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The trouble with zeppelins is that unloading is difficult. Every lb of weight removed from the Zeppelin is another lb of lift that has to be offset. So you have
by ahelwer 6y ago
The trouble with zeppelins is that unloading is difficult. Every lb of weight removed from the Zeppelin is another lb of lift that has to be offset. So you have to do things like pump water into the zeppelin as people or cargo disembark. Ships also face this problem to an extent (unloaded ships are unstable) but they are sitting inside a functionally infinite pool of water they can pump in & out.
Zeppelins are tres tres romantique, though.
- philwelch 6y agoI thought you just tied the zeppelin down. Couldn’t you reduce the amount of helium in them?
- ahelwer 6y agoPumping helium in & out of a zeppelin would be even more complicated than pumping water.
- philwelch 6y agoOr you could load a heavier material for ballast, and gradually transform it into a lead zeppelin. But seriously, why can’t you just tie the zeppelin down? Is there not any sort of cable material with enough tensile strength?
- ahelwer 5y agoHmmm, running some rough calculations the passenger load probably wouldn't exceed about 50 tons for 500 people. Which is very doable to do with a tether. So maybe you're right! Solar-powered passenger airships could be the future. It's cargo airships I'm thinking of that really have these drawbacks.
- philwelch 5y agoAnd for a cargo zeppelin, swapping out full shipping containers for weighted ballast shipping containers seems pretty easy. Though I seriously doubt cargo zeppelins make any sense at all.