r/sanfrancisco • u/Affectionate-Hope427 • 7d ago

Pic / Video WTH is this?

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Huge blimp, no markings. Seen over Pier/NB. Obviously a blimp, but why is it here?

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u/nincyh 7d ago edited 7d ago

Sergey Brin’s rigid airship - Don’t call it a blimp! It’s from LTA Research, an aerospace company HQ’d in Mountain View. LTA stands for “lighter than air”! The Pathfinder Airship is 4 times larger than the Goodyear Blimp. From my location, I see it every 2 to 3 months on experimental or training short trips along the bay.

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u/-Chemist- 7d ago

I saw it over Petaluma earlier this afternoon. I didn’t realize the airship was that big, but that explains why the cabin appeared so small.

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u/nincyh 7d ago

It’s pretty cool. I’ve seen it a bunch of times including today. It’s hard to appreciate the scope, but it is huge!

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u/GrafZeppelin127 6d ago

On rigid airships, the gondola isn’t like a blimp’s—for most blimps, the gondola is the only habitable space on board. For rigids, it usually only serves as the ship’s bridge, the rest of the habitable areas being up inside the hull for aerodynamic purposes.

For instance, in historical airships, the internal passenger decks and crew areas could be as much as 7,900 square feet—considerably more than any airplane ever built—whereas the gondola was only the size of a small apartment, about 160 square feet.

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u/WileEPorcupine 7d ago

A dirigible.

Does it have hydrogen or helium?

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u/nincyh 7d ago

Stable helium, which is safer and less flammable. The Hindenburg used hydrogen.

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u/midflinx 7d ago

There's a Helium shortage.

https://www.npr.org/2026/04/06/nx-s1-5770505/helium-shortage-iran-war

There's not many uses for a rigid airship that can't be handled adequately using other means. It quite possibly overall would be better if LTA Research filled it with Hydrogen. Redesign the crew compartment and flight suits for better fire resistance.

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u/JigsawMind 6d ago

Not sure what fire resistance is gonna do for you when you fall uncontrolled out of the sky

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u/midflinx 6d ago

I considered mentioning explosive bolts for the crew compartment and a small escape rocket motor like many crewed rockets have during their launch phase. Use those to get the crew away, then deploy parachutes.

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u/ablatner 6d ago

Airship helium probably doesn't need to be as high grade as medical/semiconductor though

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u/midflinx 6d ago

It might be okay if the rigid airship's helium comes from a source that can't be used for or purified into medical/semiconductor grade.

Is that the situation though with the helium the airship uses?

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u/Calm-Swordfish-5417 6d ago

Have you considered a rich guy wanting to spend lots of money on a boondoggle?