AIRSHIP APPLICATIONS IN THE ARCTIC: PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT

Northern Canada represents a large potential market for a new generation of cargo airships. The needs of resource developers and native people are not well served by the ice roads and annual sealifts. The North needs better transportation, but the economic case for airships remains unproven. This pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Barry E. Prentice
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.618.2830
http://www.dirigibili-archimede.it/docs/aiaa_airships_2003.pdf
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Summary:Northern Canada represents a large potential market for a new generation of cargo airships. The needs of resource developers and native people are not well served by the ice roads and annual sealifts. The North needs better transportation, but the economic case for airships remains unproven. This paper presents a financial simulation model for the use of an 84 tonne airship to deliver fuel to a diamond mine in the Northwest Territories. The model results are only as strong as its assumptions, but if an airship company can match or better the specifications used in this model, the fuel haul represents a real and growing market for their utilization.