1 Modern Airships – Part 2

Modern Airships Part 2

Peter Lobner

18 August 2019

2 Modern Airships – Part 2

Table of Contents

Modern Airships – Part 2

1. Introduction 2. Specific airships in Part 2 3. Links to the individual articles Conventional airships:

• Flying Whales LCA60T

• Buoyant Aircraft Systems International (BASI) MB-310 & MB-560

• TP Aerospace Atlas 80

• SkyLifter Ltd. SL150, SL50, SL25 & SL20

• Augur RosAeroSystems DZ-N1 & MD-900 Variable buoyancy, fixed volume airships:

• Atlas (former Augur RosAeroSystems) ATLANT 30 & 100

• Varialift Plc. ARH 50 & 250

• Euro Airship Corsair & DGPAtt

• Skylite Aeronautics GeoShip

• AeroVehicles, Inc. Minicat & Aerocat R-12 & R-40

• Global Airships Atlas

• LTA Aerostructures 10T & 70T

• Imaginactive Alert, Invitation & Kugaaruk Variable buoyancy, variable volume airships:

• EADS Tropospheric Airship Hybrid, semi-buoyant airships:

• Millennium Airship SkyFreighter

• Airship GP “Super Hybrid” AeroTruck, AeroBoat & AeroYacht

• Nautilus SpA Elettra Twin Flyers (ETF)

• Flying-Yacht

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Hybrid, solar-powered airships:

• Project Sol’R Nephelios

• Solar Ship Caracal semi-buoyant airship

• Solar Ship Wolverine & Nanuq semi-buoyant aircraft

• Solar Flight Sunship

• Dirisolar DS-12, DS-900 & DS-1500

• SolarAirShip High-Speed Solar Airship (HSSA)

• Atlas (former Augur RosAeroSystems) HAA Berkut Plane / blimp hybrids:

• Egan Airships PLIMP Model D drone & Model J Solid-state propulsion airship:

• Festo b-IONIC Airfish Variable buoyancy propulsion airships:

• Phoenix

• Advanced High-Altitude Aerobody (AHAB)

• Solomon Andrews’ Aereon I & II (1863)

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1. Introduction “Modern Airships” is a three-part document that contains an overview of modern airship technology in Part 1 and links in Parts 1, 2 and 3 to 79 individual articles on historic and advanced airship designs. This is Part 2. Here are the links to the other two parts:

• Modern Airships – Part 1: https://lynceans.org/all-posts/modern-airships-part-1/

• Modern Airships – Part 3: https://lynceans.org/all-posts/modern-airships-part-3/

You’ll find a consolidated Table of Contents for all three parts at the following link. This should help you navigate the large volume of material in the three documents.

• Consolidated TOC: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Modern-Airships-–-Consolidated-TOC-converted.pdf

Modern Airships – Part 2 begins with a summary table identifying the airships addressed in this part, and concludes by providing links to 25 individual articles on these airships. If you have any comments or wish to identify errors in these documents, please send me an e-mail to: PL31416@cox.net. I hope you’ll find the Modern Airships series to be informative, useful, and different from any other single document on this subject. Best regards, Peter Lobner August 2019

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2. Specific airships in Part 2 The airships reviewed in Part 2 are summarized in the following set of tables. There are many heavy-lift cargo airships in these tables. In addition, there are several solar-powered airships and sub-scale airships that demonstrated novel means of airship propulsion. Links to the individual articles on these airships are provided at the end of this document.

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Among the airships in the above tables, the following full-scale airships have flown:

• Project Sol’R Nephelios solar-powered airship

• Solar Ship 20-meter Caracal prototype

• Solomon Andrews’ Aereon I and II variable buoyancy propulsion airships (in the 1860s)

In addition, the following sub-scale demonstrators have flown:

• Festo b-IONIC Airfish (demonstration of ionic propulsion)

• Phoenix and AHAB (demonstrations of variable buoyancy propulsion)

Among the airships in the above tables, several airships are likely to receive their airworthiness certification in the next several years. The leading candidates identified in Part 2 are:

• Flying Whales: The LCA60T prototype maiden flight is expected to take place in 2021, and the firm appears to have the funding needed to enter full-scale production.

• Varialift: The ARH-PT prototype’s first “float test” is expected in 2019. The first ARH 50 roll out is expected in 2021, with a 24-month certification process before commercial deliveries begin.

• Euro Airship: Production-ready drawings exist for the Corsair and the larger DGPAtt. When funding becomes available, they’re ready to go.

• Solar Ship: The 24-meter Caracal semi-buoyant, inflated wing airship and the larger Wolverine semi-buoyant aircraft are expected to receive Canadian certification, possibly by 2020 - 2021.

• Egan Airships: The PLIMP drone and Model J plane / blimp hybrids that have started their FAA certification processes.

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These airships will be competing in the worldwide airship market with the leading candidates identified in Part 1, which may enter the market in the same time frame:

• Lockheed Martin: LMH-1 hybrid airship

• Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV): Airlander 10 hybrid airship

• Aeros Aeroscraft ML866 / Aeroscraft Gen 2: variable buoyancy airship

• Volaris V932 NATAC: semi-buoyant, inflated wing airship The early 2020s will be an exciting time for the airship industry. We’ll finally get to see if the availability of several different heavy-lift airships with commercial airworthiness certificates will be enough to open a new era in airship transportation. Aviation regulatory agencies need to help reduce risk by eliminating regulatory uncertainty and putting in place an adequate regulatory framework for the wide variety of advanced airships being developed. Customers with business cases for airship applications need to step up, place firm orders, and then begin the pioneering task of employing their airships and building a worldwide airship transportation network with associated ground infrastructure.

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3. Links to the individual articles The following links will take you to the 25 individual articles. Note that the Atlas / Augur RosAeroSystems, Solar Ship, Egan Airships, and variable buoyancy propulsion articles addressed all of the related airship designs, some of which were listed separately in the preceding tables. Conventional airships:

• Flying Whales LCA60T: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Flying-Whales-converted.pdf

• Buoyant Aircraft Systems International (BASI) MB-310 & MB-560: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/BASI-converted.pdf

• TP Aerospace Atlas 80: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/TP-Aerospace_Atlas-80-converted.pdf

• SkyLifter Ltd. SL150, SL50, SL25 & SL20: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Skylifter-converted.pdf

• Augur RosAeroSystems DZ-N1 & MD-900: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Atlas_Augur-RosAeroSystems-converted.pdf

Variable buoyancy, fixed volume airships:

• Atlas (former Augur RosAeroSystems) ATLANT 30 & 100: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Atlas_Augur-RosAeroSystems-converted.pdf

• Varialift Plc. ARH 50 & 250: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Varialift-Airships-converted.pdf

• Euro Airship Corsair & DGPAtt: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Euro-Airship-converted.pdf

• Skylite Aeronautics GeoShip: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Skylite-Aeronautics_GeoShip-converted.pdf

• AeroVehicles, Inc. Minicat & Aerocat R-12 & R-40: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AeroVehicles_Aerocat-converted.pdf

• Global Airships Atlas: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Global-Airships_Atlas-converted.pdf

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• LTA Aerostructures LTA-10T & LTA-70T: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/LTA-Aerostructures-converted.pdf

• Imaginactive Alert, Invitation & Kugaaruk: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Imaginactive_-Alert-airship-converted.pdf

Variable buoyancy, variable volume airships:

• EADS Tropospheric Airship: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/EADS_Tropospheric-Airship-converted.pdf

Hybrid, semi-buoyant airships:

• Millennium Airship SkyFreighter: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Millennium-Airship_SkyFreighter-converted.pdf

• Airship GP “Super Hybrid” AeroTruck, AeroBoat & AeroYacht: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Airship-GP-converted.pdf

• Nautilus SpA Elettra Twin Flyers (ETF): https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Nautilus_Elettra-Twin-Flyers-converted.pdf

• Flying-Yacht: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Flying-Yacht-converted.pdf

Hybrid, solar-powered airships

• Project Sol’R Nephelios: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Project-Sol’R_Nephelios-converted.pdf

• Solar Ship Caracal semi-buoyant airship; Wolverine & Nanuq semi-buoyant aircraft: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Solar-Ship-converted.pdf

• Solar Flight Sunship: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Solar-Flight_Sunship-converted.pdf

• Dirisolar DS-12, DS-900 & DS-1500: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Dirisolar-converted.pdf

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• SolarAirShip High-Speed Solar Airship (HSSA): https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SolarAirShip_High-Speed-Solar-Airship-HSSA-converted.pdf

• Atlas (former Augur RosAeroSystems) HAA Berkut: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Atlas_Augur-RosAeroSystems-converted.pdf

Plane / blimp hybrids:

• Egan Airships PLIMP Model D drone and Model J: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Egan-Airships_PLIMP-converted.pdf

Solid-state propulsion airship:

• Festo b-IONIC Airfish: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Festo_b-IONIC-Airfish-converted.pdf

Variable buoyancy propulsion airships:

• Phoenix, Advanced High-Altitude Aerobody (AHAB) and Solomon Andrews’ Aereon I & II: https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Variable-buoyancy-propulsion-airships-converted.pdf