In comparison with current traditional combined modes of transport, this would significantly reduce the cost and the time of transportation to these remote parts. This means it would be able to deliver goods to otherwise impenetrable geographical regions, such as in the earth’s polar regions, or to small islands, deserts and mountainous zones with no road or port infrastructure. In addition, Kozlov’s proposed airship has the ability to transport bulky, outsize, solid freight payloads ranging from 20 to 600 tonnes, and with the added benefit of an external sling allowing it to be loaded and unloaded whilst in ‘hover mode’ above ground. Furthermore, not only does it significantly lower the costs of transport and logistics operations, but it is extremely eco-friendly, Sergei Bendin ( below, right), chief executive (CEO) for the Aerosmenaproject, points out. The beauty of Kozlov’s Aerosmena project is not only that it operates independently from ground infrastructure, so there is no need for ports, roads, waterways, airports, airfields, railways, hangars and runways, but it can fly anywhere at any time of the day or night, for days and even weeks without landing. Russian engineer and visionary Orfey Kozlov, designer of the Aerosmena Russian engineer and visionary Orfey Kozlov ( below, right) even believes he has raised the stakes in the race to create and manufacture next-generation, safe, environmentally-friendly cargo airships, with his own innovative design. With disruptive technologies such as digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3D printing, the Internet of Things (IoT) and drones, already transforming and challenging the established aerospace and aviation industry and making the previously impossible possible, the fascination of building airships has never floated away. However, the infamous 1937 Hindenburg fire, in which 37 people died, including one ground crewman whilst trying to land in New Jersey, USA, temporarily suspended the world’s fascination with airship travel.ĭespite this calamitous setback, the fervour to construct a financially viable airship to compete with current lighter-than-air (LTA) commercial aircraft accommodating passengers and cargo has continued among some of the brightest people in the world. Then, in the 1900s, Germany’s Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin continued Giffard’s pursuit of excellence in this field by building the first rigid airship. Yet, when French engineer and inventor Henri Giffard built the world’s first airship, little did he know that he was sparking a race to create a dirigible that could one day be a reliable form of mass air transport. They either conjure up images of flying saucers, not unlike those portrayed in 1960s and 1970s sci-fi movies about aliens from outer space, or cause one to tremble with fear about horrific death by fire and catastrophe, writes Thelma Etim.
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