What's that hovering over Black Forest?

BLACK FOREST - See that big white blimplike thing with a black data box hovering over eastern Black Forest?

No, it's not spying on the Democrats in Denver.

But it could ...

The $1 million prototype aerostat is being tested this week by a Colorado Springs company at an employee's rural El Paso County home. Onlookers are kept at bay by orange cones with "Keep Out" signs blocking the driveway to the property bustling with workers, vehicles and boxes of stuff.

Near Space Systems spent two years developing the moored balloon that can be tethered 2,000 feet above the ground and do surveillance for 9,400 square miles.

The firm, based in Briargate, trucked in 20,009 cubic feet of helium to fill the 51-foot-long and 47-footwide rectangle.

On the ground it looks like a giant inflatable for kids to bounce on. But it's hardly your average family toy.

In the air, it can withstand high winds and spy on the unsuspecting.

"Criminals or evildoers, terrorists, they do their evil deeds when they know we aren't watching," Near Space Systems CEO John Hawley said.

The retired, two-star Air Force general started the company to make a better mousetrap, so to speak. He saw the need for a quieter and versatile aerostat for commercial and military operations. Uses include discreetly taking highspeed communications to remote locations for everything from border patrol to firefighting.

The balloon is tethered by fiber optic cables that power the payload box that can hold 250 pounds of equipment. Heavier devices can stay on the ground and connect via antennas attached to the balloon.

The deflated unit fits into a 4-by-4-foot box for transport on a trailer that carts the cables and gear.

It's not bullet-proof, but it is pretty high in the sky.

"They'd have to be a pretty good shot," Hawley said. If hit, it wouldn't come crashing to the ground and can be patched.

The company's next project is to manufacture an unmanned solar-paneled airship that can reach an altitude of 85,000 feet and stay up four months.

For now, they're working out the bugs on this balloon. To monitor digital feed, they're aiming cameras at the worker's house, not in the windows of other stucco homes scattering the area.

Locals have been checking out the Black Forest UFO.

"I saw this thing and I stopped to see what it was," said Carol Pitts, who lives a mile west of the site. "I had no idea what it was - some sort of security device for the Denver convention or a land surveyor or some NORAD space monitoring device. The ‘Keep Out' signs made everyone curious."

It's just in time to get people in the mood for this weekend's Colorado Balloon
Classic at Memorial Park.

"Somebody stopped by and said, ‘Are you going to put a basket under it and give rides?'" Hawley said.

Not a chance.

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Contact the writer: 636-0253 or andrea.brown@gazette.com