It will be hard to pin down what exactly inspired the makers of this Airship One to craft it in a fashion that it is, but I cannot believe if they tell me that there was no influence of Titanic on it. From most of the images that are present of this computer generated green ship, it seems that it looks more akin to something that must thread the waters and not the skies. But then, both mediums are fluids and an aerodynamic craft in one medium could equally work well in another. That of course is a very rough approximation and surely the weight requirements are enormously different.
The Airship One is a solar powered hybrid between a semi-rigid airship and an airplane and can comfortably accommodate 25 passengers in its double-deck passenger compartment. The airship’s aluminum-grade skeleton is a semi-rigid structure and has carbon fiber paneling and high-strength fabric to camouflage the skeleton. The vectored ducted fans enable the ship to hover or cruise around 120mph effortlessly. As wonderful as the concept looks on paper, or rather computer graphics, it still will be difficult to realize.
The Airship One though starts the new thinking line that is emerging in aviation industry, that green is better. It looks towards exploiting the available renewable sources of energy and it also makes sure that it does not get too over-ambitious. While the wings of imagination in regards to solar powered airships might have taken flight, the real wings of metal still have a long way to go before they touch the clouds.
