Large Diesel Electric Helium Airship in Testing at Moffett

LTA Research and Exploration, LLC, backed by Google Founder Sergey Brin, has rolled out Pathfinder 1, a large diesel-electric airship lifted by helium, 122 meters long and 20 meters in diameter.

Not exactly a blimp, massive airship debuts at Moffett Field in Mountain View

“LTA, which got its start in 2016, is … on a mission to develop zero-carbon airships. At 400-feet in length, Pathfinder 1 has the potential to transport massive amounts of cargo and passengers over large distances, making it a good fit for humanitarian purposes too.”

Mountain View Voice, November 22, 2023

I like the idea of slower travel, if the carbon footprint is less than current aviation and shipping, especially for humanitarian missions. (“Cargo and passengers” sounds more like our current addiction to the global supply chain and needless globe-hopping.)

But this prototype isn’t yet anywhere near zero-carbon:

For now, a pair of diesel generators fastened within the airship’s body sends juice to banks of lithium-ion batteries that run the propellers. Solar panels on top of the airship will provide extra energy.

Bloomsberg Businessweek, May 20, 2023, PDF available from LTA

I haven’t heard how much of the power can be supplied by the solar panels. (Or the carbon footprint of the batteries and solar panels. Or how much diesel is required for normal operation.) I might try to drill down on the LTA web site to see how much detail they provide.

I wonder how it can carry 200 tons of cargo! Not inside the envelope, I think. So a sling load, like a helicopter? How much would that hurt the diesel fuel economy? How much would heavy cargo further limit the airship’s already limited ability to operate in wind and weather?

The airship has limited approval for testing from FAA:

Google Founder’s Airship Gets FAA Clearance

“The (special airworthiness) certificate permits LTA to fly Pathfinder 1 within the boundaries of Moffett Field and neighboring Palo Alto airport’s airspaces, at a height of up to 460 meters (1,500 feet). That will let it venture out over the southern part of San Francisco Bay, without interfering with planes flying into or out of San Jose and San Francisco International commercial airports.”

IEEE Spectrum, October 25, 2023

In any case, it’s fun to hear about airships flying again at Moffett Field!

Moffett Community Advisory Board Meeting: Hangar One Update

The Moffett Community Advisory Board met by teleconference on May 11, 2023.  Agenda:

  • Introduction & Overview, Greg Unangst, Chair
  • Hangar One Status, Rooz Amini-Rad, Sr. Project Manager, CBRE
  • NASA Ames Research Center PFAS Site Inspection, Garrett Turner, Program Manager, NASA Ames
  • Open Discussion

Google/Planetary Ventures did not offer an estimate for completion of the Hangar One project or how Hangar One will be used in future.

The NASA/Ames PFAS site inspection identified 26 areas of potential concern.  The draft site inspection report has been available for some time.  The final report, which includes the sampling results and a schedule of planned studies, should be available soon from the California Water Resources Control Board under Site Maps/Documents.

Drone videos shot inside Hangar One show the scaffolding constructed to perform the abatement begins at 20:08.

(View on the Internet Archive.)

Audio:

The Mountain View Voice has an article on the meeting by Malea Martin: “What going on with Hangar One? Google’s Planetary Ventures offers updates.”

Moffett RAB Community Meeting Today

The Moffett RAB will meet today at 4 pm. I’m planning to attend. Email me for the link to join the meeting.

RAB Community Co-Chair Gregory Unangst tells me this is an “informal meeting to allow the Community RAB members to share what we know and what we don’t know about what is going on at Moffett.” That’s since the Navy no longer allows discussion of non-Navy projects at the Navy-sponsored RAB meetings.

Here are Greg’s slides for the meeting: (2.5MB PDF)

CPEO to NASA: Update Moffett Indoor Air Sampling

A press release (PDF) from Lenny Siegel’s Center for Public Environmental Oversight this week:

… (CPEO) sent a letter (PDF) to Don Chuck, the Chief of NASA Ames Research Center’s Environmental Management Division, urging NASA to conduct air sampling inside buildings at Moffett Field under consideration for housing migrant children. CPEO Executive Director Lenny Siegel explained, “The dormitory-type buildings where the federal government may house migrant children lie above a vast Superfund groundwater plume of trichloroethylene (TCE), a volatile organic compound known to cause cancers, cardiac birth defects, neurological conditions, and other illnesses.” He added, “There is a potential for toxic vapors to rise from contaminated groundwater into overlying buildings.” …

While Moffett is no longer under consideration to shelter migrant children, it would be good to update the air sampling data for any structures at Moffett that might be occupied in future.

Moffett Will Not Shelter Migrant Children

The Chronicle now reports that “Moffett Field Won’t be Used to House Migrant Children Coming Across Border.” The article by Trapper Byrne quotes Congressperson Anna Eshoo:

“HHS informed me today that they are no longer moving forward with consideration of Moffett Field as a shelter for unaccompanied children at this time. As chairwoman of the Health subcommittee that oversees HHS, I will continue to do everything I can to ensure unaccompanied children arriving at our borders and in the care of HHS are treated humanely and with dignity.”

No reason is given. Did the initial HHS consideration reveal showstoppers? Or did lots of people phone Eshoo’s office to say they oppose it, and does Eshoo have enough influence with HHS to get them to drop it? I don’t want to be cynical, but when no information is provided, it’s easy to fall into making assumptions.

Unrelated to Moffett: This has made me think about how hard it must be for U.S. authorities to care for unaccompanied children humanely and legally. Sure, there’s the question of whether they have shelters available that don’t cause harm while keeping them safe. But I also wonder how they can even start the process of finding family in the U.S., so the children can be released quickly. What’s the age range of these children? Are most of them old enough to tell U.S. authorities who they plan to live with here, and provide contact information? If so, how do authorities check that information to confirm the family is able to take the child safely? Is there a risk that human traffickers sometimes pose as family? And what about younger kids? Do their families figure out a way to ensure the child arrives with usable information about their destination?

It just all sounds like an impossible job. But important, because only a desperate family would send a kid into an uncertain situation.

Protest Against Migrant Detention at Moffett

The San Francisco Chronicle reports a protest is planned today at Moffett. The article by Tatiana Sanchez quotes a local activist:

“We were astounded … that a possible children’s detention center is going to be established at Moffett Field, here in our backyard of Mountain View,” said Maricela Gutiérrez, executive director of the advocacy organization SIREN in San Jose, which is hosting Monday’s demonstration at 3 p.m. on Moffett Boulevard.

“Learning about the atrocities and unsanitary conditions, the mental health trauma that children have faced … it’s not a healthy place for children. What we’re calling for is not for more expansion of detention centers and holding facilities but for the government to really look into how we can fix the system that’s causing such a backlog of children,” Gutiérrez continued.

The Biden administration says it’s trying to fix the backlog and the harm. The Chronicle ran an AP article last week that says:

The Biden administration is temporarily holding children and families … for several days. They are generally then allowed to enter the U.S. while authorities evaluate their claims to asylum or see if they have any other legal right to stay in the country.

And the previous Chronicle article described the use of Moffett as a “shelter,” not a detention center. Yes, we are, in fact, “detaining” these children. But the Biden administration says they’ll release the children to family in the U.S. when possible. What else can we do, other than safely and humanely keep the children in custody until we can safely release them?

I’ve read news that says children are being held longer than is allowed by U.S. law, in detention facilities that are harmful for the children. So we need more and better facilities. Therefore, the question is whether the government can be trusted to create a humane facility for the children at Moffett. I trust them to do so. Apparently Ms. Gutiérrez does not.

I looked briefly at the SIREN web site to learn more about how “we can fix the system that’s causing such a backlog of children.” I didn’t find anything, but I’d honestly like to hear what immigrant advocates want done.

If a detention facility at Moffett is created, I’ll be watching the news closely to learn what the conditions are. I suggest the government works with SIREN to guide the development of the facility and to actively monitor its operation.

Moffett May Shelter Migrant Children

Lenny Siegel notes on CPEO‘s Moffet-MEW email list a story by Lauren Hernández in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Moffett Field in Mountain View may be Used as Detention Shelter for Migrant Children.”

Federal officials in the Bay Area are assessing whether Moffett Field in Mountain View can be used as a shelter for unaccompanied migrant children as the Biden administration looks to house minors entering the United States seeking refuge …

Officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and NASA’s Ames Research Center are checking vacant property at the former Navy base to see if facilities there could be used as temporary shelters for the children …

Customs and Border Protection said on Wednesday that 9,457 children were detained while arriving alone at the U.S.-Mexico border in February. In January, 5,800 children were detained …

I would be glad to see this happen, if it can be done safely and humanely. And I trust the Biden administration to treat these families with respect.

VOCs: Phytoremediation at Moffett Field

From Lenny Siegel:

At the former Moffett Field Naval Air Station in California, poplar trees that have been treated with specialized strains of bacteria remove and destroy trichloroethylene (TCE) found in shallow groundwater. Lenny Siegel’s 6-minute presentation at the February, 2021 Tree City USA conference explains how tree technology, more properly known as phytoremediation, fits into Superfund cleanups.