Large, Slow Airships Could Move Buildings

Algorithmnast writes "The Economist has a short article on using big, slow-moving airships to move large objects without the need to dismantle them. The company mentioned, Skylifter, refers to the lifting ship as an 'aerial crane,' not a Thor weapon. It could easily help move research labs to new parts of the Antarctic, or allow a Solar Tower to be inserted into an area that's difficult to drive to, such as a mesa in New Mexico."

Comments

Re:Absolutely Terrible Idea

[DerekLyons]

Buildings (and pretty much everything else on Earth) are mostly designed to resist compressive loads I.E. the force of gravity. Thus, if you want to move a structure using this method your pretty much have two major options: First, to move an existing structure you can build a heavy cage around it so you can lift it from the top. Second, to move a new structure you can design in massive reinforcements so you can lift it from the top.

Or you can do what they currently do now which is shove a series of I-beams under it to take the weight from the foundation. Once all the weight is on the I-beams, there is no difference to the building if the I-beams are being lifted by a series of jacks to get it on a truck, a crane to lift it onto another foundation, or a dirigible to carry it cross country.

Sometimes it helps to stop and think before typing, you might try it sometime. When you do, in this case, the intelligent person would ask himself - how do you connect the beams on the bottom to the lifting point on the top. Then the intelligent person will re-read my message and note that I'd already mentioned that.
 
The idiot and his boon companion Captain Obvious instead will just repeat what the individual I was replying to and I already said.