Back in the 1800s everyone thought the Transportation of Tomorrow was going to be Airships…powered by steam-driven propellers?
Anyway, is it at all possible do drive an airship with wind and sails, like an ocean going ship?
It might be possible to make use of steady winds when moving downwind, but without a keel to prohibit lateral movement I have a hard time seeing how a zeppelin could possibly tack upwind.
Basically, no.
A sailing ship’s motion depends on the fact that the water it floats in has a different motion from the air its sails encounter. For any normal lighter-than-air craft, the air encountered by all parts of the craft will be close to uniform, and thus the only motion it can derive is the motion of that air across the ground. IOW, without engines it can only drift downwind.
The situation would be different for a Zepplin that lowered a drag device to the ground or water below, but that raises a host of impractical complications.
The sailing ship with keel allows you to anchor half the boat against water resistance and play that against air resistance - just like why walking against the wind is easier on pavement than slippery ice, because you can push.
There is one possibility, though… You need a good pump. You pump up the gasbags inside the zeppelin until it is lighter than air then rises. You use this rising motion and the fins/rudders to direct the direction that rising takes you in; then when you reach the upper limit, pump the helium/hydrogen back into the pressure can, and use the rudders again to direct your descent. Basically gliding rather than just dropping. you would probably need a more wing-endowed zeppelin than the Hindenburg, however.
There’s a Doper who knows
About airships retro
That Victorians spent time inventing.
When they’re where the wind blows,
Through their highs and their lows,
“P’raps a sail will take them where they’re going!”
Ooh, ooh, and they’re raising a mainsail in heaven!
Previous thread on topic. Steering a boat floating on air. - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board . Please don’t revive the zombie.
As the others have already said above … In a word, no.
Upper level and lower level winds can blow in different directions, and you could possibly use that difference if you were at the correct height. From this site, for Nov. 13, 2011, for example:
I couldn’t find if there were typical heights associated with upper level and lower level. If your Zeppelin is tall enough, and at the right elevation, you could use wind shear in the same way as sail boats use wind and water.
I doubt that this is in any way practical, unless you’re writing a science fiction story.
As a matter of fact, I was coming in here just note when this was actually tried in real life.
To put it succinctly: it failed.
To editorialize: Horrifically. :eek:
If you always want to travel in the exact direction of the wind, sure!
An interesting way to do this:
A jetstream blows 160 mph west to east, at an altitude of 20,000’; at 15,000’, winds are low. Put one glider at 20,000, headed west, and another at 15,000’, headed east. Join these two with a long rope, and each glider finds itself being towed at 80 mph, without loss of altitude. An observer on the ground sees the pair moving east at 80 mph.