Buoyant is doing some interesting work in this space to make it practical. Basically airship drones that can deliver ~500 pounds of cargo at half the cost of planes or helicopters.
Buoyant is doing some interesting work in this space to make it practical. Basically airship drones that can deliver ~500 pounds of cargo at half the cost of planes or helicopters.
This brings closer my idea of a personal hiking drone, which can follow me for days carrying all my gear! Yeah, no need to tell me it’s physically unworkable. I know all about the crazy things...
This brings closer my idea of a personal hiking drone, which can follow me for days carrying all my gear!
Yeah, no need to tell me it’s physically unworkable. I know all about the crazy things your mind holds onto after days of a heavy pack in the mountains…
I agree with you on both counts: it seems pretty cool, but it doesn't seem very practical. I'm particularly confused by the assertion that airships would be useful for humanitarian missions. In...
I agree with you on both counts: it seems pretty cool, but it doesn't seem very practical. I'm particularly confused by the assertion that airships would be useful for humanitarian missions. In that capacity, I don't know what an airship offers that a helicopter can't do better and more cheaply.
The ability to move a hell of a lot more material. Airships can move massive amounts of supplies in comparison to something like a helicopter, or even a fleet of helicopters and can even have...
The ability to move a hell of a lot more material. Airships can move massive amounts of supplies in comparison to something like a helicopter, or even a fleet of helicopters and can even have facilities that could help (like a medical bay or kitchen or whatever) in a disaster scenario.
The bigger issues revolve around ballast (what do you do when you drop all that material and now the ship is lighter), speed, and bad weather (which also is an issue for helicopters).
They fill different roles. A Chinook can carry about 10.5 tons of cargo, some of the eventual goals with airships are targeting 160 tons. To be clear, yes I wouldn't be surprised if a fleet of...
They fill different roles. A Chinook can carry about 10.5 tons of cargo, some of the eventual goals with airships are targeting 160 tons.
To be clear, yes I wouldn't be surprised if a fleet of Chinook's just winds up more feasible, and this current airship is NOT anywhere near that goal, but that is the goal they're shooting for. If it can be reached and the problems solved it would have use.
There’s several companies that have been working on these for years, but I’ve only heard of them in the context of tourism and freight. My understanding of the drive to revisit airships is that...
There’s several companies that have been working on these for years, but I’ve only heard of them in the context of tourism and freight.
My understanding of the drive to revisit airships is that it’s the most fuel efficient way to move cargo by air. It just can’t be a particularly heavy load or need to get there quickly.
It also shouldn't be to windy, and ideally, once it drops off its cargo at the destination, an exactly equal amount of cargo should be already be waiting to be loaded.
It just can’t be a particularly heavy load or need to get there quickly.
It also shouldn't be to windy, and ideally, once it drops off its cargo at the destination, an exactly equal amount of cargo should be already be waiting to be loaded.
Could then load and unload at existing ports. There's water there since ships float better in it than they would on land. But they also already have the infrastructure to deal with the cargo. That...
Could then load and unload at existing ports.
There's water there since ships float better in it than they would on land. But they also already have the infrastructure to deal with the cargo. That at least solves the issue for coastal areas.
Capacity was my initial thought, too, but the article suggests that the maximum capacity of this airship is only 14 people. Now, that might just be the capacity of the gondola that their using...
Capacity was my initial thought, too, but the article suggests that the maximum capacity of this airship is only 14 people. Now, that might just be the capacity of the gondola that their using (because this is a test vehicle and they don't need greater capacity), or they might be planning on scaling up the capacity in future designs (there's mention of another, even larger, airship in the works), but as it stands the design does not seem like a good fit for the use that Brin is interested in.
Yeah to be clear I was talking more general airships being designed/tested, not this specific one, which is much smaller. It is still a step in that direction, and does allow constant surveillance...
Yeah to be clear I was talking more general airships being designed/tested, not this specific one, which is much smaller. It is still a step in that direction, and does allow constant surveillance over an area with things like lidar. How useful that is, well we'll see I suppose.
Life imitating fiction again...From Cory Doctorow's Walkaway (2018). At least this one is a proper utopia.
Life imitating fiction again...From Cory Doctorow's Walkaway (2018). At least this one is a proper utopia.
“But yeah, the zepps didn’t work out.” They’d made perfect sense on paper. All these time-rich, cash-poor people with friends all over the world. Zepps were cheap as hell to run, if you didn’t care where or how fast you went. There’d been hundreds of startups, talking big about climate-appropriate transport and the “new age of aviation.” Despite all that, there was the inescapable sense that they were in a gold rush, a game of musical chairs that would end with a few lucky souls sitting on enough money to stop pretending to give a shit about any kind of aviation except for the kind that came with champagne and a warm eye mask after takeoff.
Im always impressed by people with uber wealth who realize they can effect some significant positive change in the world. Sergey Brin building airships to deliver aid to hard to reach places...
Im always impressed by people with uber wealth who realize they can effect some significant positive change in the world. Sergey Brin building airships to deliver aid to hard to reach places (although Im sure there could be other money making uses), Mackenzie Scott giving away a huge portion of her half of the Amazon empire to many charities, Charles Feeney who gave away his 8 billion fortune to charities before he died. Its hard to like billionaires, but if they at least use their incredible wealth as a force for good, they earn my respect.
It'd be nice to see airships make a return, but that is speaking from a "wow it's cool" perspective. Not sure how practical they'll be.
Buoyant is doing some interesting work in this space to make it practical. Basically airship drones that can deliver ~500 pounds of cargo at half the cost of planes or helicopters.
This brings closer my idea of a personal hiking drone, which can follow me for days carrying all my gear!
Yeah, no need to tell me it’s physically unworkable. I know all about the crazy things your mind holds onto after days of a heavy pack in the mountains…
This is just asking for an era of rampant drone piracy, right?
See also, Veritasium's video from last month:
Should airships make a comeback?
I agree with you on both counts: it seems pretty cool, but it doesn't seem very practical. I'm particularly confused by the assertion that airships would be useful for humanitarian missions. In that capacity, I don't know what an airship offers that a helicopter can't do better and more cheaply.
The ability to move a hell of a lot more material. Airships can move massive amounts of supplies in comparison to something like a helicopter, or even a fleet of helicopters and can even have facilities that could help (like a medical bay or kitchen or whatever) in a disaster scenario.
The bigger issues revolve around ballast (what do you do when you drop all that material and now the ship is lighter), speed, and bad weather (which also is an issue for helicopters).
The Chinook is far more practical than an airship.
They fill different roles. A Chinook can carry about 10.5 tons of cargo, some of the eventual goals with airships are targeting 160 tons.
To be clear, yes I wouldn't be surprised if a fleet of Chinook's just winds up more feasible, and this current airship is NOT anywhere near that goal, but that is the goal they're shooting for. If it can be reached and the problems solved it would have use.
There’s several companies that have been working on these for years, but I’ve only heard of them in the context of tourism and freight.
My understanding of the drive to revisit airships is that it’s the most fuel efficient way to move cargo by air. It just can’t be a particularly heavy load or need to get there quickly.
It also shouldn't be to windy, and ideally, once it drops off its cargo at the destination, an exactly equal amount of cargo should be already be waiting to be loaded.
Water pump to a collapsible bladder in the cargo hold?
160 tons of water per ship is a lot to keep on site, and worse, to pump somewhere.
Still, that's the most realistic solution.
Could then load and unload at existing ports.
There's water there since ships float better in it than they would on land. But they also already have the infrastructure to deal with the cargo. That at least solves the issue for coastal areas.
They're efficient, they just can't be operated in any kind of weather except sunny days with no wind.
Capacity was my initial thought, too, but the article suggests that the maximum capacity of this airship is only 14 people. Now, that might just be the capacity of the gondola that their using (because this is a test vehicle and they don't need greater capacity), or they might be planning on scaling up the capacity in future designs (there's mention of another, even larger, airship in the works), but as it stands the design does not seem like a good fit for the use that Brin is interested in.
Yeah to be clear I was talking more general airships being designed/tested, not this specific one, which is much smaller. It is still a step in that direction, and does allow constant surveillance over an area with things like lidar. How useful that is, well we'll see I suppose.
Makes for good PR. It's just a waste of helium—pretty sure it's just for rich people's tourism.
Life imitating fiction again...From Cory Doctorow's Walkaway (2018). At least this one is a proper utopia.
Im always impressed by people with uber wealth who realize they can effect some significant positive change in the world. Sergey Brin building airships to deliver aid to hard to reach places (although Im sure there could be other money making uses), Mackenzie Scott giving away a huge portion of her half of the Amazon empire to many charities, Charles Feeney who gave away his 8 billion fortune to charities before he died. Its hard to like billionaires, but if they at least use their incredible wealth as a force for good, they earn my respect.