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'Windmill': China tests world’s first megawatt-level airship to capture high winds
(interestingengineering.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2025
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Neat.
Any real reason you can't fill them with hydrogen? A fire can't start inside the bubble, because there's no oxygen. If a fire starts on the outer surface, then it doesn't really matter if it's hydrogen or not. It's also cheaper and slightly better at lifting. There is some more danger with handling it on the ground, but you should be able to mitigate that with safety procedures.
Hydrogen is hard to contains long term, it leaks through most materials. I'm no expert on the matter but I suspect the gains in lift would be partly negated by the changes to the envelope of the container.
Yes the Hindenburg disaster had more to do with the flammable paint used than the hydrogen inside it. But the safety procedures when working with on the ground may be more expensive than just using helium.