https://spectrum.ieee.org/airship
"At Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., Lighter Than Air (LTA) Research is
floating a new approach to a technology that saw its rise and fall a century
ago: airships. Although airships have long since been supplanted by planes,
LTA, which was founded in 2015 by CEO Alan Weston, believes that through a
combination of new materials, better construction techniques, and technological
advancements, airships are poised to—not reclaim the skies, certainly—but find
a new niche.
Although airships never died off entirely—the Goodyear blimps, familiar to
sports fans, are proof of that—the industry was already in decline by 1937, the
year of the Hindenburg disaster. By the end of World War II, airships couldn’t
compete with the speed airplanes offered, and they required larger crews.
Today, what airships still linger serve primarily for advertising and
sightseeing.
LTA’s Pathfinder 1 carries bigger dreams than hovering over a sports stadium,
however. The company sees a natural fit for airships in humanitarian and relief
missions. Airships can stay aloft for long periods of time, in case ground
conditions aren’t ideal, have a long range, and carry significant payloads,
according to Carl Taussig, LTA’s chief technical officer.
Pathfinder’s cigar-shaped envelope is just over 120 meters in length and 20
meters in diameter. While that dwarfs Goodyear’s current, 75-meter Wingfoot
One, it’s still only half the length of the Hindenburg. LTA expects Pathfinder
1 to carry approximately 4 tonnes of cargo, in addition to its crew, water
ballast, and fuel. The airship will have a top speed of 65 knots, or about 120
kilometers per hour—on par with the Hindenburg—with a sustained cruise speed of
35 to 40 knots (65 to 75 km/h)."
Via Esther Schindler.
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*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
