Airships Are Making a Comeback

It may seem strange that airships, which have been obsolete for years, are now making a return. This vehicle, which was once humanity's hope for air travel before modern passenger airplanes, raises the question of why it became obsolete and why it is now being reconsidered. Advanced models of airships are filled with helium to remain buoyant in the air. Beneath the large gas tanks of the airship, there is a compartment that can carry up to one hundred passengers. In the airship, engines that rotate propellers guide the vehicle forward. Unlike balloons, the movement of airships does not depend on the wind. The pilot can steer it using a large rudder. The airship also has a movable horizontal stabilizer like an airplane that allows it to ascend. The Zeppelin LZ 129 is one of the most luxurious airships in history. This German airship, built in 1936, was twice the length of a football field and could carry about 100 passengers. Its horizontal speed was 125 kilometers per hour, allowing it to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 65 hours. This airship consisted of two passenger decks with single and double rooms, a dining room, a reading room, and a lounge equipped for musical groups. The golden age of airships dates back to a time when airplanes were not yet thriving. The first flight of an airship occurred in 1884. After this date, many large hydrogen-filled airships were built for passenger transport. In 1929, the Graf Zeppelin completed a full trip around the world in ten days. However, several incidents ended the airship era. On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg caught fire, killing 35 of its 97 passengers. After this incident, hydrogen-filled airships were no longer used. Between October 1929, when the Graf Zeppelin launched its first transatlantic service, and May 6, 1937, when the Hindenburg caught fire, airships were the primary means of long-distance air travel. Now, nearly a century later, despite the significant capabilities of airplanes to carry large numbers of passengers at speeds eight times greater than airships, why is the use of these vehicles being proposed again? Lockheed Martin, a leading aerospace company in the world, is working on a project to revive airships for commercial purposes. This company, which has built and designed the fastest aircraft in the world, the Blackbird, and the most advanced military aircraft, the F-22, is now looking to revive airships. As usual, the project started from a military design, which later caught NASA's attention, and now Lockheed Martin is working on commercializing this old method. Airplanes require extensive infrastructure such as airports for takeoff and landing; helicopters typically cannot carry larger volumes of cargo or passengers. For transporting goods by ship to the sea, trains need railways, and trucks need roads. However, only airships can transport large goods with minimal infrastructure. This idea has led Lockheed Martin to develop hybrid airships, which are a combination of an airship and a hovercraft in the landing gear section. A hovercraft is a dual-purpose vehicle that easily moves over water and land surfaces using a cushion of compressed air with relatively low thrust. The incoming air to the hovercraft is transferred under the cushions through a propeller, lifting the vehicle off the surface and resting it on a mass of pressurized air. Thus, during movement, the buoyancy resistance is significantly reduced, and the hovercraft moves using a thrust system and air propeller. Now, Lockheed Martin has incorporated hovercraft technology into its airships, allowing them to land easily on land or water and travel short distances near the ground. But how has the old problem of airships, namely the puncturing of helium-filled tanks that could lead to crashes, been solved? Advances in computer science and robotics have addressed this issue. Lockheed Martin has developed a robot called the Spider for this purpose. This robot has two parts, one moving on the outer wall and the other on the inner wall of the tank. It identifies the smallest hole by shining light on the surface and quickly repairs the wall after detection. Several robots continuously move along the tank walls, reducing the risk of crashes. Lockheed Martin is planning to expand its airships with capacities ranging from 20 to 1,000 tons, with speeds between 100 to 150 kilometers per hour. Currently, the experimental model P-791 can carry 20 tons of cargo at a speed of 110 kilometers per hour. Each P-791 unit costs about $45 million and consumes significantly less fuel than an airplane for the same cargo on the same route. Lockheed Martin hopes to transport very heavy loads to areas with minimal transport infrastructure, enabling the delivery of massive facilities at the lowest cost to remote regions on Earth. The company aims to operationalize its first commercial airship model, 37 meters long and named LMH-1, by 2018, based on the P-791 model.