this post was submitted on 20 May 2024
689 points (97.1% liked)

Greentext

4475 readers
1835 users here now

This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago (2 children)

If they have a future it'll be moving stuff, not people. If it's faster than a container ship and can carry more than a plane then it could have a valuable niche.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago (1 children)

They also have a potential advantage in moving large things.

For instance wind turbine blades, which are quite difficult to move by trucks. Airships don't require infrastructure for the transport or delivery and could rope it down to sites with difficult terrain.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I would think a large team of purpose-built remote controlled quadcopters would be cheaper, faster, and more maneuverable than a zeppelin for that kind of application. Assuming we don't have to go huge distances (say, from an inland port or a railway to final destination).

Maybe better for last-mile. Zeppelin could probably get you close but unless you're building in a large open field, it'll be difficult to get it exactly where it needs to be.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Sure that would be a solution too. An airship would have an advantage in not using energy to stay up, so it could theoretically fly very long distances with heavy weight, where drones would need constant energy depending on both the weight and distance.

I'm not saying it is a good idea in practice, but theoretically it might make sense.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

That's actually a fantastic idea, I hadn't thought of that