Posted on 11/27/2023 1:21:51 PM PST by DFG
The world's largest airship has been unveiled, as the enormous Pathfinder 1 begins its first round of flight tests.
Measuring 400 ft (121.9 metres) in length, this gargantuan blimp is nearly twice the length of a Boeing 747-8 quadjet, the world's longest aircraft.
The blimp uses approximately one million cubic feet of helium and 12 electric motors to achieve vertical take-off and speeds of up to 75mph (120km/h).
The vast airship has been created by LTA Research, a company backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Its creators say that craft like this could one day reduce the carbon footprint of air travel and shipping.
The Pathfinder 1 is the largest aircraft produced since the 800ft (245 metre) Hindenburg was went up in flames in 1937.
It is as large as three Boeing 737s and even dwarfs the Statolaunch plane used to carry rockets into orbit.
While the Hindenburg was filled with extremely flammable hydrogen, the Pathfinder 1 uses safe, non-reactive Helium stored in 13 airbags.
With the price of helium fluctuating amid shortages, filling the Pathfinder 1 could cost between $250,000 (£197,877) and $1 million (£791,500).
Each of the 13 rip-stop nylon bags is held in place by a skeleton of 10,000 carbon fibre-reinforced poles and 3,000 titanium hubs.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
75 MPH is about as fast as a train. Slower than most euro or Asian trains.
I did not see how much it could left? I guess I am not seeing a real use here.
Speeds up to 75 mph? And this is supposed to replace normal flying?
Several years ago I had speculated that some billionaire/s might build such a thing. They could possibly live there and claim to be beyond any tax jurisdiction.
Come and go via helicopter. Or jetpack.
Interesting. Plus no real estate tax.
No grass to mow.
They’ve read too many steampunk novels.
They are cool. But largely useless.
Looks like an incredible waste of money.
Its slow, it won’t carry much weight, it needs increasingly expensive helium, and its a massive target so can’t be used in war.
But what do I know...
The Hindenburg was twice the length at 804 feet long.
They need to up their game. The Hindenberg was 804 feet long.
If there’s no chance of it sparking and burning then I don’t see the point. Like a hot air baloon with a motor & steering.
The way the Germans were using hydrogen for the Hindenburg was totally safe. The Hindenburg was more intelligent than this thing other than for the aluminum oxide exterior paint.
Fill it full of hydrogen and load up with the woke, libs, leftists, AINOs and various other assorted sundry demons. Then, set sail for......the sun.
With the upcoming 15-minute cities, 75 MPH will seem a LOT faster than 0 MPH.
Baby got back!
Many years ago, a California airship company had the brilliant idea of a wildfire-fighting airship. Typically, wildfire fighting aircraft are helicopters and fixed wing, that make one big drop of water on the fire. This would not replace them but complement them.
Its advantages included using a steady, hard rain on a location, which is more effective than a single big drop of water. It could detect heat columns and use a descending wire guided fire hose to offset from a fire. Under some circumstances it could use high expansion, fire retardant foam to protect critical sites.
It would carry a very large volume of water, and could refill from a lake or open water tank quickly by setting down on it. It could rotate its engines for VTOL, and would use compressors to store its helium with light load.
Tragically, the company went out of business just before they built a prototype. With a small fleet of such airships, it would save the western states billions of dollars every year, as well as many lives.
Oh! The humanity!
How many people can it carry?
Aside from tourist trips or some kind of amusement I don’t see this being much use for transport. These require perfect weather and flat terrain.
A terrorists wet dream.
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