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Reviving an early 20th-century ambition, an experimental airship debuted at Moffett Field in November, albeit for only a few minutes before technicians rolled the massive aircraft back inside its cloistered hangar.
Almost double the size of a Goodyear blimp, the floating aircraft is a modern take on an old concept to revolutionize the skies with “lighter-than-air” ships. LTA, an aerospace research and development company, has taken this to new heights with its prototype, Pathfinder 1, which it tested for the first time in direct sunlight on Nov. 8.
“The Pathfinder 1 proof of concept aircraft combines the best historical design, modern materials, and new, patented engineering and manufacturing techniques to create a next-generation airship that is safer, stronger, and more efficient than ever before,” LTA said on its website.
LTA, which got its start in 2016, is backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and on a mission to develop zero-carbon airships. At 400-feet in length, Pathfinder 1 has the potential to transport massive amounts of cargo and passengers over large distances, making it a good fit for humanitarian purposes, too.
The airships can speed up disaster and relief efforts since they don’t require much infrastructure, LTA said. If runways, roads or ports are damaged, they still can deliver what communities need.
While it looks a lot like a blimp, Pathfinder 1 is a dirigible. It has a rigid framework, made of welded titanium hubs and carbon fiber reinforced tubes, that keeps its shape — unlike blimps, which have no internal structure and can deflate.
The airship also is safer than its 20th-century predecessors, such as the ill-fated Hindenburg dirigible that burned in Lakehurst, New Jersey with passengers aboard in 1937. Pathfinder 1 lifts without burning fuel. Instead of using flammable hydrogen, like the Hindenburg, it floats with helium-filled bags.
The airship’s outer covering, developed by LTA, also draws on a novel technology meant to minimize combustibility. It is made of a laminated Tedlar material, which is lightweight, nonflammable and UV-resistant, the company website said.
The wheeling out of Pathfinder 1 was designed to test some of these features in direct sunlight. As hoped, the exterior cover “superheated” when warmed by the sun, causing the airship to expand and lighten, The Mercury News reported on Nov. 14.
The exercise also provided an opportunity to test the airship’s electric motors. Attached to the airship’s side and tail, the motors are designed to help with directional control, a longstanding issue for dirigibles that often are at the mercy of inclement winds. The motors use an advanced fly-by-wire system that combines commands from pilots with sensor feedback data, according to the company website.
Altogether, these airship advancements can “move more people and cargo — further, faster and longer,” LTA said.
While tight-lipped on the timeline, LTA plans to roll out more outdoor testing, including low-altitude flights, in the next year.