Can turtles fly?

I ceratinly hope so, because the Turtle Airship just might be the future of air travel - if it delivers on all of its promises. This airship doesn't look anything like the Goodyear blimp. It has a rigid exterior shell that resembles, well, a turtle shell. The shell is covered in solar panels that provide the ship's main source of power. When solar energy is not available, the Turtle is designed to run on back-up, biodiesel engines. Here's all of the good things I've heard and read about this marvel:

• It runs on solar, so emissions and energy costs would be low.
• It takes off and lands like a helicopter, and can land just about anywhere on land or water. It can touch down in the middle of the ocean or the middle of the desert. 
• It can travel at speeds of 200 mph, which, though a third of the speed of a traditional airplane, is still pretty quick. You can spend your extra time on the ship thinking about how much carbon emissions you saved.

So what's the bad news? Well, none of these amazing airships have actually been built yet. Darrell Campbell, the designer of the Turtle, recently began construction on a prototype with which he could earn the funding to built more airships. Still, the day we see these floating across the sky seems pretty far off. For more information and an artist's rendering of the airship, click here.

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