اختبارات طيران لأكبر طائرة في العالم infographic
Graphic shows how the Pathfinder 1 airship works.
GN45065AR

طيران

اختبارات طيران لأكبر طائرة في العالم

By Ninian Carter

November 14, 2023 - باثفايندر 1، النموذج الأولي لمنطاد كهربائي مصمم لتوفير الإغاثة في مواقع الكوارث حيث تكون الطرق والمطارات غير سالكة، إضافة إلى نقل الركاب من دون انبعاثات كربونية، بدأت اختبارات طيران في سيليكون فالي.

Pathfinder 1, a prototype electric airship that could usher in a new era of climate-friendly air travel and aid humanitarian work, has begun a series of increasingly ambitious flight tests in California.

LTA Research, based in Silicon Valley and backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has been working for 10 years on the project that it hopes will supply future disaster relief to areas where roads and airports have become impassable, as well as one day providing zero-carbon passenger transportation.

The airship, the world’s largest aircraft, coming in at 124.5 metres in length – longer than three Boeing 737s, is able to carry four tonnes of cargo over many hundreds of kilometres.

Running on twelve electric motors that can propel Pathfinder at up to 120km/h (75mph), the airship is kept aloft by 13 gigantic nylon cells inflated with approximately 28,000 cubic metres of helium gas. It’s then further enshrouded by a rigid carbon-fibre frame and wrapped in a lightweight synthetic Tedlar skin.

Test flights are currently underway around Moffett Field, before extending over the southern part of San Francisco Bay.

If successful, Pathfinder 1 will move to Akron, Ohio, where LTA Research is planning an even larger airship, the Pathfinder 3, capable of carrying even greater payloads.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 14/11/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
Advertisement