Skip to main content

PROGRESS ON THE HYDROGEN CLIPPER

                          From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185        246       82
July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518      118
Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465
Jan     14       4142     15512        1151        189      712              
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398
Mar     2        1989      9490        1726       110      194
April   6          906     11787         4211       631       37
May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 
June   1         287    10637         2346      3205       95
 July   7          251      8440        1595        817       411
Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532      423 
Sept   1        1480    10470          703        505      235
          8        1700      9836          250        339     253
        14        1934      9001          709        281      300
        22       2228      9326          839        279      124
        29        2190      8859         643        309     108
Oct    5        1811       7495          686        285     103
          6        2102       8255         543        315       59
        12        1819        7544          201        249       37 
        19        2005      7528         401        160        80 
        26        1451       7535         409        584       53
        27        1594       8671         433        734        62 
Nov   3        1436       7830        186        458        23
          9        1207       7009        154        480        35

Summary:  I'll reserve comment until we see the data for tomorrow.  I did, though, look closer at the Worldometer numbers for new cases yesterday, and noted that Europe, particularly the former Soviet countries, are experiencing a serious upsurge.  If you're imminently leaving on a trip to Europe, you should be aware that WHO officials announced that the region has again become the epicenter of the pandemic.  There has been a 50% jump in cases during past month, making it the only region showing this kind of increase.  The usual reasons are given:  colder weather forcing people indoors, stall in vaccinations and opening up of the economy. 

The Hindenburg in the 1930's was the only dirigible to establish a regular transatlantic service at a maximum speed of 84 mph.  It had a crew of 40 and cabins for 50 passengers.  The 804 foot long ship (three times longer than a 747) was designed to use helium, but the U.S. had a monopoly over it, so Germany switched to hydrogen, which provided an 8% higher lift.  The frame was duralumin and cotton cloth cover was varnished with iron oxide  and cellulose acetate butyrate impregnated with aluminum powder.  

A close colleague, Addison Bain of NASA, wrote a book linking the Hindenburg disaster of 1937 to this coating.  Surely you saw the video of this New Jersey crash, captured by Herbert Morrison's voice.  The amazing thing is that 62 of the passenger/crew of 97 survived.  The airship era died 84 years ago.

Few even know that the then world's largest airship, the British R101 in 1930 also crashed, in France, killing 548 of the 54 aboard. We remember the Hindenburg because it was all captured on film.  In 1939 Pan American began operation of the Boeing 314 for passenger service across the Atlantic.

The Goodyear blimp you see at sports events has a cruising speed of 35 mph, but can go as fast as 50 mph.  It is filled with helium.

H2 Clipper, Inc. sent me an announcement that they had been granted another U.S. Patent for a lighter-than air craft to accelerate the hydrogen economy. This is their seventh patent focusing on all aspects of the design.

Founded in 2008, their plans, according to CEO Rinaldo Brutoco, is to build a flying prototype by 2024.  

  • They hope to utilize this green fuel to transport freight 7-10 times faster than ship, truck or rail, at a 70% savings over traditional air freight.
  • 30 countries have released hydrogen roadmaps.
  • 200 projects have been announced by industry with $70 billion in public funding.
  • Present design shows a vehicle with an air speed of 175+ mph.
    • The vertical take-off will change the whole concept of shipping by air.
    • This will be the only climate friendly option.
A long time ago I discussed with Brutoco the potential of his fast dirigible, which I originally called Hawaii Hydrogen Clipper, as the vehicle of choice for Blue Revolution floating cities.  Our platforms will utilize ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) to produce hydrogen, and his ships will provide passenger service and for refueling/exporting hydrogen.  Hopefully, the H2 Clipper will be able to become operational by 2050 when our first floating city hosts the World Expo during the Fall into the Winter when hurricanes are not a threat.  After the world's fair, the marine city will be towed closer to the equator where hurricanes do not go.

You ask, what about another Hindenburg disaster?  I have reason to believe that an airship can be designed to avoid any hydrogen explosion.  The H2 Clipper will pave the way for the Orient Express, a commercial jet flying using hydrogen to operate at 17,000 miles/hour, which would take you from Los Angeles to Tokyo in less than a hour.  Perhaps the National Aerospace Plane at Mach 2.7 would come first, reducing a New York City to Paris nonstop from 14 to 4 hours.  I take special pride in writing about this subject, for I drafted the original hydrogen bill for the U.S. Senate in 1980 which included this aircraft.

-

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota.  Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north.  Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge.  If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic.  Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing.  The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University.  Caught a bus. Was called the  Century 21 Exposition .  Also the Seattle World's Fair.  10 million joined me on a six-month run.  My first. These a...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that   Oktoberfest   in Germany is mostly in September?  The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3.  Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September?  The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich?  These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11.  Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town.  It was drizzling a bit.  We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served.  We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall.  So no one came to serve us beer.  After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine.  Thus, we might have been the ...

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years.  This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with  Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition.  I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts.  The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an  8-iron cover.  That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday.  I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84.  As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....