurism.com/nasa-wants-airships-stratospheric-research-missions"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "space"
---

# NASA Wants Airships For Stratospheric Research Missions

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/lockheed-airship.jpg>)

- NASA believes that airships have serious potential for scientific research due to their potential ability to remain in the air in a stable position for long periods
- One of the potential uses of the airship is of a floating weather station that captures data about weather and climate change
- By attaching a telescope to an airship located in the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere above its weather systems, scientists would be able to get high-resolution images, and thus detailed data, about celestial bodies such as stars