Massive Airship Off to a Flying Start

Greetings, ATS!

From Discovery News:

Montabello, Calif.-based Aeros is working on a rigid airship that can fly like a plane and float like a balloon. If realized, the 500-foot-long Aeroscraft would greatly alter the way cargo is shipped. The craft is designed to take off vertically and cruise at up to 130 miles an hour at an altitude of 12,000 feet. It will be able to travel thousands of miles on a single tank of fuel, carrying 66 tons of cargo -- that's three times the capacity of a C-130 and half that of the C-5, the largest military aircraft flown by the United States. "This vehicle doesn't need infrastructure," Munir Tojo-Verge, the flight control systems engineer at Aeros, told Discovery News. "It could even land on water."

After reading the article, sounds like the airship is more for transporting cargo than people. One thing I found interesting was that the cost was comparable to that of a helicopter. Interesting stuff.

Can you imagine seeing one of these behemoths? Probably would show up here, via youtube, on the aliens and ufo forum.

Well we need to find a way to stop relying on massive ocean bearing vessels, their under hull Radar's are destroying the life of the ocean, never mind the pollution they kick out into the Water.

reply to post by smyleegrl

That is pretty friggin cool.
I always thought they should have never shelved blimp/zeppelin technology.
Makes ya wonder if they can carry all that cargo if they wont be turned into flying aircraft (possibly drone) carriers..
Remember these???
LINK

Maybe i just play too much Crimson Skies.

Z32Driver

Well the article seemed pretty negative about the ability of this new airship to be competitive in cargo transport.

It can't move perishable items quick enough and can't move enough non-perishable items as cost efficiently as a ship or train.

It could do ok in disasters but you apparently need fleets of them to get enough supplies in.

I guess we will see if they can actually find a useful role somewhere.

Good find though.

It could actually replace semi trucks. I wonder how it handles in high winds though.

I remember a story about a heavy lift airship for the US army.
The idea was to airlift whole battle groups in one go.
The airship would be escourted by Apaches.

reply to post by jimmiec


Yea, I don't think so.

Try backing a blimp like this into a back of Wal-mart to unload their cargo.

Probably not going to happen.

Originally posted by Spookycolt
Well the article seemed pretty negative about the ability of this new airship to be competitive in cargo transport.

It can't move perishable items quick enough and can't move enough non-perishable items as cost efficiently as a ship or train.

It could do ok in disasters but you apparently need fleets of them to get enough supplies in.

I guess we will see if they can actually find a useful role somewhere.

Good find though.

I didn`t understand that part,they just need to think bigger, in theory they could make these things as big as they want so that they could carry a lot more cargo.More carbon fiber, more helium and more engines and they could make one as big as a city if they wanted to.
It sounds like it`s much safer than the old blimps and zeppelins so they could hover over a city and use a winch to lower the cargo to the ground,eliminating the need for a huge landing place.
These things have some real potential if they just think outside the box a little.

Originally posted by michael1983l
Well we need to find a way to stop relying on massive ocean bearing vessels, their under hull Radar's are destroying the life of the ocean, never mind the pollution they kick out into the Water.

I think those vessels use sonar, which is sound waves, not electromagnet pulses.

reply to post by Tardacus


Well the article didn't state why they are not being made bigger but that would solve the problem of its relatively small amount of cargo space on this version.

The article did say that in the future they may make them able to carry far more. And it does appear they are far safer than they were in the past so that problem is worked out.

I suppose if you built them at a massive scale and built distribution centers they may be be worthwhile but the investment in all that over simply using a current train seems cost prohibitive.

Originally posted by Tardacus

Originally posted by Spookycolt
Well the article seemed pretty negative about the ability of this new airship to be competitive in cargo transport.

It can't move perishable items quick enough and can't move enough non-perishable items as cost efficiently as a ship or train.

It could do ok in disasters but you apparently need fleets of them to get enough supplies in.

I guess we will see if they can actually find a useful role somewhere.

Good find though.

I didn`t understand that part,they just need to think bigger, in theory they could make these things as big as they want so that they could carry a lot more cargo.More carbon fiber, more helium and more engines and they could make one as big as a city if they wanted to.
It sounds like it`s much safer than the old blimps and zeppelins so they could hover over a city and use a winch to lower the cargo to the ground,eliminating the need for a huge landing place.
These things have some real potential if they just think outside the box a little.

Latest estimates are the world will run out of Helium by 2035, the airship builders had better get their fingers out.

reply to post by LeLeu


What you remember was actually called "Project Walrus" by DARPA and aimed on creating a heavy lift strategic air transport. The project was cancelled in 2010, however, if you look at pictures from the Walrus project, it pretty much looks like the article the OP is referring to is a mark II or even III version of the Walrus.

Few years back, Germany tried to go down the same road with the ambitious Cago Lifter project. Sadly, all that's left of it is a giant hangar that is now a theme park. If I recall it correctly, a huge problem with the Cargo Lifter was that they weren't able to stabilize it in relatively weak side winds and subsequently, failing to produce a working prototype, the company went bankrupt.

I think it's a really cool idea and I hope these guys will stick to it and we'll soon see those things roam the sky.

Originally posted by Z32Driver
reply to post by smyleegrl

 

That is pretty friggin cool.

I always thought they should have never shelved blimp/zeppelin technology.
Makes ya wonder if they can carry all that cargo if they wont be turned into flying aircraft (possibly drone) carriers..
Remember these???
LINK

Maybe i just play too much Crimson Skies.

Z32Driver

Gee, are there actually people still playing Crimson Skies? I just installed it again last night after digging up all my older games. I know its off topic so please excuse

reply to post by Spookycolt


Actually each state could have a hub to deliver to and fuel/maintain the airships.. This would eliminate long haul trucking of merchandise. It would not totally eliminate semi trucks. They would haul it from the hub to the store. That would give truck drivers more time with their families. It is a win win situation.

Truck drivers get paid by the mile I believe so I don't think they would like this at all.

That's a lot of people being put out of work for an entirely new system that in all honesty is not really needed.

reply to post by Spookycolt


True, but it would also create new jobs. Truck drivers pay would have to be restructured is all. I would think long haul truck drivers would be happy to have a life again.

reply to post by jimmiec


no the truck drivers would not be happy the would make less money if not become obsolete. The whole reason anyone gets into long haul is the good pay for being gone for long periods of time to support said family. If there only moving in one state they lose money end of story man I have plenty of family members who are truckers and if that was the plan and truckers found out the interstates would be shut down by semi and it is completely possible if they wanted to do it

reply to post by darknull


I know a few truckers. One was a long haul driver for 10 years. He came to Houston and took a job hauling rice from Houston to Louisiana. He drove it twice a day and was home every evening. He made just as much as the long haul. He was happy about it. They can only drive so many hours anyway before they have to stop to rest. That is by law.

I was watching Daily Planet the other day. They were showing an airship twice the length of a football field that is currently undergoing flight testing. That thing was awesome.
I have always wondered about the recreational uses of such a massive airship.
Can you imagine a cruise vacation over the Rockies or even across the country.
I'm sure it should not cost more than a 7 day Caribbean cruise.

The problem has always been that they are very fragile and useless in anything but perfect weather, require a lot of relatively expensive helium to get anything off the ground, and are pretty slow. Attempts at putting helicopters/blades on them to provide extra lift have ended in catastrophic failure.