Our Project & Philosophy

In the 21st century, when we have successfully launched human beings into orbit and sent spacecraft like Cassini on a 20-year mission to Saturn, 750 million miles from home, somehow we have convinced ourselves that reviving Lighter-than-Air technology (LTA) is a nearly impossible task, like building the pyramids of Giza.

After nearly 90 years, at least 10 failed LTA programs, and over $2 billion in investment, no one has succeeded in duplicating what the Germans did in only 40 years using inferior materials, an explosive lift gas, 1930s diesel engines with wooden propellers, no accurate weather prediction, no GPS, and a much smaller budget.

This is an absurd reality; after all, it’s not like we’re dealing with an alien technology no human has used before.

It’s time to change this paradigm.

The Goal

Our goal is not only the revival of Lighter-than-Air technology, also known as LTA, but also its acceptance and use globally as a viable alternative to trucking, rail, airfreight, and shipping by vessel.

While LTA encompasses at least 4 types of aircraft (i.e., hot air balloons, blimps, prototypes, and airships), we are specifically focusing on aircraft in the “airship” class because this class, due to its efficiency advantages, possesses the greatest market application and profit potential.

  • For a deeper dive into LTA’s efficiency advantages, see our “LTA Efficiency Stats” webpage.
  • For a deeper dive into market application, see our “Markets” webpage.

What is an Airship?

For an LTA aircraft to be considered part of the elite “airship” class, it must possess certain minimum design characteristics and capabilities.

For example, an airship must possess the same basic design elements as an ocean-going ship, such as a strong keel, separate individual watertight compartments (for an airship, it’s airtight gas cells), and a double hull (gas cell plus outer cover). These basic elements provide strength and resiliency, enabling the ship to withstand harsh weather conditions, especially in the North Atlantic, where the weather can be the most unforgiving.

In addition to the design elements, an LTA aircraft in the airship class must also possess the capability to transport passengers or cargo, thousands of miles nonstop in all types of weather, day or night.

These standards were set by the professionals of the German Zeppelin Company, the only successful LTA program in history, when they built 140 airships and operated them over a 40-year period in the early 1900s, transporting the first passengers and cargo across continents, oceans, and around the world by air.

Our Philosophy

Since the Hindenburg fire, there have been no fewer than 10 failed LTA programs, which were funded by both private and public entities consuming more than $2 billion in investment capital.

All failed LTA programs had 4 things in common:

  • They ignored the success of the German Zeppelin airship program.
  • They produced a defective airship design.
  • A lack of experience with the technology.
  • A limited market vision.

As a result of ignoring the Germans’ success with LTA, each of the failed programs had to begin at square one, effectively resulting in the most expensive path to production.

  • For a deeper dive into the failed LTA programs of the past, see our “3 Prototypes” webpage.

We have a different philosophy.

Because we recognize and acknowledge the success of the German Zeppelin airship program, we are seeking to revive, not reinvent, LTA.

For this reason, we have spent several years researching and studying their design and operating procedures as well as the designs of the failed LTA programs.

Consequently, our design closely mimics the Hindenburg, which was the German Zeppelin Company’s most advanced design.

In simple terms, we are bringing their best design into the 21st century using modern build materials, advanced 3D design, and today’s manufacturing to produce a stronger, lighter, more capable airship.

This is the most sensible and economical method for reviving LTA and one that has the best guarantee of success.

  • For a deeper dive into our design, see our “New Design” webpage.

What About Funding the Project?

A common misconception is that anyone endeavoring to revive LTA must have access to millions of dollars in capital before undertaking the venture.

This is not the case.

All great enterprises begin with a single individual, an idea, and a plan that’s initially financed by the innovator’s own bank account.

There are many contemporary examples of this journey: Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Microsoft, to name a few.

Take Amazon, for example, which in 2026 has a market capitalization of approximately $2.56 trillion, making it the world’s 5th most valuable company.

In the early 1990s, it was started in a garage by Jeff Bezos and bootstrapped until he could secure funding from other investors.

This has been our journey as well.

For us, it started in 2012 when my coworkers and I began brainstorming a problem we were experiencing as government contractors.

In 2016, we jumped into the project full-time, bootstrapping our way until we were able to raise capital from friends, family, our business network, and eventually crowdfunding.

Today, we are poised to finish our 3D design phase and begin raising capital for the build of our first, full-scale, fully capable airship.

Unlike Jeff Bezos, who had to seek investment from the institutional investors of his day, we have the option of crowdfunding, which provides access to a much larger global community of investors.

Crowdfunding gives the small investor the opportunity to invest in very lucrative startups, with the single largest crowdfunding campaign to date raising over $4 billion.