• Maalus@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Airship, tons of cargo? They famously suck at carrying anything of weight. The hindenburg could carry like 10 tons, and a regular zeppelin around 2 tons.

    • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Helium isn’t exactly an abundant resource either, is it? I’m all for a future with a sky dotted with airships, but how could you possibly scale this up?

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The article says it can carry about 4 tons of cargo on top of the requirements to run the thing, but that’s for Pathfinder 1. I’m trying to think of an actual real world use case for these. Outside of tours that carry around 50 adult passengers with no belongings, I don’t see the practicality of it.

      • Zron@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s completely impractical, which is why they’ll inevitably transition to luxury travel for millionaires. It’s faster than a yacht, but slower than a private jet, so it’s only useful roll is in carrying rich bastards to vacations that they aren’t in a rush to get to.

        • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
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          1 year ago

          The equivalent of a cruise ship, that’s really the only market. Except with a much lower passenger count and a lot less space, so a much higher ticket price.

          Maybe a luxury air yacht for the ultra-wealthy who’re bored with their ocean yachts?