Canadian Company Plans Solar-Powered Heavier-Than-Air Airships

Posted by timothy on Saturday October 22, 2011 @05:55PM from the sir-we're-nearly-out-of-buzzwords dept.

savuporo writes "By crossing airships with airplanes, Solar Ship is planning to build a craft that can carry heavy loads long distances with a tiny carbon footprint. Filled with helium, they soak up rays from the sun to provide the energy for forward motion and fulfill its original design challenge – carry 1,000 kilograms (2,205 lbs) of payload 1,000 kilometers (621.4 miles). The craft is heavier than air, and uses a combination of helium filling its interior and its lifting body delta wing shape to stay airborne. Solar Ship shows plans for a range of different size craft for different duties."

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Re:A bit short sighted by tbird81 · 2011-10-22 18:40 · Score: 5, Informative

I would love to know this. My physics isn't great, but I did a quick Google.
It looks like the consensus is that it is not possible, those materials do not exist.
The other thing is that is would not make much difference than using helium:
Density of air is 1.2 kg/m3.
The density of helium is 0.166 kg/m3.
If we had a balloon filled with air, and replaced it with helium, the density reduces to 14%. This means that that much helium could support 86% of the weight of the air. A vacuum's density is 0, so it was possible it would support the weight of 100% of the air it 'displaced'. So a perfect vacuum is only 16% better at lifting (in air) than helium is.