The Airship Prize

Over the last couple of years my interest and excitment around the concept of reviving and renewing airship transport technology of the blimp or zeppelin variety has been growing steadily. Today I’m now utterly convinced these massive dinosaurs of the sky from the early 1900s actually have the potential to re-emerge and change our world for the better.

A bold statement no doubt, but one that is driven by a number of realities we face as a society, coupled with the very nature of flight these airships are capable of. Regardless of the extent to which one believes in the crisis of global warming, most people would agree that reductions in the amount of carbon emissions from our society can only be a good thing. From a business perspective, transportation of products and raw materials is the key contributor to the carbon footprint of almost all businesses. Currently most of this transportation is via trucks, trains, container ships and airplanes generating significantly more carbon than an airship alternative.

Beyond the significant carbon reduction opportunities airship technology represents for transportation uses, their ability to take off and land vertically without fixed infrastructure such as runways would make transport airships an invaluable tool in the effective delivery of humanitarian aid and the servicing of remote communities.

“Access to populations affected by natural disasters or armed conflicts remain a major challenge for humanitarian organizations. Dirigibles could offer the economy, range and capacity to timely deliver food and medicines when all other surface or air transport means are either unusable or too expensive.”

Pierre Carrasse, Chief, Aviation Unit – ODTA, UN World Food Programme

In 1995, I founded the World Organization for Relief Logistics Development (WORLD) www.worldev.org to assist relief agencies on a volunteer basis with all aspects of their logistics. In almost every major natural disaster scenario we were involved in assisting with, transporting in the needed relief supplies was the greatest challenge. In most cases, roads, bridges and airstrips were damaged or unusable making logistics delivery incredibly difficult. Utilizing viable transport airships for these purposes, the advantages of their ability to take off and land in a vertical manner has the potential to create a step change in relief logistics delivery.

” For now, only helicopters are able to reach affected areas during natural disasters, at a very high cost. Airships potentially could offer more agility at a fraction of the cost.”

Jacques Collignon, Senior Logistics Officer, West Africa Bureau OMD, United Nations World Food Programme

Around the world, there are now approximately a dozen or so companies and groups of companies with the requisite knowledge, skills and technology to build the modern airships needed to fulfill both of these worthy challenges. Sadly, many among the general populace, business world and governments immediately dismiss the potential of a transport airship solution because of the negative perceptions created and still enduring since the 1937 Hindenburg Disaster.

This disaster was more than 70 years ago utilizing the most primitive of materials, methods and technologies. In 2008 and beyond, we have access to so many superior materials both for airship skeleton and envelope, as well as interior cells for lift and buoyancy. Skeletons could be made from lightweight and incredibly strong composite materials increasing lift capacity, strength and safety of modern airships many times over that of their early 1900s ancestors.

Likewise, airship envelopes could be made from very lightweight, durable and less flammable materials such as Tedlar and even aluminum representing possible solutions. Tedlar is the same material used for making bulletproof vests and takes huge amounts of force to tear.

Advances in technology sensors and electronic controls would also result in lightyear improvements in safety, gas and buoyancy control/monitoring of airships to identify and correct any potentially dangerous conditions aboard airships before they could even become a potential safety concern.

Another issue with the first airships was damage due to inclement weather and the dramatic improvements in both the monitoring of and forecasting of bad weather conditions could provide airships with the critical information needed to identify and navigate around any serious weather disturbances.

So if the above discussion convinces naysayers that the many technical issues facing airships in the past can now be overcome, what are the remaining impediments to the development of a viable airship transport industry?

There is no doubt that the number one requirement for starting a major renewal and modern upgrade of airship transport technology is money. And given the tough economic times facing the world over the next several years, attracting such money on a pure research and development grant basis is unlikely. This is precisely why we truly believe the Airship Prize is the most appropriate way of spurring the development of a viable transport airship industry forward.

The significant cash award that will be paid to the Airship Prize winning team will ONLY be paid if the Airship Prize Criteria are met! In this way, the sponsors can be assured that they will only pay the full award amount out for a successful outcome. And there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind of the value to both the environment and humanitarian logistics that will be created based on the emergence of a viable airship transport industry positively changing our world for the better.

Jeff Ashcroft

October, 2008