BlimpsAirships offer a solution for aviation’s future challenges

Published 24 March 2015

It is forecast that by 2020 the number of aircraft passengers will reach 400 million. The movement of freight by air is expected to increase by more than 340 percent over the next twenty years. During the same period congestion at many airports will squeeze out cargo operations because of economic and environmental reasons. Consequently, if market demand for air freight is to be met, either there will have to be significant investment in new airport infrastructure or alternative transport forms need to be considered. Researchers have completed a three year investigation into stratospheric passenger airships as part of a multi-national engineering project designed to provide a future sustainable air transport network. The researchers believe that airships offer a solution for future air transportation that is safe, efficient, cheap, and environmentally friendly.

Researchers from the University of Lincoln, U.K., have completed a three year investigation into stratospheric passenger airships as part of a multi-national engineering project designed to provide a future sustainable air transport network.

A group of academics from the University’s School of Engineering have been members of a pan European research team that believes airships may be the ‘green’ answer to the future growth of aviation.

A University of Lincoln release reports that the Multibody Advanced Airship for Transport (MAAT) project aims to position airships as the solution for future air transportation that is safe, efficient, cheap, and environmentally friendly.

As engineering projects go, a plan to reintroduce airships as a cheap and energy-efficient means for mass transportation of people and goods might be the definition of blue sky thinking but there is a need for a mid-range transport system that efficiently trades speed for fuel consumption.

It is therefore rather fitting that approximately eighty-five years after Barnes Wallis of the Airship Guarantee Company, a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs, based in Howden designed and successfully tested the R100 the first of the Imperial Airships that we should be now be reconsidering airships as a green alternative for future passenger and freight use.

The MAAT project, made up of eight nations and led by the Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia in Italy, envisages the design of a cruiser which can travel across the globe on a set route. Smaller feeder ships carrying people and goods would then be able to dock onto the cruiser while it is still moving.

The primary energy source for the MAAT is through harvesting sunlight from photovoltaic arrays mounted on the upper airship surface to provide sufficient electric power during the day to operate the airship’s systems, and provide life support, propulsion and control, while also producing sufficient excess energy that can be stored to facilitate continuous MAAT operation at night.

The University of Lincoln team’s research has focused on how to make the most efficient use of energy generated by the photovoltaic cells on the airships and its subsequent use in the electrical power systems, energy storage and the propulsive power requirements. It is hoped that with the introduction of innovative propulsion systems that the limitations of traditional propellers at high altitudes will be overcome resulting in an efficient propulsive system.