Founded in 2025, based in the UK, our mission is to design and build the next generation of airships

Replacing helium lifting gas with better alternatives

• Airships are "lighter than air" vehicles, this means they do not require continuous propulsion to maintain flight (unlike planes/helicopters) and allows them to hover in place with much lower thrust required than a helicopter, this means that a propulsion failure does not result in loss of lift, a safety advantage
• They are capable of vertical takeoff and landing, meaning smaller space than planes for takeoffs/landings and allowing them to takeoff/land in places without transport infrastructure such as roads, rails and airports
• They are capable of carrying large and heavy loads over long distances
• Their slower speed and use of propellers instead of jet engines makes them quieter than planes
• Large possible fuel storage volume and use of propellers allows for possiblity of hydrogen as the fuel using existing technology, making the airship have zero carbon emissions in flight

Here is a table comparing attributes of chosen lifting gases and helium

	Hydrogen	Helium	Steam (250°C)	Hot air (250°C)
Lift/volume (kg/m3)	1.1	1.0	0.81	0.55
Initial minimum cost per cubic metre ($0.20/kwh)	$0.60*	$10	$0.068 (1223 KJ)	$0.0089 (160 KJ)
Initial minimum cost per Kg of lift ($0.20/kwh)	$0.55*	$10	$0.084	$0.016
Non-Combustible	x	✓	✓	✓
Inherent lifting gas	✓	✓	x	x
Renewable inexhaustible supply possible	✓	x	✓	✓
Source Materials	Natural gas, Water, Extracted from ground	Extracted from ground	Water	Air

(All at sea level and 15C ambient)

* Electrolysis

Here is a table showing reasons why every other lifting gas is inadequate

Lifting Gas	Lift/volume (kg/m3)	Flammable	Toxic	Corrosive	Greenhouse Gas
Methane	0.55	✓	x	x	✓

(All at sea level and 15C ambient)

Helium

Helium is currently the dominant lifting gas choice for airships

This is because it is non-combustible, inert and has 2nd best lift/volume of all lifting gases

However helium has 2 big problems which are high cost and non-renewability

High cost makes the initial filling cost higher and makes leaks a bigger concern

Non-renewability is because it is a finite resource found in nature but cannot be artificially produced, reserves empty over time gradually increasing the cost even more

Both of these problems are not foreseeably solvable, which is why we believe the next generation of airships needs to switch the lifting gas to better alternatives

Vacuum

A vacuum gives the theoretical maximum lift/volume possible but it is impossible to contain and prevent implosion for containers as large as needed for an airship, materials with required strength/weight ratio do not exist

Hydrogen

Hydrogen is the lighest gas in the universe so has the highest lift/volume ratio of all lifting gases at 93% of vacuum at sea level

It is also <10% the cost/lift of helium to obtain

However, hydrogen is also very flammable

Modern materials and technology can make the chance of fire very small

But since this fire risk cannot be entirely eliminated, we would not make hydrogen airships for passengers, unmanned or cargo only

Steam

Steam is the 3rd lightest gas available, with 66% lift/volume of vacuum at 250°C at sea level

It is very widely and easily attainable, only water is required

It is 2nd cheapest by cost/lift to obtain, determined by the cost/unit heat used to heat and boil the water

It is non-combustible, even putting out fires

However steam is not an inherent lifting gas, continuous heat must be supplied to maintain its temperature

Therefore when the airship is not in use on the ground cheap sources of heat should be made available to minimise this ongoing expense

Clean electric/heat generation technology could be purchased by owner and used to convert this expense from an ongoing to an initial capital cost

Hot Air

Hot air is the oldest known lifting gas, used for the first human ascent in a hot air balloon in 1783 and used in chinese lanterns before that

It has 45% lift/volume of vacuum at 250°C at sea level

It is universally attainable, ambient air is used

It is by far the cheapest by cost/lift to obtain, heating a unit volume of air from 15->200°C uses <15% energy as steam

It is non-combustible

The negative of hot air is its lower lift/volume

The square/cube law means that the surface area/volume ratio decreases linearly with decreasing airship size so above a certain size the lower lift/volume is compensated for

Since it is so cheap to heat, can vary the hot air temperature in envelope to vary bouyancy, removing need for seperate bouyancy controls or ballast and removing need to maintain air temperature when on ground

Insulation with lower density or thermal conductivity should be used to make up for higher temperatures

The combined benefits of hot air make up for its lower lift/volume as long as the temperature can be raised high enough

Therefore hot air is the primary lifting gas we aim to use in the long term

Our airships will be able to use hydrogen as fuel

This allows for 3 major advantages over fossil fuels

Firstly, hydrogen has the highest energy density of any fuel, this minimises weight of the fuel and therefore maximises range and payload capacity

Secondly, hydrogen produces zero CO2 emissions when either burned or run through fuel cells, it can also be produced with little to no CO2 emissions

Thirdly, hydrogen can be produced by the customer themselves using water and electricity with electrolysis

Airships of various shapes/sizes/lifting gases are possible

All airships must meet these requirements for safety and practicality

Attribute	Value
Altitude Ceiling (MSL)	>3000ft
Max Descent rate	>500 ft/minute
Max Air Speed	>60 knots
Longest Dimension	<350m
Max Lifting Gas Temperature (steam/hot air)	<400°C

Additionally they must only use electric motor propellers for propulsion to allow for possibility of hydrogen with fuel cells as the fuel

Designing and Building any new aircraft is often a multi year process due to various complexities including engineering, regulatory and financial

Our goal is to deploy the first production airship no later than 2035

The airships will be designed and built in the UK, a country with a long history of aviation and airship innovation

We are currently looking for seed funding

This will allow us to...

• Obtain an office
• Continue design of the airship
• Begin discussions with potential buyers, suppliers and regulators
• Hire initial required staff

Further funding would allow us to...

• Obtain/Construct a hangar
• Build a smaller prototype
• Get customer preorders
• Build a full scale prototype
• Complete testing and obtain certification from regulators
• Build the first production airship
• Become profitable and provide a return on investment

If you want to invest in the future of airships please contact us