Airships : Scope
A few companies have attempted to control the buoyancy of airships — a longstanding challenge that has prevented their use for cargo transportation.
- Airships are lighter-than-air, vertical-lift vehicles that achieve flight by using buoyant gasses that are less dense than surrounding air.
- There are three main types of airships: non-rigid (or blimps), semi-rigid and rigid.
- Typically, these bullet-shaped craft are filled with helium or hydrogen, and composed of three main parts: a balloon-like hull, a gondola and a propulsion system.
- Airships were the first aircraft capable of controlled powered flight and were thought to be the future of travel for some years in the early 20th century.
- Airships are lighter-than-air aircraft that are lifted by gas with a density lower than atmospheric gases. This principle also operates in helium balloons.
- Early airships used hydrogen as the lifting gas since it was cheap, easy to produce, and the lightest existing gas. But hydrogen was also extremely flammable.
- Most modern airships use helium, which is non-combustible.
- They see limited use today as advertising platforms, for aerial observation by scientists and militaries, and in the tourism industry.
- Airships are significantly less polluting than aeroplanes as they do not burn fossil fuels to achieve lift.
- They can also reach more places than ships or trucks.
