Posted on 12/15/2021 12:55:17 PM PST by Red Badger
Is it time to resurrect hydrogen airships – not to carry passengers, but as fast, cheap and convenient cargo carriers?H2 Clipper VIEW 5 IMAGES
California startup H2 Clipper wants to bring back hydrogen-filled airships, claiming they can unlock completely green intercontinental cargo operations carrying 8-10 times the payload of any cargo plane over 6,000 miles, at a quarter of the price.
The H2 Clipper would carry payloads up to and beyond 340,000 lb (150,000 kg), says the company, and would offer up to 265,000 cubic feet (7,530 cubic metres) of cargo space. It wouldn't travel as fast as a plane, cruising at about 175 mph (282 km/h), but it would move boxes some 7-10 times faster than a boat (China to the US in 36 hours, for example) and with zero emissions.
Its lift gas would be hydrogen – providing some 8 percent more lift per volume than helium at something around 1/67th the price. Its propulsion would be fully electric, running on liquid hydrogen put through a fuel cell. H2 Clipper says it'd operate efficiently for missions ranging from under 500 miles (804 km) to "well over 6,000 miles (9,656 km)." That would link any two points on the globe with a single fuel top-up. In the current renders, the company shows the top of this huge aircraft covered in photovoltaic cells, which could theoretically enable it to generate its own hydrogen, if it were to carry a water source and an electrolyzer.
With the right provisions put in place, it could take goods right from a factory to a distribution center without needing additional ground transport stages to and from airports, thanks to its vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
“HM . WOuld not Helium THAT IS ALREADY BEING USED BY BLIMPS BE A BETTER AND ALREADY AVAILABLE OPTION. Lord the stupidity.”
The Helium supply is very limited, hence it’s expensive. It also leaks through almost everything including steel.
Helium sources are running low. It may be the second most abundant element in the universe but there aren’t a lot of places to get it on Earth. At current uses it will be mostly gone in 20 years or so.
Let’s go back to sailing ships too! /s
“HM . WOuld not Helium THAT IS ALREADY BEING USED BY BLIMPS BE A BETTER AND ALREADY AVAILABLE OPTION. Lord the stupidity.”
The Helium supply is very limited, hence it’s expensive. It also leaks through almost everything including steel.
Yeah. Make sure that the robot flying it doesn’t light up...
Its propulsion would be fully electric, running on liquid hydrogen put through a fuel cell. ... enable it to generate its own hydrogen, if it were to carry a water source ...
Hydrogen airships?
Just a few problems.
1. Airships, being huge, tend to easily get blown off course in strong winds.
2. Hydrogen is explosively combustible.
3. Did I mention, hydrogen can go boom?
Thalidomide’s been back on the market for decades.
Useful in treating leprosy and some cancers.
I think the article said hydrogen was 1/67 of the price of Helium and has eight times more lift
8 percent... duh
..and German passenger airships had a perfect safety record until the Hindenburg disaster. OTOH, the Helium-filled U.S. airships Shenandoah, Akron, & Macon all crashed with much greater loss of life.
The Akron and Macon violated Hugo Eckener’s rules for airship design (namely the vertical and horizontal stabilizer design).
Somewhere Count Zeppelin is smiling.
One of the dumbest statements I've seen in a while. Why electrolyze water with its attendant losses and the fact that water is more than 32x the weight of hydrogen when the engines are electric and the photovoltaic output can just be piped to the engines???
You noticed that, too! :)
Well, that just makes a lot of water...and dead people.
Those babies use helium.
Not only winds but a cruising altitude of 10,000ft means it can’t fly above the weather.
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