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Exactly our first inspections are in remote areas so it should be less of a problem. But, even with those small leaks it's not that much of a problem because th

Exactly our first inspections are in remote areas so it should be less of a problem. But, even with those small leaks it's not that much of a problem because the airship itself does not empty that fast! Concerning your question on range: We will easily fly an entire day without refueling (and more), basically an entire day means 200 miles.

BWStearns 3y ago
Would a bullet not be hot enough to ignite the hydrogen? I know the Goodyear blimp takes fire regularly when moving between cities. Like you said the small leaks aren’t a big deal but bullets are hot.
- ThomasLaporte 3y ago
  Actually to create a fire you need the 3 things: Fuel: in our case H2 Heat: in our case hot bullet Oxidizer: in our case there will be only H2 is the enveloppe (O2 won't have the time to enter the envelope along with the bullet). So a fire should not start. We are not at that stage yet, but we can't wait to test it!
  - BWStearns 3y ago
    Let me know if you want to come to Florida and test it haha. It’d be fun to do like up a couple test envelopes and see what happens with a few different rounds.
- nradov 3y ago
  Regular rifle bullets are not nearly hot enough to ignite gaseous hydrogen. Only something like tracer or incendiary ammunition would be a concern for fire.
  - standingconcern 3y ago
    A broken light bulb or a spark on the ceiling are enough to ignite Hydrogen; and that is why facilities that process it must have ventilation. "A covered Hydrogen filling station must have electricity for ventilation." Agree or disagree? And what about microwave energy beaming? Can microwave wireless energy transfer cause a hole in an airship? What about freak lightning storms while inspecting high energy power lines in a balloon filled with flammable and explosive gas? It looks like it may be possible to store Hydrogen in Sodium Bicarbonate. There are aerospace-grade hydrogen tanks that aren't supposed to explode in a crash landing, but what about midair collision and war? There are people working on drones that hover in midair (that do not add flight and ground risk) that efficiently use the air currents too. I'm afraid [this airship firm] hasn't done a sufficient level of testing to determine how easily the product can become a war liability, and I don't think FAA should clear Hydrogen airships for energy infrastructure inspection.
    - standingconcern 3y ago
      Could an airship or similar (maybe over an ocean) capture atmospheric helium? There is a shortage of Helium (and 3He and 4He for fusion), which the sun makes out of Hydrogen with heat and radiation from fusion and fission.
      - nradov 3y ago
        There is no significant amount of atmospheric helium. It's not something that can captured. Our helium supplies come from natural gas wells. In some areas the natural gas contains enough helium to be worth separating and storing.
      - burnished 3y ago
        Basically no. Its very small, not very reactive, and I guess also has a tendency to escape the atmosphere and trail off into the void.
    - jodrellblank 3y ago
      They are in France so the FAA doesn’t apply, but you think the FAA shouldn’t approve hydrogen airships because in the event of war, attackers will not go for cities or nuclear power plants or military bases or national scale gas storage or highway bridges but will instead target hydrogen lifted blimps in remote areas? If a small drone explodes and takes down an electricity pylon in nowheresville in the middle of a war, I reckon most people would be very grateful that’s all that happened and willing to fund drones just to draw fire from more important areas and nothing else.
    - burnished 3y ago
      Sparks such as from damaged electronics are hot by the way, hence their ability to ignite flammable gases (unlike, evidently, bullets). Why are you worried about microwaves, or a flaming gas bag during a war? Rockets seem to supersede those concerns entirely. Or the much more valuable infrastructure targets that would also be vulnerable if a craft like this was vulnerable. Re freak storm; then it catches fire, like many other things that get struck by lightning.
  - aziaziazi 3y ago
    I know a bunch of folks that will take that as a challenge…

BWStearns 3y ago

Would a bullet not be hot enough to ignite the hydrogen? I know the Goodyear blimp takes fire regularly when moving between cities. Like you said the small leaks aren’t a big deal but bullets are hot.

ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Actually to create a fire you need the 3 things: Fuel: in our case H2 Heat: in our case hot bullet Oxidizer: in our case there will be only H2 is the enveloppe (O2 won't have the time to enter the envelope along with the bullet). So a fire should not start. We are not at that stage yet, but we can't wait to test it!
- BWStearns 3y ago
  Let me know if you want to come to Florida and test it haha. It’d be fun to do like up a couple test envelopes and see what happens with a few different rounds.
nradov 3y ago
Regular rifle bullets are not nearly hot enough to ignite gaseous hydrogen. Only something like tracer or incendiary ammunition would be a concern for fire.
- standingconcern 3y ago
  A broken light bulb or a spark on the ceiling are enough to ignite Hydrogen; and that is why facilities that process it must have ventilation. "A covered Hydrogen filling station must have electricity for ventilation." Agree or disagree? And what about microwave energy beaming? Can microwave wireless energy transfer cause a hole in an airship? What about freak lightning storms while inspecting high energy power lines in a balloon filled with flammable and explosive gas? It looks like it may be possible to store Hydrogen in Sodium Bicarbonate. There are aerospace-grade hydrogen tanks that aren't supposed to explode in a crash landing, but what about midair collision and war? There are people working on drones that hover in midair (that do not add flight and ground risk) that efficiently use the air currents too. I'm afraid [this airship firm] hasn't done a sufficient level of testing to determine how easily the product can become a war liability, and I don't think FAA should clear Hydrogen airships for energy infrastructure inspection.
  - standingconcern 3y ago
    Could an airship or similar (maybe over an ocean) capture atmospheric helium? There is a shortage of Helium (and 3He and 4He for fusion), which the sun makes out of Hydrogen with heat and radiation from fusion and fission.
    - nradov 3y ago
      There is no significant amount of atmospheric helium. It's not something that can captured. Our helium supplies come from natural gas wells. In some areas the natural gas contains enough helium to be worth separating and storing.
    - burnished 3y ago
      Basically no. Its very small, not very reactive, and I guess also has a tendency to escape the atmosphere and trail off into the void.
  - jodrellblank 3y ago
    They are in France so the FAA doesn’t apply, but you think the FAA shouldn’t approve hydrogen airships because in the event of war, attackers will not go for cities or nuclear power plants or military bases or national scale gas storage or highway bridges but will instead target hydrogen lifted blimps in remote areas? If a small drone explodes and takes down an electricity pylon in nowheresville in the middle of a war, I reckon most people would be very grateful that’s all that happened and willing to fund drones just to draw fire from more important areas and nothing else.
  - burnished 3y ago
    Sparks such as from damaged electronics are hot by the way, hence their ability to ignite flammable gases (unlike, evidently, bullets). Why are you worried about microwaves, or a flaming gas bag during a war? Rockets seem to supersede those concerns entirely. Or the much more valuable infrastructure targets that would also be vulnerable if a craft like this was vulnerable. Re freak storm; then it catches fire, like many other things that get struck by lightning.
- aziaziazi 3y ago
  I know a bunch of folks that will take that as a challenge…