Airships Are Cool

Airships sort of fell out of prominence after this:

but they seem to be making a comeback of late. They can carry massive cargo loads or lots of people and can use less fuel than trucks or planes with slower travel times being the trade-off.

Several companies are researching and designing modern airships for all kinds of potential uses.

Next month Aeros will be introducing the AEROSCRAFT ML866, which is essentially a flying sky yacht with a 5000 square foot living/business/cargo area.

The folks at Dynalifter see modern airships as an emerging economical competitor to trucking with the benefit of much larger payloads and the ability to land in areas where trucks can't. Two of their Dynalifter Freighters can carry as much cargo as 100 semi-trucks.

JP Aerospace believes that specially designed airships can serve as a platform into orbit.

There are lots of interesting airship designs like a vertical tower, giant spheres, or a flying disk.

Most of these seem to be in the R&D phase right now, but you might be able to get started soon with your own Personal Blimp once it gets FAA Approval.

For lots of great Airship news and comments, visit the very cool Airshipworld Blog.