Flying an airship around the world. They won't land even once
2:26 PM EDT, October 3, 2023, updated: 9:00 AM EDT, October 5, 2023
Traveling around the world is not unimaginable nowadays. However, it turns out that some believe it could be done with a zero-emission vehicle, without landing on Earth. Solar Airship One is a blimp that allows it.
Around the world journey by an airship, without landing. This is the challenge that is to be accomplished by Solar Airship One, a photovoltaic airship. As we read on newatlas.com, the journey of approximately 25 thousand miles in an emission-free vehicle is supposed to take around 20 days.
The Solar Airship One airship is 495 feet long. Its entire surface, i.e. about 4.8 thousand square meters, will be covered with solar foil. This will allow for the generation of energy needed to power the electric drive. The excess energy will be used to perform electrolysis of water into hydrogen. This will allow for travel at night, when atmospheric conditions are not favorable.
A three-member team will be responsible for piloting the vehicle. The team consists of former French astronaut and air force pilot Michel Tognini, paraplegic Dorine Bourneton who survived an air crash and is an acrobatic pilot, and Bertrand Piccard who circumnavigated the Earth without landing in 1999, traveling by balloon.
The speed of the airship is expected to be just over 51 mph, equivalent to about 10 percent of the speed achieved by passenger planes. The journey will be long, but if successful, it will prove that travel can occur without carbon dioxide emissions. However, it's hard to imagine that we'll switch to airships. Still, it's possible that there may be other uses for them.
According to some, they can be considered luxury means of transportation. Others see in them a chance to supplement the freight transportation industry. Hydrogen-powered airships would have 8 to 10 times greater cargo capacity than cargo planes, while costing 25% of their price. At the same time, their speed is several times higher than the speed of sea freighters.
Solar Airship One uses renewable energy, but one of its key elements is not renewable. It's about helium, which fills the vehicle. There are 50,000 cubic meters of it in it.
The Euro Airship team plans to circumnavigate the Earth emission-free in 2026. The flight will take place near the equator at an altitude of about 3,5 miles.
