11–20 of 73 posts
In the video included in the article, they show their prototype flying. It is surprisingly lively for a blimp (I guess owing to the fact that it gets/needs lift from the propeller), darting around in an almost fish-like fashion. I dunno, still skeptical but the video does make it seem much more plausible, at least.
I didn't want to say anything, but have been thinking about the payload. I belive it's 675 lbs.
That is not much. A truck can deliver thousands of pounds. (I have weight on my mind because I have to pick up a 800 lb mill, and bring it home in one piece.)
It might make sense in Alaska delivering small amounts of material though, but not near power lines.
This is a neat idea. I did spend the time while the page loaded wondering "wow, a service mesh to cargo airships is quite the leap" however!
How would the moving price of Helium affect operations? Or rather, what would the range of Helium prices have to be in order to be profitable? The common trope is that "The world is running out of Helium", yet it seems like that is not actually true [1][2]. I'd be interested to hear how this is all being taken into account. [1] https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.2.2020060... [2] https://www.youtube.co…
For depot to depot delivery, how does that compare with an 18 wheeler truck with 30,000 lbs carrying capacity going down the road at 60 miles per hour?
This has been on here a few days ago. I didn't want to say anything, but have been thinking about the payload. I belive it's 675 lbs. That is not much. A truck can deliver thousands of pounds. (I have weight on my mind because I have to pick up a 800 lb mill, and bring it home in one piece.) It might make sense in Alaska delivering small amounts of material though, but not near power lines.
675 pounds isn't much, but if you have a high-priority delivery that's not very heavy it might make a lot of sense. Especially in remote places; they're particularly interested in serving places that are currently served by planes and helicopters, like remote locations in Alaska.
Can a physicist help me understand something here? Assuming each of these can carry ~650lbs at 30mph. They're 60feet long and have a VERY lightweight airframe. How would these craft deal with wind? do they just get blown away every time there is a gust?
How would the moving price of Helium affect operations? Or rather, what would the range of Helium prices have to be in order to be profitable? The common trope is that "The world is running out of Helium", yet it seems like that is not actually true [1][2]. I'd be interested to hear how this is all being taken into account. [1] https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.2.2020060... [2] https://www.youtube.co…
This has been on here a few days ago. I didn't want to say anything, but have been thinking about the payload. I belive it's 675 lbs. That is not much. A truck can deliver thousands of pounds. (I have weight on my mind because I have to pick up a 800 lb mill, and bring it home in one piece.) It might make sense in Alaska delivering small amounts of material though, but not near power lines.
The idea is they aren't delivering to houses directly, they're moving packages between shipping facilities. So, they can presumably having landing pads on either side that aren't near power lines. 675 pounds isn't much, but if you have a high-priority delivery that's not very heavy it might make a lot of sense. Especially in remote places; they're particularly interested in serving places that are currently served by…
This is a neat idea. I did spend the time while the page loaded wondering "wow, a service mesh to cargo airships is quite the leap" however!
Yeah I had the same confusion when the Launch thread was posted. Choosing company names is hard.