The secret project of Google co-founder Sergey Brin to build a large electric airship is rapidly expanding, and its light than air research company is preparing to conduct its first large-scale test flight later this year. At present, brin is recruiting hundreds of aviation engineers in Silicon Valley and a place famous for Goodyear airships in Akron, Ohio, to build airships for humanitarian missions to remote areas or disaster areas.
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Pathfinder 1 airship
LTA was established in 2014, and Brin resigned as an executive of Google's parent company alphabet in 2019. LTA is headquartered at Moffett airport in the San Francisco Bay area. The facility is owned by NASA and is only a short drive from Google's headquarters. NASA began leasing the facility to LTA in 2015.
LTA hopes to reshape the airship of the 21st century with "zero emission" flight. The company's first full-size airship, Pathfinder 1, is 120 meters long and plans to begin its test flight in Silicon Valley this year. At the same time, LTA is also developing a larger airship in Akron's dock: Pathfinder 3. It is 185 meters long. When it is completed next year, it will eventually be able to carry 96 tons of weight and have a range of 10000 miles (about 16000 kilometers). In the coming months, LTA's recruitment activities in Akron will double the total number of employees to more than 400.