May 3, 2022

‘New Moon of Northwest Florida’ will soon take flight

Aerial of Skyborne.
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WEWAHITCHKA, Fla. (WMBB) — A little less than four years ago, a company called Skyborne Technology opened up a facility in Wewahitchka.

In that short time, the company has taken flight, literally.

Skyborne is completing its 15th airship and has big plans for the near future.

One of Skyborne Technologies primary projects so far has been the development of airships with Gulf Coast State College, for use after disasters.

This seven-story high airship will serve as a communication hub for first responders.

On Tuesday they were working through the final stages.

“Right now they are making sure the fit check for the engine mount system is all exact,” Skyborne Technology CEO Michael Lawson said. “We made a few modifications to the system in the last couple of weeks so it’s going back up and this is final this is it. Next time I guess this new moon will be flying.”

They’ve nicknamed the airship ‘The New Moon of Northwest Florida.”

Wewahitchka aerospace company plans to make space travel a reality.

 Lawson said it’s the only one like it in the world.

“The beauty of it is, let’s say we do have a disaster, we would fly the airship manned and it would go to that location then we would also have tether operations which is a ground base station and it would travel to the site where the disaster happened,” Lawson said. “Then the pilots land it, we tether it and then it goes back up to in between 1500 and 3000 feet and it becomes a communication hub for videos, cellular and other capabilities.”

‘The New Moon of Northwest Florida’ should be completed next month.

Lawson said they’ll use this design to test the capabilities of the larger 350-foot ‘Yacht To Space.’

This airship will carry passengers to the edge of the atmosphere.

“All the avionics packages on this airship or drone or whatever you want it to be is designed for a larger version that will go to space,” Lawson said. “It’s designed to take passengers up there, wine and dine and have some fun. Think of it as a ‘Yacht to Space.’

The ‘Yacht To Space,’ would carry 15 to 20 passengers up to 68,000 feet, the edge of space.

Lawson said the price for a ticket on the ‘Yacht To Space’ would cost around $50,000.