You mean once every 20 months. I've seen this article several times already. I first learned about Flettners from one - fascinating devices, btw. - which is why I notice when it resurfaces again, every year or two.
AIUI the problem is the economics are pretty unfavorable for smaller-scale prototypes due to square-cube issues (drag and thus fuel costs is proportional to cross-sectional area, lift and thus cargo capacity is proportional to volume). You'd need a very big airship to get a competitive economic niche between sea and traditional air freight, where you're faster and more flexible than sea transport and cheaper than traditional air freight.
Hmm. Couldn't you put solar panels on top for power (and fly above the clouds) + use some sort of sail when wind is available? It might be really slow, but if you can get the systems to be fully autonomous (no people needed to pilot it) and need very little / no fuel... then couldn't it become a rather cheap way to ship things that aren't urgent?
About the same frequency the US starts a major war or oil prices skyrocket for someone else's war. 20-ish years ago was the Iraq 2 war. 20-ish years before that was Iraq 1. Now it's the unholy combination of Ukraine beating Russia's refineries and US/Israel striking Iran.
And the higher oil prices go, the more people are interested in saving oil.
You mean once every 20 months. I've seen this article several times already. I first learned about Flettners from one - fascinating devices, btw. - which is why I notice when it resurfaces again, every year or two.
Yep. They alternate decades with the 'Airships are returning for cargo' groups.
I'd be down for a future of awesome looking ships and giant zeppelins gracing the sky.
I'd love to fly in a Zeppelin, too, but the problem is they are very vulnerable to the weather.
AIUI the problem is the economics are pretty unfavorable for smaller-scale prototypes due to square-cube issues (drag and thus fuel costs is proportional to cross-sectional area, lift and thus cargo capacity is proportional to volume). You'd need a very big airship to get a competitive economic niche between sea and traditional air freight, where you're faster and more flexible than sea transport and cheaper than traditional air freight.
Hmm. Couldn't you put solar panels on top for power (and fly above the clouds) + use some sort of sail when wind is available? It might be really slow, but if you can get the systems to be fully autonomous (no people needed to pilot it) and need very little / no fuel... then couldn't it become a rather cheap way to ship things that aren't urgent?
Solar panels don't have good enough power to weight ratios and aren't likely to contribute effectively.
As far as sails go, you need a second medium to act as a keel, otherwise it's impossible to get a net push in any direction other than downwind.
To date, they've achieved a very high level of advancement in making a new airship that looks like a butt. Sir Mixalot would be proud.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=airship+t...
Soon we’ll need to provide proof-of-age just to look up at the sky.
I feel like I've seen that same thing for 20, 30 years now, lol
A very recent xkcd touched on this:
https://xkcd.com/3298/
About the same frequency the US starts a major war or oil prices skyrocket for someone else's war. 20-ish years ago was the Iraq 2 war. 20-ish years before that was Iraq 1. Now it's the unholy combination of Ukraine beating Russia's refineries and US/Israel striking Iran.
And the higher oil prices go, the more people are interested in saving oil.