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Cargo airships could be big

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Re: Cargo airships could be big

#201

Post by zztop44 »

bboygravity wrote: post #197
snovv_crash wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The strength to weight ratio of a carbon fibre scaffolding would be far superior to steel.

Isn't the clothy stuff the problem though rather than the scaffolding? Same on most sailboats: what makes them get into trouble is not the hull cracking but rather the sail tearing up in a storm or the mast snapping off and making them uncontrollable / sink. (Im guessing out loud here, statements probably wrong)

Mast snapping happens. Rudder snapping off is also bad. Often the issue is running into rocks/a reef due to a navigation failure. Sails do tear, but for sailboats I don’t think it’s as simple as the clothy bits being the main weak point. I don’t know about airships though.

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#202

Post by kfarr »

ben_w wrote: post #85
kspacewalk2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, asteroids presumably make economic sense due to mining potential, but otherwise - why the hate for Venus? What's so special about being on the surface of a planet? Just don't go to where the lead vapour is, enjoy the cloudy view from 50km above the surface instead.

Might be a monkey brain, but the mere possibility of falling 50km through crushing boiling acid is the kind of thing that'll stop me getting to sleep. More so than a deadly vacuum on the other side of a wall.

Yeah but iirc because of atmospheric density it's not crazy to build a floating habitat. At least no crazier then the tech required to get a crew and equipment to Venus in the first place

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#203

Post by bobthepanda »

the_af wrote: post #193
bobthepanda wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a name of a piece of media in the game. It's 13 Sentinels Aegis Rim. It is like 90% visual novel and 10% RTS.

> It is like 90% visual novel and 10% RTS Ah! That's a pity. Visual novels infuriate me. But the idea was cool :)

I don’t know that I’d call it a traditional visual novel. Or at least not the kind with really trite stories.

The way the story is structured, you unlock scenes where you just read the text, and occasionally make branching choices. But the scenes are not very long.

It’s also interesting in that it borrows from modern TV non-linear storytelling; you do not see the story in chronological order, nothing is as it seems, etc. If you’ve seen Netflix’s Dark, it is pretty similar in vibe.

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#205

Post by kortilla »

coryrc wrote: post #123
kortilla wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The FAA approved modifications to piston engines to use unleaded avgas. Jet fuel doesn’t have lead. Also, this isn’t about the FAA just being slow for no reason. Switching from leaded to unleaded without the engine modifications was not safe for the piston aircraft that need it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_fuel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avgas

It's not safe for us to be breathing. But that doesn't matter to cheapskate rich private plane owners or their regulatory-captured FAA.

Nothing is stopping the EPA from banning it regardless of what the FAA wants. The FAA doesn’t regulate emissions.

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#206

Post by aintgonnatakeit »

bboygravity wrote: post #197
snovv_crash wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The strength to weight ratio of a carbon fibre scaffolding would be far superior to steel.

Isn't the clothy stuff the problem though rather than the scaffolding? Same on most sailboats: what makes them get into trouble is not the hull cracking but rather the sail tearing up in a storm or the mast snapping off and making them uncontrollable / sink. (Im guessing out loud here, statements probably wrong)

If the clothy bits tear on a sailboat it’s an inconvenience. When the hard bits (eg keel) fail, it’s a problem.

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#207

Post by pkulak »

jodrellblank wrote: post #90
credit_guy wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's actually no need for hydrogen. Helium would do just fine. From the blog post, filling the hypothetical airship with helium would cost $8 MM, while filling it with hydrogen would cost only $100k. Sounds like a no brainer. But, the overall cost of the airship would be at $100 MM. Hydrogen would result in a less than 10% cost reduction. Now, the FAA approved unleaded jet fuel in 2022. Yes, that's how conservativ…

Helium is a non-renewable resource drilled out of the ground, of which there is a global 'crisis' shortage[1]. Hydrogen is easy to make in vast quantities and cheaper. But more importantly, while they have similar lift capacities on paper (Helium ~90% of Hydrogen), in practice they don't - https://www.airships.net/helium-hydrogen-airships/ has an explanation and calculations. Hydrogen lift airships set off fully infl…

I wonder if you could use a fuel cell to get power from the hydrogen you'd otherwise vent.

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#208

Post by danbolt »

bobthepanda wrote: post #203
the_af wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is like 90% visual novel and 10% RTS Ah! That's a pity. Visual novels infuriate me. But the idea was cool :)

I don’t know that I’d call it a traditional visual novel. Or at least not the kind with really trite stories. The way the story is structured, you unlock scenes where you just read the text, and occasionally make branching choices. But the scenes are not very long. It’s also interesting in that it borrows from modern TV non-linear storytelling; you do not see the story in chronological order, nothing is as it seems,…

I’d say the RTS segments are closer to an action RPG as well, such as Final Fantasy’s ATB but on a kaiju/mecha city map.

Or, you could suggest that they’re Diofield Chronicle’s structure with Nintendo-style puzzle development, plus Persona 5’s pop.

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#209

Post by 4wsn »

nradov wrote: post #187
4wsn wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I concede I might be totally wrong here, but the issue with rail seems to be profitability. I live in (moved to) Europe, and the railways are far more developed than in the US. But as far as I know, they all have to be heavily subsidized by the governments to even function. None of them operate with a true profit. Here in Germany, 2.2% of the latest federal budget is to support the railways. This is despite the railw…

You have it backwards. Cargo railways are more developed in the US than in most of Europe. After the latest round of industry consolidation, most rail companies are highly profitable. Trucks pay most of infrastructure costs through fuel taxes and registration fees.

Fair enough. I conceded I might be totally wrong because my conclusion is based on casual observation of passenger trains and their infrastructure rather than looking into the industry.

I could feasibly reach all cities and _most_ large towns by rail in Germany. Sure, it's slow as heck if you're not taking the express train with no transfers and few stops. But the infrastructure is there. Whereas in the US there are massive areas where the nearest train connection is hours away.

I assume there are factors with freight trains I don't know anything about, and if they're as profitable as you say then the infrastructure is actually very optimized for profitability; if there's somewhere worth reaching, the trains reach it.

Re: Cargo airships could be big

#210

Post by nradov »

onion2k wrote: post #52
tim333 wrote: post #26

I remember in the UK Airship Industries tried to make the things work economically for ages but never did. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship_Industries For one thing they struggle a bit when it's windy.

For one thing they struggle a bit when it's windy. If you could move your airship to an altitude where the wind is going in the direction you want to go that would give you a huge advantage.

Airship cargo capacity is inversely proportional to ambient air pressure. As they climb they lose lift, and while it is technically possible to build an airship that can fly above the weather the cargo capacity would be so low as to make it pointless.
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