• HiddenLayer555@lemmy.mlEnglish
    20·
    3 days ago

    Helium is rare on Earth and is not renewable.

    The reason Germany had the “best” blimps? They used hydrogen which is a fraction of the cost while having even more lifting force than helium. It’s what allowed them to build airships as big as they did. It’s also why the Hindenburg exploded.

    We haven’t solved the first problem, so the prospect of succeeding a second time is, while not inconceivable, very limited.

    More importantly, most people probably wouldn’t want to spend several days crossing the Atlantic or Pacific when a plane gets you there in 12 hours or less. Even if the experience on a plane sucks, saving multiple days worth of your time is extremely hard to compete with. What really killed airships was airplanes, not the Hindenburg disaster. Airships had already been in decline when the Hindenburg blew up, and the decline was proportional to the advancement of passenger airliners.

    • Phoeniqz@lemmy.dbzer0.comOP
      2·
      2 days ago

      what about short-haul flights? Routes such as Berlin-Copenhagen seem to make sense, as in: Not as fast as a plane but faster than a train and possibly cheaper than both (using hydrogen airships). I don’t know much about airships but that is what came to my mind (besides obviously the freight side of things that is being researched).

  • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
    121·
    4 days ago

    YES PLEASE GIVE ME ZEPPELINS AGAIN. i don’t care you don’t think its profitable.

    they took this from us.

  • Anna@lemmy.ml
    8·
    4 days ago

    Just fill it with hydrogen instead of helium. Or was it the other way around. Ahh… Its OK it’s just 1proton and an electron difference it’ll be alright.