Posted on 11/27/2023 1:21:51 PM PST by DFG
Not impressed. The Hindenburg was 800’ long.
All kidding aside. The beauty of a blimp is the loiter time and the fuel economy. I could imagine is being used as high observation platform as well as performing heavy lifts over long distances.
I used to read the pulp fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Warlord of Mars books and was always captivated by airships.
I never realized that about the Hindenberg, but it's absolutely true. I've used nitrate "dope" to shrink the covering on model airplanes since the 1950s. The only thing that burns faster is guncotton.
While the maximum airspeed might be 75 miles an hour with no wind there are differing air currents at different altitudes that can increase the speed quite a bit.
With the price of helium fluctuating amid shortages, filling the Pathfinder 1 could cost between $250,000 (£197,877) and $1 million (£791,500).
They could easily cut the cost of flying this thing by mixing hydrogen with the helium to the point of keeping the mix below the flammability limit.
That would be below 4% but 3% of $1 million dollars is a lot of money (to me).
On another note the shortage of helium is Biden’s fault.
The only source of helium on Earth is natural gas wells.
Once again the Democrat war on carbon fuels is harming the economy.
Electric motors and helium?
What could go wrong...
Whoever designed that blimp had an ass fetish.
“Electric motors and helium? What could go wrong?”
Helium isn’t flammable. Hydrogen is.
L
OK ... what sort of “go wrong” things do you imagine might be associated with electric motors and helium?
Hello?
There was a helium shortage not long ago.
Now what.
My spidey senses said no very fast. Not a flight I’d like to be on.
In my mind I can’t chake the first impression I got of the Titan submersible.
No. It’s designed for flying to places that don’t have functional air ports, like after storms. It will be used to carry aid supplies.
Looks like a dirigible,not a blimp.
What could go wrong? The bags could break and everyone would talk funny.
Kinda what I was thinking
Everyone else wanted to engage in some “noble” discussion...
Don’t we already have very capable helicopters for that?
That’s why i was wondering about lift capacity.
Say for example it could lift what a C5 lifts. That could come in handy in bringing supplies to areas without access to long runways.
It would just take forever to get there. I guess if you land it near a port and lift a couple hundred miles inland, that would work.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-uss-macon/
They might have some use as a surveying platform, an aerial camera platform for public events, a large floating billboard, and certain freight applications across terrain unsuitable for oversize vehicles (large size and low weight cargo such as overland deliveries of windmill equipment), but the costs are still high for such airships to be feasible.
That’s one big balloon.
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