• The future of cargo transport has arrived: airships!
    47 replies, posted
[url]http://news.yahoo.com/high-tech-cargo-airship-being-built-california-100513071--finance.html[/url] Edit: How is this late?
[QUOTE=OrionChronicles;39415485]How is this late?[/QUOTE] Was posted a few weeks back, I'm afraid. Also, with the way helium stores are going, it's going to be a bitch to keep one of them fuelled.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;39415682]Was posted a few weeks back, I'm afraid. Also, with the way helium stores are going, it's going to be a bitch to keep one of them fuelled.[/QUOTE] They could just use hydrogen instead.
[QUOTE=Kljunas;39415768]They could just use hydrogen instead.[/QUOTE] or vacuum
[img]http://www.cybergooch.com/images/artwork/kirov01.jpg[/img] Soon
[QUOTE=Kljunas;39415768]They could just use hydrogen instead.[/QUOTE] Due to Hindenburg hydrogen has a bad rap, no one would want use a hydrogen-filled airship.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;39415682]Was posted a few weeks back, I'm afraid. Also, with the way helium stores are going, it's going to be a bitch to keep one of them fuelled.[/QUOTE] They should send a bunch of planes to the upper atmosphere with nets so they can catch all the helium that has floated up there.
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;39415806]Due to Hindenburg hydrogen has a bad rap, no one would want use a hydrogen-filled airship.[/QUOTE] Hydrogen can be reasonably safe. The Hindenburg was supposed to be run on helium, but the war saw an embargo placed that stopped the flow of Helium to the region.
Yeah, hydrogen is pretty safe if looked after properly. Issue is the public reaction means it would fail horribly.
[QUOTE=GunFox;39415885]Hydrogen can be reasonably safe. The Hindenburg was supposed to be run on helium, but the war saw an embargo placed that stopped the flow of Helium to the region.[/QUOTE] plus hydrogen is also buttloads cheaper and easier to procure
[QUOTE=Kljunas;39415768]They could just use hydrogen instead.[/QUOTE] Surprised someone hasn't posted the hindenburg yet.
[QUOTE=squids_eye;39415808]They should send a bunch of planes to the upper atmosphere with nets so they can catch all the helium that has floated up there.[/QUOTE] Helium doesn't float on top of our athmosphere. It actually diffuses into space, where it is lost forever for us. This is why scientists are a bit (read: massively) worried right now: people senselessly use helium for stupid shit like helium balloons, where it's lost forever. In the meantime, scientists are struggling to get enough helium for their experiments, where it is needed as a coolant. Helium is a depleting ressource on our planet, soon there won't be any helium left anymore. I'm not even kidding, helium prices are going through the roof.
[QUOTE=Uber|nooB;39415946]plus hydrogen is also buttloads cheaper and easier to procure[/QUOTE] Hydrogen also provides more lift. Pure hydrogen also doesn't not burn. You could stand inside an envelope of Hydrogen gas with, I recall I think, 80% purity and strike a match. The match would die almost instantly, because there wouldn't be enough Oxygen to feed flames. This is a great party trick if for some reason you have a room full of hydrogen. That said, it's more widely (and occasionally demonstrably) theorised that two things lead to the Hindenburg Disaster; 1) Low Concentration Hydrogen caused by lax German standards. (British Hydrogen standards for Airships required a higher purity concentration than German standards.) 2) A highly flammable airframe and jacket that was coated with easily ignited aluminum powder (as an anti-corrosion agent if I recall correctly.) Obviously this new breed of Airship would hopefully be immune to this type of failure.
I'd love to see airships flying around all over the place. It would just be awesome.
[QUOTE=GunFox;39415885]Hydrogen can be reasonably safe. The Hindenburg was supposed to be run on helium, but the war saw an embargo placed that stopped the flow of Helium to the region.[/QUOTE] I'm sorry, what war? The Hindenburg disaster took place in 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. The usage of Hydrogen was because helium was extremely rare and expensive to produce at the time and the USA, the largest producer of helium, had a blanket ban on its export. The decline of the airship was basically because of a knee-jerk public reaction to events like the burning of LZ-129 and the wreck of the USS Akron. People tend to forget that LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin flew over 500 flights totaling over a million miles and circumnavigated the globe filled with hydrogen without ever having a single incident. Airships are just as safe as any other method of travel when proper procedures are followed, and with today's technology they would be safer than ever. No one wants to risk the venture capital required to build a rigid airship anymore though.
[QUOTE=Crazy Ivan;39416357]1) Low Concentration Hydrogen caused by lax German standards. (British Hydrogen standards for Airships required a higher purity concentration than German standards.) 2) A highly flammable airframe and jacket that was coated with easily ignited aluminum powder (as an anti-corrosion agent if I recall correctly.)[/QUOTE] Mythbusters recreated these conditions and the scale model burn was pretty accurate. Unfortunately, the stigma of the Hindenburg will likely knock people into unnecessary fear of using new, perfectly safe ones [quote]that Graf Zeppelin I flew[/quote] read that like [i]you[/i] flew that graf zep, not "that graf zep [1]", whoops
[QUOTE=daijitsu;39416541]read that like [i]you[/i] flew that graf zep, not "that graf zep [1]", whoops[/QUOTE] You're right, that does look a bit odd. Let me clarify it.
[QUOTE=DrLuckyLuke;39415971]Helium doesn't float on top of our athmosphere. It actually diffuses into space, where it is lost forever for us. This is why scientists are a bit (read: massively) worried right now: people senselessly use helium for stupid shit like helium balloons, where it's lost forever. In the meantime, scientists are struggling to get enough helium for their experiments, where it is needed as a coolant. Helium is a depleting ressource on our planet, soon there won't be any helium left anymore. I'm not even kidding, helium prices are going through the roof.[/QUOTE] So instead of investing in Silver, should I invest by purchasing canisters of Helium and storing them instead? I just imagined making a deal down a dank alley with a bunch of shady looking scientists giving me a briefcase full of cash, and one of them huffing from the cannister then in a squeaky voice going. "[I]It's good stuff[/I]."
[QUOTE=DrLuckyLuke;39415971]Helium doesn't float on top of our athmosphere. It actually diffuses into space, where it is lost forever for us. This is why scientists are a bit (read: massively) worried right now: people senselessly use helium for stupid shit like helium balloons, where it's lost forever. In the meantime, scientists are struggling to get enough helium for their experiments, where it is needed as a coolant. Helium is a depleting ressource on our planet, soon there won't be any helium left anymore. I'm not even kidding, helium prices are going through the roof.[/QUOTE] Well there is an obvious solution to that. Give the boys in the ISS a couple of buckets or something and they can catch it as it comes up.
Air Somalian Buccaneers!
Oh my god I'm now imagining a bunch of somalians with AKs and RPGs in a stripy multi-coloured hot-air balloon raiding an airship :v: EDIT: [URL="http://filesmelt.com/"][IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/balloon.jpg[/IMG][/URL] STOP RIGHT THERE WESTERN PIGS SURRENDER OR DIE
[QUOTE=Terminutter;39415682]Was posted a few weeks back, I'm afraid. Also, with the way helium stores are going, it's going to be a bitch to keep one of them fuelled.[/QUOTE]Best we don't use helium for something like this anyways. Should reserve it for more important things if anything.
Are there no other non-explosive lighter than air gases that can be used?
Don't fusion reactors make helium? I don't know much about it but it would be pretty great to have a source like that.
Yay another vehicle that uses non-renewable resources.
[QUOTE=SamPerson123;39424940]Don't fusion reactors make helium? I don't know much about it but it would be pretty great to have a source like that.[/QUOTE] Hydrogen atoms are fused to create Helium.
[QUOTE=SamPerson123;39424940]Don't fusion reactors make helium? I don't know much about it but it would be pretty great to have a source like that.[/QUOTE] Even if all our energy was made through fusion, the amount of helium produced would not be nearly enough to keep up with demand.
[QUOTE=99% More Fail;39420334]Oh my god I'm now imagining a bunch of somalians with AKs and RPGs in a stripy multi-coloured hot-air balloon raiding an airship :v: EDIT: [URL="http://filesmelt.com/"][IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/balloon.jpg[/IMG][/URL] STOP RIGHT THERE WESTERN PIGS SURRENDER OR DIE[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPH1OoTobtk[/media]
Isn't it kind of a bad idea to have this for combat/army operations, since you'll probably need a lot of repairs whenever possible since any bullet could get through it? Also it's funny how they talk a lot about it being a VTOL when any blimp or air baloon is that anyway. I still like that idea someone had of using UAVs for fast deliveries and stuff, from specific applications like flying organs to transplant accross the country to normal deliveries. Like, a goddamn Predator dropping off your Newegg order, or dropping off a heart to transplant, that came from half a country away and wouldn't have made it in time otherwise.
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