Airships could offer a much cleaner and quieter alternative for some aspects of the aviation market. In a former airship factory, a new generation are taking shape.
If the airship uses hydrogen, then you need some tanks for it anyways and those could also feed fuel cells. They are not that heavy if made from carbon fiber. Its also much easier to refill on the way on a short stop.
Also such an airship has potentially a huge surface area for solar panels. Regular silicon ones are probably too heavy, but those Perovskite cells under development can be super lightweight at still decent efficiency.
But I agree, let’s be skeptical until there is actually some real ones flying again.
Yeah, I don’t think using hydrogen lifting gas is the best idea. We have multiple burned down blimps to attest to that. Also, I kind of doubt you can store enough hydrogen at atmospheric pressure to both lift the blimp and also power it. Solar panels might work, but that’d be an engineering feat that I need to see before I believe.
If the airship uses hydrogen, then you need some tanks for it anyways and those could also feed fuel cells. They are not that heavy if made from carbon fiber. Its also much easier to refill on the way on a short stop.
Also such an airship has potentially a huge surface area for solar panels. Regular silicon ones are probably too heavy, but those Perovskite cells under development can be super lightweight at still decent efficiency.
But I agree, let’s be skeptical until there is actually some real ones flying again.
Yeah, I don’t think using hydrogen lifting gas is the best idea. We have multiple burned down blimps to attest to that. Also, I kind of doubt you can store enough hydrogen at atmospheric pressure to both lift the blimp and also power it. Solar panels might work, but that’d be an engineering feat that I need to see before I believe.