This vision for greener aviation was recently featured on 26th May 2025 in La Repubblica, the most widely read newspaper in Italy, thanks to an interview with Marco Belan, professor of fluid dynamics at Politecnico di Milano, leader of the IPROP project.
The article available at this link: https://quotidiano.repubblica.it/edicola/edicola.jsp starts describing the airships, coming from the past but quietly becoming key players in the future of aviation and sustainable transport.
A century after the tragic Hindenburg disaster of the german Zeppelin, new generations of LTA (Lighter Than Air) vehicles are emerging—not as novelties, but as serious alternatives for cargo delivery, passenger travel, and stratospheric platforms. These new dirigibles will be powered by electric motors, built with advanced polymers and other innovative materials, and filled with safe, non-flammable helium instead of hydrogen.
The numbers are promising:
- Up to 90% less CO₂ emissions than airplanes
- Speeds of up to 130 km/h
- Payloads ranging from 10 to 60 tons, depending on the model
Europe is investing heavily in this field. The IPROP project, coordinated by Politecnico di Milano, is exploring ion propulsion for airships, aiming to build a flying prototype. Meanwhile, the U-LTA group, involving universities such as Politecnico di Milano and companies across Europe, is working on next-gen LTA technologies.
Professor Marco Belan, fluid dynamics expert at Politecnico di Milano, puts it clearly:
“We don’t always need to choose the fastest, most powerful, and most polluting solution. With IPROP, our goal is to create a flying prototype powered by this new, clean propulsion system.”
In addition to transport, airships are also being developed as high-altitude platforms capable of replacing some satellite functions—for use in agriculture, weather forecasting, emergency response, and telecommunications. Companies like Flying Whales (France), HAV (UK), and LTA Research (USA, backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin) are already investing in production facilities and testing prototypes.
What was once a nostalgic vision is now part of a strategic rethinking of airship and environmental monitoring. With the rise of global climate concerns, airships may finally find their place in a low-carbon future and IPROP partnership is working to shape this innovative transformation. This project aims to bring ionic air-breathing propulsive systems beyond the pioneering phase, exploring their capabilities and improving their performance.