this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2025
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Every 100 years, I guess. We gotta go through all the shit every 100 years.
what if it was made of helium though
that stuff doesn't burn
Helium has problems of its own, sadly. Besides being a little bit less effective at actually lifting, it's relatively scarce on Earth and it leaks even faster than hydrogen
I believe we're also already getting dangerously close to depleting our supply of helium, as well.
That's actually not a big deal for blimps. Blimps don't lose a lot of helium, they only need to be serviced for if like once a year. When people say we have a helium crisis, they're talking about high-purity helium for advanced medical work and advanced science.
Phew, so it's only a crisis for important shit. Dodged a bullet there! :D
As I understand it - with the disclaimer that I have no particular expertise or experience in the matter - it's not quite as dire as that. Historically the USA accounted for basically the entire world's production, and American reserves that are known and economical to access are getting within something like 50 years of running out. However, other countries have begun to produce much more substantially in recent years, and we probably do have enough to last a good while once the rest of world reserves are accounted for
However it is still functionally non-renewable and meaningfully finite, so we shouldn't waste it
The moon has it.
Meaning we can mine it all there until we risk fucking with our tides or awaken SpaCe’thulu
I mean, we could be using the heavier neon, which is also a noble gas and lighter than air. But it's almost as rare as helium, and you'd need significantly more of it to produce the same lift.
The thing we're running out of?
yeah I didn't think of that
Apparently aerogels, lighter than air solids, are being explored.
Which means we can do cool new form factors, too!
It's a Noble gas that we can't synthesize chemically and is light enough it just floats away forever when released. And it provides less lift than hydrogen.
Helium's sole advantage is also why it's about the least-renewable thing out there.
The Empire State Building was designed as a zeppelin docking station. Boarding/de-boarding and flight times are barely competitive with the modern subway. It was fun and novel, but quite impractical.
To be fair have many people still been trying to improve on the technology or are we still using some ancient blueprint.
Avation science has come a long way.
Zeppelins were used in 1910-1937. The helicopter was invented in 1939.
honestly, I bet we could probably make a hydrogen one reasonably safe, if we really wanted to. Sure, its flammable and all, but so is jet fuel, and we can throw giant tanks of that stuff into the air safely with enough engineering put into it.
Elsewhere in the thread I've seen mention of aerogels being explored!
Which is pretty cool.
As long as we don't paint the airship skin with it.
I do find it somewhat interesting that there is a sense with some that a hydrogen airship could never be safe enough to carry crew, or even exist unmanned, but at the same time, we can make rockets containing massive tanks of liquid hydrogen, right next to huge tanks of liquid oxygen, propelled by a massive continuous explosion, safe enough to put people in. Obviously the accepted risk for rockets is a bit higher, but still, its not like we dont know how hydrogen works, and what conditions it does and doesnt explode under.
We had the pandemic, now likely a great depression, so why not Hindenburg?
Who needs Hindenburg when you have Boeing? Also Boeing: Bits Of Engine In Neighbours Garden