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I've talked with airship people about the helium question. Basically, hydrogen is better. Hydrogen has an image problem because of the Hindenburg, but there ar

I've talked with airship people about the helium question. Basically, hydrogen is better. Hydrogen has an image problem because of the Hindenburg, but there are compelling reasons why nothing of the sort would happen again. The idea is to regain airship capacity using helium, while it's still cheaply available from a couple natural gas wells, and switch to the better lifting gas in a friendlier political climate.

noja 4y ago
> but there are compelling reasons why nothing of the sort would happen again. What are these reasons?
- Shalomboy 4y ago
  So it's a lot to get into, but these fellas put together a wonderful break-down of why blimps are worth trying again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chlF5oubFHU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chlF5oubFHU
  - noja 4y ago
    but the hydrogen part?
  - froh 4y ago
    That's three hours of stuff Tl;dw anyone?
    - bombcar 4y ago
      We can make less-flammible gas bags, and hydrogen can be made to vent upwards in case of fire. The weather issues are somewhat more handleable but there’s still maneuvering issues. Planes can outrun storms, airships light have a time doing so.
      - froh 4y ago
        You did the work of an angel. Thank you!!
  - q_andrew 4y ago
    I love their description of the first airship, a rich weirdo's toxic balloon that is destroyed immediately upon landing by a mob of confused peasants.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
NickRandom 4y ago
The other advantage of using hydrogen is (in an emergency fuel situation) being able to slowly 'rob' the ballast ballon for fuel for use in either the motive engines or an ICE genny if the solar setup failed for some reason or you needed 'hyper-drive tubo-boost' levels of power
MrFantastic 4y ago
The irony is that 1/3 of the passengers walked away from the Hindenburg crash vs 100% casualty plane. The bad optics in an era where there was little video competition really set dirigibles behind for a century. Hydrogen should be the Lighter than Air gas choice for airships.

noja 4y ago

> but there are compelling reasons why nothing of the sort would happen again. What are these reasons?

Shalomboy 4y ago
So it's a lot to get into, but these fellas put together a wonderful break-down of why blimps are worth trying again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chlF5oubFHU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chlF5oubFHU
- noja 4y ago
  but the hydrogen part?
- froh 4y ago
  That's three hours of stuff Tl;dw anyone?
  - bombcar 4y ago
    We can make less-flammible gas bags, and hydrogen can be made to vent upwards in case of fire. The weather issues are somewhat more handleable but there’s still maneuvering issues. Planes can outrun storms, airships light have a time doing so.
    - froh 4y ago
      You did the work of an angel. Thank you!!
- q_andrew 4y ago
  I love their description of the first airship, a rich weirdo's toxic balloon that is destroyed immediately upon landing by a mob of confused peasants.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

NickRandom 4y ago

The other advantage of using hydrogen is (in an emergency fuel situation) being able to slowly 'rob' the ballast ballon for fuel for use in either the motive engines or an ICE genny if the solar setup failed for some reason or you needed 'hyper-drive tubo-boost' levels of power

MrFantastic 4y ago

The irony is that 1/3 of the passengers walked away from the Hindenburg crash vs 100% casualty plane. The bad optics in an era where there was little video competition really set dirigibles behind for a century. Hydrogen should be the Lighter than Air gas choice for airships.