This is at least a
start.
I then want to see even
these craft handling aircraft containers on established routes to show proof of
concept. Then I want to see one hundred
ton capacity craft followed by 1000 ton capacity craft as we master the
materials and scales.
With such a fleet, it
becomes possible to compete directly with major transport by using the crafts
true advantage. They can load a cargo
directly on a field in Mexico, lift off and fly directly to the distribution
facility in New York without significant vibration and load settling. The food market can become truly global and
without premium pricing.
At one hundred miles
per hour which is not entirely unreasonable, a one day trip is good for 2500
miles and if a strong tail wind is available of say sixty miles per hour, then
three to four thousand miles will become common. All this eliminates spoilage and allows ripe
fruit to be sold directly as truly ripe.
Even cooling can be internalized
by the simple expedient of choosing the proper altitude.
Goodyear To Replace Its
Blimps With Zeppelins
Rigid
airships are back, baby!
By Kelsey
D. AthertonPosted 07.23.2013
Goodyear
is about to succeed where the American military has failed.
Rigid airships, also known as zeppelins, seem perpetually stuck in the past,
associated more with the optimism of the 1920s and then the fiery doom of the Hindenburg
crash. Now, it looks like Goodyear will have their first zeppelin flying
in 2014.
The
U.S. military tried to revive zeppelins in the 2000s. Those programs (one each
for the Navy,Air
Force, and Army)
had drawn-out and frustrating development cycles, before the winding-down in
Iraq and Afghanistan made their missions less relevant. Without a mission and
with a troubled history, the airships were mothballed and abandoned.
Thanks
to Goodyear, the airship revival is no longer dead. Working with ZLT Zeppelin
Luftschifftechnik, a German Zeppelin manufacturer, Goodyear's new airships will
carry more and maneuver better than their non-rigid predecessors. The zeppelins
will be 55 feet longer than the old blimps, have a much larger
"envelope" (or inflated sack of air that keeps the whole thing
aloft). As a result, the new design can haul nearly 7,000 pounds more than the
current Goodyear blimps.
The
Goodyear zeppelin fleet also has a much more manageable task than the military
airships. Goodyear's goal is to just be seen; the military airships were
supposed to stay airborne for up to days at a time, all the while recording and
observing everything below them. Perhaps, with more modest construction and
simpler goals, the Goodyear zeppelins can keep the dream of airships flying
high until the military decides to take it up again.
Watch
the Goodyear zeppelin under construction here:
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