A zeppelin, better known as a dirigible, is a controlled balloon powered by a propulsion system based on lightweight hydrogen or helium. The surge in the use of this vehicle came at the beginning of the 20th century, when it was considered not just a means of transportation, but also a luxurious way of showing its wealth to the affluent stratum of the population. Almost 80 years after the last mass exploitation of airships, the huge flying giants may return to the skies and become part of our everyday lives. This time, however, the airships will not be used to carry passengers, but as an environmentally friendly means of transport to deliver goods around the world.

What are zeppelins and how do they work?
Zeppelins are dirigibles of a rigid system, whose feature is the distribution of carrier gas into separate compartments in a fabric-wrapped metal frame. These highly original devices are named after their creator, the German Count Ferdinand Zeppelin. The realization of the project to build an air balloon began in 1899, and the first flight of the Zeppelin airship “Zeppelin – LZ 1” took place in 1900. After successful tests of the new aircraft, Zeppelin’s airships were used for both military and civilian purposes. Despite its incredible success, the airship era ended as quickly as it began. The main reason for abandoning this means of transportation was the crash of the Zeppelin Hindenburg in 1936, which turned into a real disaster.

Thus, on May 3, the Hindenburg zeppelin left Frankfurt for Lakehurst. It had a total of 97 people on board. On May 6, 1936, upon arriving at the landing site, the airship suddenly caught fire and collapsed to the ground from a height of 180 meters. Despite the fact that the cause of the fire will soon be clarified by a special commission, for people this catastrophe becomes the main reason to stop operating the zeppelins. According to the expert opinion, the fire was caused by a hydrogen leak, which was caused by the rupture of a hydrogen tank when the air vehicle landed.

Zeppelins may return to the skies in the near future
Despite the unexpected sunset of balloon technology that occurred in the early 20th century, nearly 80 years later the giant zeppelins are poised for a comeback. The newest zeppelins will be 10 times bigger than the 800-pound Hindenburg and five times bigger than the Empire State Building. According to the designers of the new balloons, they would do the traditional work of cargo ships, but much faster and with minimal pollution.

Scientists claim that it would take 16 days to circumnavigate the globe in such an airship, carrying around 20,000 tonnes of payload at once, with minimal energy consumption. The newest generation of aircraft will travel on a jet stream, which is a powerful belt of winds that surrounds the Earth. Like 80 years ago, zeppelins will be buoyant thanks to hydrogen, which is 14 times lighter than air. Because of the flammable gas, the newest zeppelins will be fully autonomous, and the loading process will be guided by robotic systems.

Scientists believe that the development of the latest technology will improve the construction of reliable airships and reduce the risk of hydrogen leaks and related fires by several times compared to their predecessors. If so, an era of new vehicles and a boom in transport around the world will soon be upon us. All that remains to be said here is that “all that is new is well forgotten old.