#todayinsight: Rising Again: The Future of Airships in Transport and Industry

The airships were invented more than 250 years ago, however, in the 20th century the rise of air crafts made airships look unsafe and slow. But the airships may come into use by the industry and transportation in the coming years. They may be used to transport big consignments such as giant turbine blades.  But there are still some problems to be tackled. 

The requirement for variable buoyancy—the capacity to adjust for weight variations during load pickup and dropoff—has proven to be the main obstacle thus far. It is not a good idea to just release the “lifting gas,” which is lighter than air, from the sacs that contain it. It is logistically challenging and costly to maintain supplies wherever deliveries are made (the most widely utilized lifting gas, helium, currently costs around $35 per cubic meter, the quantity needed to lift a single kilogram).

However, a few companies now claim to have developed workable substitute buoyancy-adjusting systems. Airships that can transport everything from fallen trees to prefabricated houses might soon be flying if their ideas work out.

Taking up and releasing ballast is a simple method of controlling buoyancy. Water is easy to manage, but enormous quantities of sand or soil cannot be removed or disposed of at will. In order to accommodate up to 60 tonnes of water ballast, Flying Whales, a business located close to Paris, has created a 200-meter-long “flying crane” helium airship named LCA60T. The company’s boss, Sébastien Bougon, believes it would be useful for moving powerline towers and rocket components, moving logs from forests to sawmills, and transporting big machinery, such as turbine blades and prefabricated hospitals, to far-off places. By early 2028, he hopes to have the first airship completed and certified with the assistance of aerospace partners Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, and Thales.

Compressing the helium in an airship is another method of reversibly altering its buoyancy. Heavy air from outside can then be drawn in (and pressurized) to fill the newly created area. Air Liquide, a French gas manufacturer and one of its financial sponsors, is helping Flying Whales transition from water ballast to compression equipment.

Such a compression system has already been created by Aeros, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of surveillance and advertising airships. It intends to run floating warehouses that will act as command centers for drone fleets that deliver e-commerce products to local residences and commercial establishments. By early 2025, a modified 40E Sky Dragon airship with a one-ton payload will start a “commercial demonstration” over Los Angeles County, according to the company’s CEO, Igor Pasternak.

Source: economist