Posted on 08/20/2019 8:17:19 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The age of huge, ocean-crossing zeppelins came to an end in 1937, when the Hindenburg — the largest craft of its type ever built — erupted in flames while landing in New Jersey. Dozens died.
Now, more than 80 years later, the giant airships may be poised for a comeback — not for passenger service, but as an environmentally friendly means of delivering goods around the globe.
As proposed in a recent scientific paper, the new airships would be 10 times bigger than the 800-foot Hindenburg — more than five times as long as the Empire State Building is tall — and soar high in the atmosphere. They’d do the work of traditional oceangoing cargo ships but would take less time and generate only a fraction of the pollution.
“We are trying to reduce as much as possible emissions of carbon dioxide because of global warming,” said Julian Hunt, a postdoctoral fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria, and the paper’s lead author.
To minimize the risks associated with hydrogen, Hunt envisions getting rid of the crew. The airships would operate autonomously — and would be loaded and unloaded by robots.
“The idea would be that the whole process would be automated so that in case you have an accident, no one will be injured — only the equipment and the cargo,” Hunt said, adding that some of the hydrogen in an airship could be used to power an on-board fuel cell that would spin the craft's propellers.
As an additional bonus, Hunt said, the fuel cell would generate as a byproduct water that could be released as the craft passed over regions hit by drought.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Talk about stupid.
This concept seems to rise up every 10 years or so. Then it seems to sink like a lead balloon.
The German’s were the big zeppliners and we would not give them helium.
Stopped reading right there.
The idea of “bringing back” dirigibles has been going on again and again.
If they can make it feasible, so be it. Lord knows we’ve had gigantic wind turbines and solar panel fields pushed on us despite little evidence of feasibility. This is no more ridiculous than these ideas.
I have to ask, though - “risks of hydrogen” - well, frankly, I don’t want too many cargo holds going down, either. It’s not just about human safety.
Why did they not mention helium? That is what doomed (in a way) the Hindenburg - US would not sell He to Germany, so they had to use H.
This doesn't address the possibility of a 1.5 mile long aircraft falling out of the sky. What if it fell on a residential area? Think of the children!
Will the new Zeppelins be made out of lead?
I don’t know.
99 Luftballons sounds a lot more Earth Friendly to me!
Hunt envisions getting rid of the crew. They will be jettisoned over the ocean to feed the algae. But for safety, only those with information on the Clintons will be used.
(sarc) I don’t think an 8000 foot long airship, full of cargo, would cause too much damage when it hits the ground!(/sarc)
The Hydrogen was big factor of course, but the skin was like flash paper. That was what the flames were, hydrogen flames are pretty much invisible in daylight.
That puppy was doomed from the beginning.
Has anyone bothered figuring out what type of cargo can be airlifted over an ocean if it is 5x the size of the Hindenburg? I would think something that large would be way too heavy with pretty much any full load of anything.
So if there’s an accident nobody will get hurt, just the cargo will be destroyed? Nobody could possibly get hurt on the surface of Earth by falling objects?
Of course.
Everyone knows that lighter than vacuum gas is highly radioactive.
A terrorist with a flaming arrow could pretty much bring it down. How hard could it be?
And one good storm to rule them all.
been hearing about this for decades...
Loaded with cargo containers...
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