A cargo airship lifted by vacuum instead of helium (peer-reviewed)
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A cargo airship lifted by vacuum instead of helium (peer-reviewed)
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Re: A cargo airship lifted by vacuum instead of helium (peer-reviewed)
#2[flagged]
Re: A cargo airship lifted by vacuum instead of helium (peer-reviewed)
#3That's a clever approach, using tensioned pulleys (a bit like a bicycle wheel, which also uses tension to resist a crushing force).
The specs call for a 20 meter "balloon", which can lift 41,000 kg. The structure itself (made with existing materials) would weigh 37,000 kg, yielding a 4 tonne payload.
I'm not competent to evaluate whether the calculations are correct. It would be really cool to see such a thing constructed. I imagine it would cost hundreds of thousands, at a minimum.