Google's co-founder Sergey Brin may be secretly building an airship, which is shaped like a zeppelin. According to anonymous sources, the project is reportedly underway in Hangar 2 of NASA's Ames Research Center.
Bloomberg shared the news of the massive airship being in development and reported that the airship in question is not an Alphabet project. It is not yet known whether the mysterious airship would be used for business purposes in the near future.
Secret Airship In The Works
Brin is known to be fascinated by airships and this interest grew when he visited Ames in Mountain View California. His interest grew further when he saw pictures of the USS Macon airship, which was housed at Ames during the 1930's. Bloomberg's sources claim that Brin started building the purported airship almost three years ago.
However, it is not clear what the billionaire would do with the airships once it is ready. It could be used for some business venture, or may be used purely for personal purposes.
The Google co-founder is said to have appointed Alan Weston, who is the former director of programs for NASA, to oversee the airship project. The zeppelin-like aircraft has a metallic frame and engineers are working to build the entire body. When quizzed by Bloomberg on the project, Brin opted to stay silent.
"Sorry, I don't have anything to say about this topic right now," Brin wrote in an email to Bloomberg.
In 2015, Google's unit Planetary Ventures acquired the Ames Research Center from NASA and secretly started working on the airship.
The Airship's Purpose?
While many posit that Brin is building the airship for private use, another school of thought is that it would improve existing cargo hauling capabilities.
"New airship technologies have the promise to reduce the cost of moving things per ton-mile by up to an order of magnitude," Weston had shared during a radio interview in 2013.
This suggests that the airship may indeed be used to create a fuel efficient cargo delivery method.
Bloomberg tried to reach Weston for comment regarding his involvement in building the supposed airship, but he remained unavailable for comment.
Airships may sound like old technology in this day and age of advanced robotics and autonomous vehicles. However, if they help reduce fuel costs for the purpose of cargo transportation, then they could prove useful to the industrial sector.
Larry Page, the other founder of Google, is reportedly supporting two initiatives that were trying to create flying cars. It appears, Brin too has hopped onto the bandwagon.
