Photo credit: LTA Research
Luxury balloon rides to the edge of space will become common in just a few years, but the Sergey Brin-funded Lighter Than Air (LTA) Pathfinder 1 mega hybrid airship will be airborne long before that time. It measures 124.5 meters (408 feet) long and is powered by twelve Pipistrel electric motors, connected to two 150-kilowatt diesel generators as well as 24 battery packs.
Nylon-based helium bags line its inner walls to provide lift and buoyancy, while four fin rudders offer precise directional control. Protecting those helium bags are 13 circular mainframes, each consisting of 3,000 welded titanium hubs and 10,000 polymer tubes reinforced with carbon fiber. It is currently undergoing outdoor testing at in Mountain View, California.
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The big old airships had cow intestines pasted on linen sheets to create the gas bags Today no one is going to fly in an airship that hasn’t flown in a computer first. The tools have gotten a lot better and so have the materials—you’re not going to use cow intestines anymore,” said Barry Prentice, director of the Transport Institute at the University of Manitoba to Popular Mechanics.
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