5 ms·

From the article: > LTA's goal is to build huge airships to provide humanitarian aid in places where conventional transportation can't reach, such as in the af

From the article: > LTA's goal is to build huge airships to provide humanitarian aid in places where conventional transportation can't reach, such as in the aftermath of a disaster. (...) "We believe that lighter-than-air technology has the potential to revolutionize humanitarian relief efforts with its ability to reach remote locations that have little or no infrastructure," Weston said.

SenHeng 4y ago
Sounds like they could re-use whatever they had from Google Balloons or whatever it was called.
- Jabbles 4y ago
  Maybe he influenced the decision to open source all the data? https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/30/alphabet-gives-some-loon-patents-to-softbank-open-sources-flight-data-and-makes-patent-non-assertion-pledge/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/30/alphabet-gives-some-loon-p...
Jabbles 4y ago
I don't really understand how these are meant to help - they are extremely slow and can't carry very much weight. Surely airdrops from conventional planes would be more effective even if there is no infrastructure for them to land? I'm trying to think of a scenario where this would actually be more beneficial than other means of transport.
- xcambar 4y ago
  Agreed. In the humanitarian scenario in a war zone, an airship just looks like a very big, very visible target. I don't understand this use case, except if you consider that humanitarian corridors are always respected in warfare but then it's just being naive.
  - serial_dev 4y ago
    I was thinking more along the lines of earth quakes, hurricanes, mud slide in the mountains, tsunamis. Again from article > Pathfinder 3 (...) is designed to carry about 20 tons and be able to traverse as many as 10,000 miles using electric-only, zero-emission propulsion. A quick search tells me that an Mi-26, the largest cargo helicopter can carry approximately the same weight.
    - Jabbles 4y ago
      But the article doesn't say how fast it can travel, which is extremely important in reaching disaster zones. Even if you're travelling from, say, Miami to Haiti is 1000km, so I guess it would take 30 hours? But providing aid to Tonga after the recent volcano seems unlikely with this airship. Sergey Brin also has a ship that provides aid: https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/sergey-brin-secret-disaster-relief-team-with-ex-us-military-516282.html https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/sergey-brin-secre... - so I don't know what advantage he sees in this airship.
wardedVibe 4y ago
Yeah, I'd take an osprey or helicopter for that use case. People w/out infrastructure usually need things fast. Or maybe https://flyzipline.com/ https://flyzipline.com/ which uses drones

SenHeng 4y ago

Sounds like they could re-use whatever they had from Google Balloons or whatever it was called.

Jabbles 4y ago
Maybe he influenced the decision to open source all the data? https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/30/alphabet-gives-some-loon-patents-to-softbank-open-sources-flight-data-and-makes-patent-non-assertion-pledge/ https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/30/alphabet-gives-some-loon-p...

Jabbles 4y ago

I don't really understand how these are meant to help - they are extremely slow and can't carry very much weight. Surely airdrops from conventional planes would be more effective even if there is no infrastructure for them to land? I'm trying to think of a scenario where this would actually be more beneficial than other means of transport.

xcambar 4y ago
Agreed. In the humanitarian scenario in a war zone, an airship just looks like a very big, very visible target. I don't understand this use case, except if you consider that humanitarian corridors are always respected in warfare but then it's just being naive.
- serial_dev 4y ago
  I was thinking more along the lines of earth quakes, hurricanes, mud slide in the mountains, tsunamis. Again from article > Pathfinder 3 (...) is designed to carry about 20 tons and be able to traverse as many as 10,000 miles using electric-only, zero-emission propulsion. A quick search tells me that an Mi-26, the largest cargo helicopter can carry approximately the same weight.
  - Jabbles 4y ago
    But the article doesn't say how fast it can travel, which is extremely important in reaching disaster zones. Even if you're travelling from, say, Miami to Haiti is 1000km, so I guess it would take 30 hours? But providing aid to Tonga after the recent volcano seems unlikely with this airship. Sergey Brin also has a ship that provides aid: https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/sergey-brin-secret-disaster-relief-team-with-ex-us-military-516282.html https://www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/sergey-brin-secre... - so I don't know what advantage he sees in this airship.

wardedVibe 4y ago

Yeah, I'd take an osprey or helicopter for that use case. People w/out infrastructure usually need things fast. Or maybe https://flyzipline.com/ https://flyzipline.com/ which uses drones