Portuguese scientists looking to put airship back into business

Portuguese scientists looking to put airship back into business

The airship was one of the first flying vehicles made by man. In 1900, the so-called Golden Era started but unfortunately and tragically, it was brought to an abrupt end in 1937 when the German airship named Hindenberg caught fire and crashed which killed
36 people on board.

However, things are once again looking up for airship enthusiasts as a group of researchers from Portugal are looking to resurrect the airship. The scientists are now working on designing an airship that can safely transport people and cargo.

Unlike a plane, an airship can take off vertically just like a chopper meaning that it is ideally suited to places with little or no infrastructure or after a disaster. In wars or natural catastrophes, it is impossible to land a plane as there won’t be any
runway to land on. This is where an airship comes in. huge and needing little space to land, the airship can carry people and transport goods.

One of the innovative designs of the airships is the propulsion system which uses a lighter than air gas and is stored in small containers separated from eachother which means that if one container leaks, the rest of the containers won’t catch fire meaning
that chances of an explosion are minimum.

“It’s a good machine to do surveillance and tourism. You can imagine the airship flying over national parks meaning people will have direct contact with those places,” said Cassiano Rodrigues who is one of those engineers working to resurrect the mythical
airship that was also used during the World War 1.

Air machines are currently used for weather forecast, sightseeing and advertisements and the group of Portuguese researchers and scientists is now looking to bring in the airship in direct competition with the airlines which could possibly end the monopoly
of airlines.

Scientists reckon that these machines could also be used to transport heavy machinery thus introducing a new age of ‘roadless trucking’.

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Posted by Taimoor Tariq on Nov 4 2011. Filed under Sci-Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry