Discrete Lattice Material Vacuum Airship

Vacuum airships fueled by renewable energy may reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based modes of transport, lessen the need for limited and non-renewable lifting gases, and may be achieved using novel manufacturing techniques for ultra-light, discrete lattice material systems. The Discrete Lattice Material Vacuum Airship (DLMVA) system combines novel material science and manufacturing technologies for new modes of cargo transportation, resulting in a disruptive approach to reduce national resource consumption and emissions. Through the use of high performance building block elements, modular, scalable, and extensible aircraft can be rapidly assembled into positive net-buoyancy systems utilizing a vacuum instead of a lifting gas. By using architected lattice material principles, we show that lattice materials can overcome stability limitations of previous vacuum balloon designs. Additionally, we show that lattice vacuum balloons are strength limited, rather than stability limited. As a result, airborne infrastructure can be developed to support the proliferation of modern systems such as e-commerce and distributed communications, while simultaneously reducing dependence on finite, non-renewable, emission-heavy resources.