AirCruise, zeppelins for the 21st century

[sebastian Inkerman]

Check it out!

New style zeppellins as a concept for transatlantic air travel again

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

http://blogs.timeslive.co.za/wanderer/2010/02/03/new-airship-design-could-make-air-travel-a-real-gas/comment-page-1/

[Powerslave60]

It looks....interesting.  A flying diamond.  Filled with gas.  I'd book a flight, though. lol

[pakled]

Oh. the Humanities!...

perhaps they should consult with the Princess of Helium...

[Mr Bellows]

*sighs* Another "media"exercise with [/quote] no bearing on reality [/unquote]
Give us Real Airships, beautiful, graceful airship leviathans taking to the skies & exploring the furthest reaches of unknown territories whilst battling Air Kraken & Airship pirates.
Give us cities in the sky, lost centuries ago, peopled by primitives & home to forbidden knowledge or treasures from the dimmest reaches of time !!

Bother us not with these paltry "media" exercises.......Wheres your spirit ??, you're sense of adventure ??


*runs off ranting, pith helmet on head & steam rifle waving madly*

[19th Century Space Pilot]

Do remember, sir, that one needs to build a city before one can lose a city.

I wouldn't design my airship like that. No, my airships, at least the ones that travel in the troposphere, will be a variety. I shall have some catamaran ones, with two balloons holding up the platform in the center. I would have graceful ships, sails included, with a lift sphere in the center. I would have homes, held up by a buoyant base and stabilized by a donut shaped ring envelope above supplying the rest of the lift.

[James Harrison]

I may merely be being dense here, but every source I've read indicates that the Hindenburg (the largest flying object yet built) could lift only a couple of tons despite the high volumes of hydrogen it carried.  

So how, pray, is one of those diamonds even going to get off the ground?  I doubt it could hold enough gas simply to lift the cocktail bar, let alone the whole G-damned apartment block.  

[19th Century Space Pilot]

Only a couple of tonnes? What source was that? The Hindenburg, I believe, had over 10 tonnes of actual cargo capacity - which isn't that bad, considering it wasn't built as a freighter, so most of its mass was in the form of rooms, dining halls, lounges etc.

[James Harrison]

Only a couple of tonnes? What source was that? The Hindenburg, I believe, had over 10 tonnes of actual cargo capacity - which isn't that bad, considering it wasn't built as a freighter, so most of its mass was in the form of rooms, dining halls, lounges etc.

That is what I referred to when I mentioned 'a couple of tons'.  Agreed it isn't bad, but considering how big it had to be to lift even that rather begs the question of how large one of these diamond designs would have to be simply to lift itself off the ground, never mind the passengers, freight, the furnishings and vitals necessary for a 3-day flight.  To me the design looks as though the size of the hydrogen gas cell is arbitary rather than carefully calculated. 

[19th Century Space Pilot]

But you do have to keep in mind that the total mass lifted by the Hindenburg was much greater than it's cargo capacity, which didn't count the staterooms, passengers etc.

[Aethliscalus Futurus]

There is another possibility, called Hybrid Airships I think,that are slightly heavier than air that make use of shape to provide additional lift.  The end result is that like 90% of lift is helium and the rest is engine/aerfoils.
They'd look a little flatter than the average zeppelin but could lift more.

[J. Wilhelm]

Lots of architecture and a nice sound score...I don't see a good technical design for an airship unless these people know something I don't.   Meh...maybe they should have shown the "space cruiser" from the movie "The 5th Element"   

[Aethliscalus Futurus]

Here's one, but they seem to have gone inactive in 2008
http://www.worldskycat.com/index.html
American DARPA's also working on the 'Walrus' which is also something to this effect.

[Gurvan]

There is a website which is dedicated on Airships...

Here is what they think : http://www.airships.net/blog/hydrogen-airship-nonsense#comments

Have a good read ! 

[sebastian Inkerman]

*sighs* Another "media"exercise with no bearing on reality
Give us Real Airships, beautiful, graceful airship leviathans taking to the skies & exploring the furthest reaches of unknown territories whilst battling Air Kraken & Airship pirates.
Give us cities in the sky, lost centuries ago, peopled by primitives & home to forbidden knowledge or treasures from the dimmest reaches of time !!

Bother us not with these paltry "media" exercises.......Wheres your spirit ??, you're sense of adventure ??


*runs off ranting, pith helmet on head & steam rifle waving madly*

I am unsure whether you are having a go at me for posting this in the first place, or just at the idea in general. You don't make it very clear...
Just out of interest, how do you think these things get (if you'll pardon the pun) off the ground? They all have to begin with a concept. I personally think that it is rather an elegant design, a little too "modern" for my tastes, but not without it's charm.

who cares if it'll never fly, who cares if it's a PR exercise on behalf of Samsung. Can we not enjoy it on an aesthetic level?

I find it quite amusing that you highlight as a negative the very thing that makes Steampunk appealing to me. The very fact that it has no bearing on reality, surely should be something that we can embrace.  Perhaps if a member of the community had designed it as a concept for a new design in airships, we may have been more accepting.