5/2/2023 0 Comments Cargolifter hangarIn March the German press predicted the company would be out of money come April. But with no ships and the construction costs mounting, CargoLifter shares plunged 75%. Since then a team of some 260 engineers (including the cream of the world's airship designers) has puffed away. ![]() The German government provided subsidies and made available a former Soviet airfield as the hangar site, in exchange for CargoLifter's commitment to create jobs. Siemens, Mitsui and other industrial manufacturers expressed interest, a big reason CargoLifter, by May 2000, had amassed the largest private placement in German history. You could pick up a turbine in Stuttgart, say, and drop it in Brazil. A lawyer and professor of global logistics, Von Gablenz came up with the idea of a vehicle that could float giant industrial components right past all the railroad tunnels and highway overpasses that create nightmares for ground transport planners. The ships, the shed and the shop itself are all brainchildren of CargoLifter says the building will serve not just as a hangar but as the manufacturing site for the first of 50 giant CL160 airships, so called because each ship will lift 160 metric tons (352,800 pounds). So big, in fact, that designers had to consider the possibility of cloud formations inside. The single vertical stabilizer-rudder will provide most turning direction.It's a heck of a hangar-the largest building in the world without internal supports-1,200 feet long, 660 feet wide, 330 feet tall. This arrangement will enable low-to-zero airspeed maneuvering, including crosswind landing, take-off, and maneuvering. The thrust wings will direct the flow of air allowing the airship to move forward, back, up and down. These will drive four variable pitch fan assemblies mounted perpendicular to the body of the airship at each thrust wing base. Propulsion will comprise four ultra-high efficiency turbo fans in separate engine rooms in the body. This would be accessed by loading bay doors / ramps at front, rear and side, proportionate to the size of the cargo bay. The developer envisages a cargo bay up to 288 feet by 60 feet with a 40 foot ceiling. It would have a range of up to 6,000 miles, and be ideal for oil extraction, logging, extended maritime patrols, search and rescue, and medical relief in disaster zones. SkyFreighter is intended to transport fully-assembled, outsized, and bulky cargo at speeds up to 75 mph. It spoke of building a $400 million fleet of airships. Straightline Aviation had ambitious plans in 2020 for everything from cargo and transportation disaster, to relief and humanitarian missions, to aerial surveillance and telecommunications. A self-propelled instrument for damage evaluation and repair (SPIDER) spots and repairs pinhole leaks while the hull remains fully inflated. Hovercraft technology creates atmospheric pressure differences for floating above the surface, and gentle landing.Ī Kevlar-like material makes up the hull.20% is from hull aerodynamics and vectored thrust from four rotatable engines.80% lift comes from buoyant helium in accordance with traditional airship science.The hybrid vessel is slightly heavier than air and hence It would initially have a 20 ton payload, or alternatively carry 19 passengers. In June 2015 the company announced it had FAA certification and was open for orders. It first flew on January 31, 2006, and was intended for military purposes before it failed to secure a military contract. The Lockheed Martin P-791 is an experimental airship that combines the energy of aerostatic lift with aerodynamics achieved by movement through the air. Lockheed Martin P-791 Airship with Aerostatic and Aerodynamic Lift It proved able to operate on almost any surface from grass land through swamp to open water. Thereafter, the propulsion system taxied it to generate sufficient aerodynamic lift for it to fly. It activated a cushion landing system to leave the ground on an air pillow. However, it was not intended for vertical take-off and landing operations. And during forward flight by aerodynamic lift from the shaped fuselage and short wings. ![]() The balance of buoyancy required for take off was from propulsive lift by four vectored thrust propulsors. The intention was to develop a class of heavy lifters able to handle up to 1000 pound loads. A one-sixth scale Sky Kitten version flew at Cardington, Bedford England in 2006. The balance of the buoyancy came from aerodynamic shaping. The Sky Catamaran, to give it its full name, was a proposed class of hybrid airships obtaining more than half their lift from helium gas.
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