Guided balls, for one reason or another, are back in vogue. Those who once ruled the sky have resumed flying, but this time with another purpose: to transport heavy loads. And one Russian company has announced one of its most interesting developments: its flying saucer, which will be ready in a few years from now and will have high payload capacity.

Aerospace is the name of the vehicle and is being developed by the Russian manufacturer Airship Initiative Design Bureau Aerospace (AIDBA). The goal is to fly by 2024, with a capacity to carry up to 600 tons. As it is an aircraft and thanks to its pulley system, it will be possible to load and unload materials anywhere, whether there is a runway or not.

Such a system makes it the perfect alternative to land and sea transport. For example, when a cargo ship arrives, it has to unload the containers at a port and pick them up from the trucks to take them to their final destination. In this case, this vehicle saves trucks and the port itself, as the ship can take the cargo directly from the ship on the high seas, and can leave it at the destination of the city.

Another advantage of this guided ball is a feature that arouses the interest of guided drivers: low fuel consumption and pollution. Loaded with 620,000 cubic meters of helium, it will cost “an order magnitude less than a transport aircraft,” according to the company’s CEO.

But, why in the form of a flying saucer? The company has stated that the design makes it easier to maneuver the vehicle, as well as allowing it to land on windproof ground. That is, it allows for a better direction, with no front, back, and side, being a simple circle.

They plan to build different models with different capacities from 20 tons to 600 tons. In terms of their autonomy, they predict an arrival of 8,000 miles. On the other hand, although it is currently designed to transport cargo, in the future they do not rule out having a kind of “luxury hotel” inside, for travelers who wish to do so. A cruise across the sky.

Crossing the sky again

Aerospace isn’t the only company betting on aircraft again. Scientists have been claiming for years that they are a good alternative to cargo ships. A German company has already started working on this and the founder of Google has a secret project and is working on it. At the moment, the most viable of all is the giant Airlander.

Sergei Brin, the founder of Google and the eighth richest person in the world, has registered Pathfinder 1 in the US aircraft administration, which is 72 meters long in the new generation, 100% electric and has a capacity for 14 passengers.
Pathfinder 1, as with the first version of Aerosmena, is said to be the first step in creating the world’s largest aircraft. Little is known about this model at the moment, but it has become clear that it will be 198 meters long and has a huge hydrogen battery with a power of 1.5 megawatts.

The goal of this huge vehicle is to boost the Brinen Foundation, which is to distribute Global, Support and Development, humanitarian aid across the planet.

As we always talk about electric aircraft, the big hurdle to making this technology a reality is the battery. Brin’s intention is to create one with the ability to travel long distances, full of cargo. Aerosmena has also not commented on how it will power its engines to carry a 600-tonne load over thousands of miles.

For now, it seems that aeronautical companies are basically opting for two types of batteries. Airbus recently showed designs of electric aircraft (ZEROe) that would use liquid hydrogen as fuel. Airbus itself has acknowledged that in order to be viable, a major investment would be needed to change the fuel infrastructure at airports.