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How plausible is this Soviet nuclear-powered airship?
- ohiovr 5y agoReminds me of scenes in the new dune movie with spice harvesters that look like they weigh hundreds of tons being lifted with lifting gas balloons. Bunch of huey is what it is.
- phillipseamore 5y agoThe Hindenburg had Daimler-Benz DB 602 engines, each with a dry weight of 1,976 kg (total 7,904 kg). With these beefy engines the ship consumed from 130-180kg of diesel pr. hour so they must have had considerable diesel tanks as well. As you burn fuel the ship becomes lighter so the Hindenburg vented about 20% of it's hydrogen to maintain equilibrium in a North-Atlantic crossing. That's about 16,400 kg of hydrogen released in an average flight. I'd guess the engines of the Hindenburg were probably providing much more power than needed. So a nuclear powered airship might be very much possible, especially since it does not require venting (or gas re-fueling) as it's weight does not change.