Could you use hydrogen for permanent-installation balloons? (Score: 1) by wootery@pipedot.org on 2015-10-13 15:02 (#QBMZ) As I understand it, the high price of helium is one of the major issues with airships. Could you use (yes, flammable) hydrogen instead, especially for unmanned floating-installation type applications?If you want to bounce radio signals off something a mile up in the sky, would a hydrogen-filled balloon do the job? The safety issue is surely not a big one if it's not designed to regularly land: a Hindenburg situation seems unlikely if it's neither carrying people nor intended to land. Re: Could you use hydrogen for permanent-installation balloons? (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-10-13 18:14 (#QC9W) Actually, natural gas is cheap, highly buoyant, and not as escape prone as helium or hydrogen... Still highly flammable, and could be used to run the engines as well.
Re: Could you use hydrogen for permanent-installation balloons? (Score: 1) by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-10-13 18:14 (#QC9W) Actually, natural gas is cheap, highly buoyant, and not as escape prone as helium or hydrogen... Still highly flammable, and could be used to run the engines as well.