iceageiscoming:

bobbycaputo:

sotheresthat:

sallydoodle:

kateoplis:

Igor Pasternak ”believes he is on the verge of developing an aircraft that will change the way large cargo can be shipped.

Mr. Pasternak envisions this hulking, 770-foot-long, silver-skinned airship, which is kept aloft by helium-filled tanks, delivering fresh fruit to Alaska, dropping triage units at disaster sites or depositing heavy machinery into remote locations — no ports, rail lines, roads or airstrips necessary.

It would be able to fly at up to 120 knots, four times as fast as a cargo ship. Its capacity of 250 tons is about twice that of a C-5 cargo plane, and it has a range of about 5,870 miles, enough to go from Boston to Burkina Faso.

The airship, called the Aeroscraft, will take off and land like a helicopter. Its designers, Mr. Pasternak says, have solved the major problem for lighter-than-air crafts: buoyancy control. If a dirigible unloads heavy cargo, it must be tethered or take on the same weight to keep from floating away. The Aeroscraft sends helium from its main chamber into compression tanks, which creates room for air — which is heavier than the helium — to be taken in, allowing for a controlled descent.”

Pursuing a Shipping Revolution as Big as His Airship

We pass these hangars every day on the way to school. I would love to get a look inside at one of these things.

Whoopie! A Zeppelin!

In pratica è un sommergibile aereo. Fico.