September 18-21, 2012: reporting meetings of scientists working on Multibody Advanced Airship for Transport (MAAT) project were held at Taganrog College of Technologies (Southern Federal University - SFEDU). The project is funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (EU FP7) of the EU. The project started 12 months ago, on September 1, 2011.
Among the participants of the forum was MAAT project leader Antonio Dumas - professor at Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia and Mayor Vladimir Prasolov. "Airship platforms have a great future. "This is a perspective way of transportation, which brings together Russian and European scientific communities", said Mayor Prasolov, expressing hope that one of the next meetings will be onboard of the airship.
The specialists of the Taganrog College of Technologies (Southern Federal University - SFEDU) have been participating in the project from its beginning. They are developing the control system of the cruiser-shuttle, both in pilot and drone modes, and the control system for docking the shuttle to the cruiser.
It is reported that significant progress has been made on the project, with the current meeting looking to steer the partners' technical efforts in the next six months leading up to interim reporting to the EU at Strasbourg.