http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/111/next-world-class.html
Moon Over Munchen
It's a balloon! It's a really big light! It's both!
From: Issue 111 | December/January | Page 32 | By: Michael Dumiak
That new moon hanging over a midnight work site? It's a balloon,
actually. A big, helium-filled, translucent vinyl balloon bearing
four lamps and four big mirrors that, tethered 150 feet off the
ground, spreads 16,000 watts of light over an area a mile in diameter.
It's the Powermoon HeliMax, the largest of a balloon-lamp line
produced by Jürgen Nölle's young company in Germany's Ruhr valley.
The balloons are used to light everything from road construction to
the scenes of earthquakes, floods, and refugee crises. "One moon can
light up a whole village," says Nölle, who has just inked a $2
million deal to supply the Technisches Hilfswerk, Germany's federal
disaster-relief organization.
Powermoons are available in an array of sizes, from the HeliMax to
the smaller, uninflated, and virtually indestructible Powermoon Profi
1, which is lightweight enough to be delivered by parcel post or to
fit in the back of a Volkswagen. They cast an even, glare-free glow
and run from $1,200 to $50,000 for the HeliMax.
Nölle, 40, an engineer by training, expects his 35-employee firm to
produce 4,000 balloon lamps this year, including some for customers
in the United States. They've been used in refugee camps in Indonesia
and Rwanda, and by a German-Danish minesweeping team in Afghanistan.
"Minesweeping's wonderful to do with a Powermoon light," Nölle says
matter-of-factly. "There's no glare, and you can keep track of the
moving vehicle."
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