Why the Airship May Be the Future of Air Travel

Sponsored by Brilliant. Just one short haul flight a year produces 10% of our individual carbon emissions. We could go back to trains for traveling, which produces about half the CO2 of a plane, but you don't always have the time. What if we could get the speed of air travel with the lower emissions of ground travel? Enter the airship. I'm Matt Ferrell ... welcome to Undecided. When it comes to our individual carbon footprint, air travel is the emission-spewing dumbo in the room. Flying less is the most impactful action you can take to bring down your CO2 quota. Although aviation currently accounts for only 2% of the global carbon footprint, its impact is taking off pretty fast. With the GHG emissions of the hydrocarbon-guzzling aircraft engines expected to increase more than 4 times by 2045, flying could reach 25% of the global carbon budget by 2050. So what do we do? Well, UK company Hybrid Air Vehicles is launching a short-range airship that will water down the carbon emissions of flight by 90%. By 2025, you may be able to hop on board their Airlander 10 and get dropped off a couple hundred miles away. Because of its shape, the Airlander 10 has been nicknamed the Flying Buttocks. Thankfully, the only gas inside this bad boy is helium. But airships could do more than just make us feel less guilty about return flight on the weekend. One big benefit is that airships don't require special infrastructure, since flying boats don't need a runway for taking off and landing. This could translate into smaller sites located closer to cities, saving people from long commutes to airports. But the airship flexibility would also be extremely beneficial for delivering food and humanitarian aid to isolated areas. Sounds uplifting, but before delving into the tech feasibility, let's jump on board our DeLorean balloon to fly back in time to where airships came from. Lighter-than-air, or LTA, vehicles fly through the sky like hot air balloons using LTA gases such as helium and hydrogen. While something like a hot air balloon goes with the wind, airships have engines to ensure maneuverability. These vehicles can be rigid, semi-rigid, or non-rigid. The last category, which includes blimps, relies on the pressure of the gas filling the balloon to keep their shape, while the other two types of machines are supported by an internal framework. But when did airships actually take off? Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was the pioneer that led the way to rigid airships as we know it. He designed the first rigid motorized airship at the end of the 19th century, giving his name to the ancestor of airships. Zeppelins became very popular for their travel comfort. It was like having a cruise in the sky. Much more relaxing than jolting up and down in a cramped airplane, but a storm was brewing on the horizon, like the one the Zeppelin LZ-14 flew into in 1913. The dirigible lost control and dove into the North Sea before splitting in two, killing 14 people. As bad as that was, airship's fate was sealed in 1937 when the Hindenburg went down like a bomb. At 804 ft length, the German Zeppelin was the largest dirigible ever constructed at that time. Because of the US export restrictions imposed on the Nazi regime, German designers had to use hydrogen instead of helium as the filling gas, but given the flammability of hydrogen, that was obviously not the best choice. At the end of one of his transatlantic cruises, the Hindenburg caught fire while landing in New Jersey and killed 36 people. But safety wasn't the only reason why airships floated away as a form of travel. In addition to being in the wrong place at the wrong time if you were on the Hindenburg, you would have also spent a fortune on the trip. While it would shave off two days off your Atlantic crossing, the trip would have cost you 5.5 times more than a third-class ticket on an ocean liner. In today's money, that would translate to around $8,200. So how come airships are rising back into the sky again after that bumpy ride? Some scientists are suggesting hydrogen-filled balloons as a more sustainable alternative for transporting the gas compared to maritime cargo shipping. Researchers said the airships require less energy and time to deliver the fuel than ocean-going cargo ships. How would that be possible? The idea is to fly in the less turbulent stratosphere and make the most out of the jet stream, which is an air current that circulates the globe from west to east, reaching up to 140 mph. You might be asking yourself the same question I did, isn't this just going to be history repeating itself? Well, the study considered using unmanned airships, which removes any risk for a human crew. Also, they argued some compelling points on the hydrogen controversy. While helium is safer, it's more difficult to source and its availability is much more limited than hydrogen, which makes its price much higher. Another perk of using hydrogen would be generating power and water through onboard fuel cells. But the fire risk is not the only challenge. At the stratosphere altitudes, the air pressure is much lower, and that means you have to have an ultra-flexible material to use as a gas bag for the airship. The trouble is that those materials are not quite ready yet. But in the meantime, someone is already working on this setup. The Buoyant Aircraft Systems International is looking into hydrogen-filled airships to bring produce, construction equipment, and modular housing to the many off-the-grid communities in Canada. Designed to suit the Arctic climate conditions, Bassie's airships will be initially hybrid and then converted to a hydrogen fuel cell power system. While using helium rather than hydrogen, Lockheed Martin already offers an airship cargo service. Their LMH-1 hybrid model stays aloft using 80% helium buoyancy topped off by aerodynamic lift. By minimizing the use of fossil fuels driven direct lift, Lockheed Martin's hybrid models consume less than 10% of a helicopter's fuel. Also, their vehicles can be parked on any type of terrain thanks to their Air Cushion Landing System, or ACLS. Put simply, the ACLS is a massive, inflatable donut underneath the blimp that makes the airship touchdown a piece of cake. Fun fact, it also doubles as a really great hemorrhoid pillow. After 20 years of development, their versatile hovercrafts are now accomplishing a number of missions, from delivering heavy equipment to hard-to-access areas hemmed in by icy roads in Alaska, to picking up workers and rare earth metals off isolated mines in Quebec, to serving as a flying clinic for getting aid and tons of supplies into, and injured or refugees out of, accidents and natural disaster locations. VariaLift is working on a different hybrid model, combining solar power and conventional engines. According to the UK company's CEO, their floating ship would use only 8% of the fuel of a conventional jet over a transatlantic flight between the UK and the US. For the same payload, the firm also claims their machine and operational costs would be up to 90% less than a standard aircraft. Yet airships are not just about shipping goods. Since 2001, the German company Zeppelin NT has risen from the Hindenburg ashes. Their gondola bags have a semi-rigid design, relying both on helium pressure and a solid frame to support itself. Carrying up to 12 passengers, gasoline-powered Zeppelin NT airships have been used for both aerial sightseeing and traveling purposes. And going back to the eco-friendly Airlander 10, the flying buttocks that I mentioned earlier, last May HAV announced a number of routes that will be explored by using their green flying machines in 2025, but you might be able to ride on one of HAV's Airlander 10 even earlier. If you fancy an experimental journey to the North Pole, you can book your slot with OceanSky Cruises as soon as 2023, but it will cost you a bit of money. Remember the Hindenburg Golden Ticket? That's peanuts compared to this. The price tag for a two-person cabin on the Airlander 10 is $79,000. As for the lower cost of travel, HAV is currently trying to strike a deal with some other airlines. HAV's CEO said the company aims to be covering 47% of regional flights with a distance up to 230 miles. HAV touts the airship market will reach a value over $50 billion over the next 20 years. However, by 2026, when they'll start selling their vehicles, the estimated value might only be around $165 million. With a capacity of 100 passengers, the company claims their hybrid electric dirigibles will take as long as a conventional flight, yet have a tenth of their carbon footprint. That applies whether traveling from Liverpool to Belfast or Seattle to Vancouver, at least based on the company calculations. Although flying at a top speed of only 130 miles per hour, the airship doesn't need a runway and could take off from anywhere and land pretty much anywhere with a flat open area, including water. This city center to city center traveling mode makes these vehicles flexible and independent from airports ... or ports if you like. That means you'd save time on commuting. But how safe are HAV's airships? FireRisk is extinguished by filling the balloon with helium, yet one of their prototype tests crashed while landing in 2016. However, HAV machines will be certified by the Civil Aviation Authority, or the CAA, which means it will have to conform to the same safety standards as other aircraft. So how green is the Airlander 10 technology? While combining the helium buoyancy effect and aerodynamic lift and helicopter-like thrust, HAV's hybrid design is much more efficient than comparable aircrafts. Leveraging the helium lift, the vehicle reduces the consumption of the fossil fuel burning engine and can carry a higher payload. Also, the UK Aerospace Research and Technology Program awarded the company with a £1 million grant to develop a prototype fully powered by a 500 kW electric motor. Also, they aren't stopping there because the Airlander 10 could feature battery and solar cell technology. More cargo, less carbon emissions, no infrastructure required. Sounds like airships are on the rise, right? But there is one thing that could hold them down ... cost. One factor that can inflate an airship's operational cost is the gas bag filling. Helium is a non-renewable source and we may experience a shortage in the future. While hydrogen could be used as an alternative for unmanned cargo missions, it would probably be too risky to use with passengers on board. According to Julian Hunt, a researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, using a cargo airship would currently cost up to 50 times more than a standard ship. He also said we should invest up to $100 billion over the next 20 years in technological improvements to make airshipping compete with conventional shipping. Sir David King, the former UK Chief Scientist and Climate Change Specialist, is more optimistic than Hunt, saying that the cost of the VariaLift airship would be comparable to a jumbo jet. Also, according to the International Air Transport Association, there's so many acronyms, airships would be more cost effective than jetliners for freight transport. That's because of the lower fuel consumed during takeoff and landing as well as the higher payload carried by the flying boats. The UK Advanced Technologies Group, the ATG, estimated that the freight cost per ton-kilometer for three hybrid cargo airships of different capacity. At the lowest payload, the airship would cost slightly more than a standard aircraft. However, for medium and top capacities, ATG model simulations predicted airships to compete with trucking and maritime shipping, respectively. But airships may not only be competitive for cargo deliveries. A 1980 study suggested that a 420 ton airship would be a cost effective way of ferrying both passengers and their cars from the U.S. mainland to Hawaii. A more recent and comprehensive study compared the economic feasibility of airships to that of airplanes and helicopters. Researchers found airships to be the most profitable transport solution when considering a long distance, up to 5,000 kilometers, and a high carrying capacity. Hybrid and fully electric airships may be a greener alternative for fast travel over shorter distances. Plus, their greater flexibility can play a key role for delivering cargo to hard to reach regions and for performing rescue operations. Data on cost effectiveness seems to be a little lacking and somewhat controversial. Also, airships technology may need further investments to catch up with their competitors. But eco-friendly flying boats could be a key part to zero-carbon aviation strategies along with electric aircraft and more sustainable fuels. It's also got that cool steampunk retro-futuristic vibe to it. If you're interested in learning more about the principles behind airships and want to dig a little deeper into the physics for how things like this work, I'd strongly recommend checking out the Scientific Thinking course at Brilliant. It's recently been updated with a host of new features to help you learn science topics in a fun and interactive way. Everything from buoyancy, which applies directly to airships, to time travel. Yes, time travel. It's a fun one and I really enjoyed it. But even if science doesn't float your boat, they have over 60 courses including topics in computer science, quantum mechanics, and mathematics. They've got something for everybody. All of the concepts are taught through fun and interactive challenges to help you understand the why of something, not just the how. It helps you to develop your intuition, which is my favorite part about Brilliant and taps into the way I learn. And it just makes it fun. Go to brilliant.org slash undecided to sign up for free. The first 200 people will get 20% off their annual Premium Membership. Thanks to Brilliant and to all of you for supporting the channel. So what do you think? Do you think we're going to be seeing more airships filling the skies in the future? Jump in the comments and let me know. And be sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell if you think I've earned it. And as always, thanks to all my Patrons and a big welcome to a new Supporter Plus member, and I hope I don't butcher your name, Mireille-Marie Bregzlonia-Bevois. Your support really helps to make these videos possible. If you join, you'll get early access to ad-free versions of the videos on Patreon, and I hold monthly Zoom calls for higher level supporters and producers. Check out the link in the description for more details. And if you liked this video, be sure to check out one of the ones I have linked to right here. And of course, thanks to all of you for watching. I'll see you in the next one.