The founder of Google jumps on airships

Another billionaire, after Elon Musk, takes to flight, but this time without reaching space. As reported by IEEE Spectrum, the Federal Aviation Administration has officially authorized the takeoff of Google co-founder Sergey Brin's 130-meter-long airship, nicknamed Pathfinder 1.

FAA flight permits were reportedly granted last month and allow the enormous aircraft to fly at a height of up to about 500 meters.

According to the IEEE, the facility can fly over the south side of San Francisco Bay, where it will not interfere with planes "flying into or out of San Jose." and San Francisco International Commercial Airports.”

This is a huge step forward for the Moonshot humanitarian project, which aims to make its airship an incredibly light and efficient means of transporting large quantities of goods and aid workers to hard-to-reach disaster zones.

Lighter than air

Designed and built by LTA or “Lighter Than Air” startup Research, co-founded by Brin, Pathfinder 1 would be the largest airship to take flight since the Hindenberg disaster in 1937, according to IEEE. It must be said that the German original, however, was much larger, being about 100 meters longer than the American model.

The construction of the proof-of-concept aircraft is quite fascinating. The new generation airship is equipped with 12 electric motors and four rudders. Its circular structure is built with lightweight materials such as carbon fibers and titanium. This makes it light enough to fly using only non-flammable helium, instead of explosive hydrogen.

In its appeal to the FAA, the startup wrote in a letter that “Pathfinder 1's experimental flight test program is to demonstrate and establish the flight envelope for the airship,” adding that its intended test plan “ is adapted to include substantial internal and external terrain testing, using a cumulative approach to gradually increase the flight envelope.”

Once the blimp's test flights in California are completed, the IEEE reports that Pathfinder 1 will head to the Goodyear Airdock hangar located in Akron, Ohio, where an even larger, nearly 650-foot blimp is already in the works.

This is Brin's vision for a less expensive and, above all, zero-carbon air transport system. We'll see if this concept succeeds.

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The article The founder of Google throws himself on airships comes from Scenari Economici .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-fondatore-di-google-si-butta-sui-dirigibili/ on Mon, 30 Oct 2023 06:30:15 +0000.