Jenny Soffel ( reports, “Commercial development of the Arctic’s natural resources has so far been near to impossible, but transportation throughout the inhospitable region may soon be revolutionized. Anyone who has ever watched History Channel’s “Ice Road Truckers” knows that many remote Alaskan locations are only accessible during winter when lakes freeze over creating so-called ice roads. That opens up enormous opportunities for air delivery of cargo to and from remote locations. The greatest benefit provided by airships like the Aeroscraft is that they don’t require a runway in order to pick up and deliver cargo. Oh it’ll get you there, it’s just going to take a while.” Additionally, the Aeroscraft will be equipped with a trio of engines - one on each side and a third on the belly - and six turbofan engines to provide thrust and augment the COSH’s lift, as well as aerodynamic tail-fin rudders and stumpy wing control surfaces, for high speed travel - that is, above 20 mph. This allows the Aeroscraft to easily land and take on cargo or passengers without having to be tied down or add external ballast. When the pilot wants to descend, the process is reversed. This increases the amount of lift the helium generates, reduces the craft’s static heaviness, and allows it to rise. When the pilot wants to increase altitude, non-flammable helium is released from the tanks through a series of pipes and control valves, into internal gas-bladders called helium pressure envelopes (HPEs). The Aeroscraft is equipped with a series of pressurized helium tanks. The system actually works quite similarly to how submarines use compressed air to float. “Unlike blimps that maintain a constant buoyancy and rely on ballast and fans to adjust their altitude, the Aeroscraft will employ a unique bladder system that can alter the craft’s static heaviness (relative to air) at will, dubbed COSH (Control of Static Heaviness). … The future of lighter-than-air travel looks to be imminently upon us.” He continues: The project has received over $35 million in R&D funds and the government has even lent the company a couple of NASA boffins to help develop the aerodynamics and control systems. You can watch it lift off in this short video clip.Īndrew Tarantola ( reports, “The Aeroscraft has been under development by Aeros Corp, the world’s largest airship and blimp maker, since 1996. The company’s “ Aeroscraft is a fixed-wing, rigid-structure vehicle that’s designed to carry up to 250 tons of cargo.” The prototype for the Aeroscraft, the Dragon Dreams, took its maiden flight late last year. The most important remaining barrier to a cargo airship industry is the lack of business confidence.” Josh Bearman reports, “Northrop Grumman, Lockheed and other major aviation companies, alongside such smaller entrepreneurs as Cargolifter and Aeros have all, at various times, participated in the race to build a commercially viable airship.” Īmong the companies competing to build the first viable cargo airship, Aeros is probably the firm that is furthest along. All these airships were inflatables, or ‘blimps.’ There is now a worldwide competition to develop cargo airships. We’re finding people are coming to us with more and more ideas.” Daniels foresees airships being used for “humanitarian missions, academic research, and tourism in remote locations such as the Amazon rain forest.” McFarland notes that Barry Prentice, a professor at the University of Manitoba published a study in which he declared, “A decade ago, the only commercial market for airships was advertising and carrying TV cameras at a football game. A spokesperson for Hybrid Air Vehicles, Chris Daniels, told McFarland, “The limit is only people’s imagination. Matt McFarland ( reports that a company named Hybrid Air Vehicles is building “a massive airship with an uncertain but intriguing future” called the Airlander. None of those airships, however, are used to move passengers or goods. Those blimps have now been joined by a plethora of competitors. Airships made a small comeback when Goodyear started broadcasting sporting and entertainment events from its famous blimps. The age of airships came to a sudden and sad ending when the Hindenburg exploded and crashed as it was attempting to land at Lakehurst, NJ.
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