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Calliban

Member

From: Northern England, UK

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3,796

The Return of the Airship

An interesting article on Casey Handmer's blog on the potential for new generation rigid airships for passenger transportation.

https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2020 … -airships/

I can see this being a workable solution for relatively short distance flights.  If you wanted to fly from London to Paris for example.  No doubt more spacious and comfortable than a train or jet liner.  But a transatlantic crossing would take 2 days and would require the ship to be kitted out with cabins and dining areas.  All of that adds a lot of weight.  As romantic as the idea of passenger airships is, they would appear to me to combine the weight limitations of an aeroplane with the speed limitations of a ship.

In terms of lifting gas used, there really is no alternative to hydrogen if the airship is to evolve into a means of mass transportation.  Hydrogen could arguably be used more safely today with the availability of modern polymers as gas cell materials.  The Hindenburg gas cells were cotton lined with gold beaters skin (cow gut) to reduce the rate of hydrogen diffusion out of the gas cells.  Small leaks of hydrogen would not necessarily be dangerous, because the gas will rapidly rise by buoyancy to the top of the envelop and mix with air beneath flammable limits, before being removed from the envelop by a high air change ventilation system.

Propulsion will probably be turboprop or turbofan engines, burning a propane-ethane mix, which has the same bulk density as air.  It would not need to be liquefied and would be contained as non-pressurised gas in gas bags within the envelope.  Other fuel gases could potentially be used as well.  Maybe syngas from biomass?  The airship does have the advantage that it can make use of diffuse gases as fuel without liquefaction.  A mixture of natural gas, propane and butane, would be bouyantly neutral fuel gas.  For short flights between cities, energy efficiency is comparable to rail.

I think some variation of this design could work.  Whether it could be an economic success is another matter entirely.  The problem with a vehicle that travels six times more slowly than a 747, is that it provides only one sixth as many passenger-km per hour, assuming the same passenger compliment.  Unless capital and operating costs are much lower per passenger than a jet, it will be difficult for an airship to compete, assuming both transportation services are valued by passengers equally.

Last edited by Calliban (2021-12-17 09:31:36)

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"Plan and prepare for every possibility, and you will never act. It is nobler to have courage as we stumble into half the things we fear than to analyse every possible obstacle and begin nothing. Great things are achieved by embracing great dangers."

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: The Return of the Airship

and in space exploration here on newmars there have also been many discussions about using an Airship or floating village of sorts to explore and colonize places like Venus and Titan.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: The Return of the Airship

It reminds me of the older days of the train ride... sit back and relax and enjoy the sites along the way.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,437

Re: The Return of the Airship

I was happy to see this announcement today .... Google's Sergey Brin is building a decent sized airship for humanitarian missions...
It will be "state of the art" in every way possible...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/largest-airs … 33958.html

Largest airship built in United States since 1930s to take shape soon inside Akron Airdock
Jim Mackinnon, Akron Beacon Journal
Thu, May 5, 2022, 5:59 PM

Jim Mackinnon, Akron Beacon Journal
Thu, May 5, 2022, 5:59 PM
Alan Weston, CEO of LTA Research, talks about the test section for the airship Pathfinder 3 Thursday at the Akron Airdock. The company, owned by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, plans to make airships at the facility.

The largest airship to be built in the United States since the 1930s is expected to start taking shape later this year inside the Akron Airdock, with its first flight possibly coming in 2023.

(th)

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,437

Re: The Return of the Airship

Here is an update on the dirigible under construction by Sergey Brin and company ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compani … 392d&ei=14

It appears the ship is complete and ready for testing.  It will be tethered in the first series of tests.

Pathfinder 1 was built at a California hangar near Google’s headquarters - LTA Research
Pathfinder 1 was built at a California hangar near Google’s headquarters - LTA Research
© Provided by The Telegraph

A giant airship built by a company backed by the billionaire co-founder of Google will take to the skies after receiving approval from a US regulator.

The 400ft-long blimp, named Pathfinder 1, has been approved for 25 test flights in California, with its first journey set to take place at Moffett Airfield on an unspecified date.

LTA Research, the start-up behind the airship, was founded in 2014 and has received $250m (£205m) in backing from ex-Google executive Sergey Brin.

Flight tests will begin with the airship – which has been built at a California hangar near Google’s headquarters – tied to a mast for safety reasons. The company hopes it will later fly untethered.

At half the length of the Hindenburg, perhaps the world’s most infamous airship, Pathfinder 1 differs from the German aircraft in that it flies using inert helium gas rather than highly flammable hydrogen.

Pathfinder 1 is also powered by electric motors rather than the 1930s aircraft’s diesel engines and is expected to reach speeds of up to 75mph.

Airships have been a subject of aeronautical curiosity ever since the Hindenburg disaster of 1937 - AP

© Provided by The Telegraph
LTA Research eventually aims to build 600ft long airships capable of hauling tons of cargo, as was first reported by IEEE Spectrum.

Google has a history of backing lighter-than-air vehicle projects.

Loon, a subsidiary previously owned by the tech giant, sought to deliver internet connectivity to Africa using a network of high-altitude balloons fitted with mobile phone masts.

However, the business was shut down in 2021 after burning through $125m worth of investment from Japan’s SoftBank.

Airships have been a subject of aeronautical curiosity ever since the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, which left 35 passengers dead. Public perception of airship safety was fatally damaged by the accident.

British company Hybrid Air Vehicles carried out several flight trials with its Airlander aircraft in the late 2010s, having secured investment from the US Department of Defence.

Last month, Hybrid Air revealed plans to work with British weapons maker BAE Systems to help build a new aircraft for use in defence and security operations.

Calliban opened with the recommendation to use hydrogen, but it appears helium is the gas of choice for this venture.

(th)