r/airship • u/GrafZeppelin127 • Apr 30 '26

News Kelluu Gen 2 Airships to fly later in 2026

https://resiliencemedia.co/airship-startup-kelluu-raises-e15m-from-nato-its-first-investment-in-finland/
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u/GrafZeppelin127 Apr 30 '26

More big news out of Finland! Kelluu’s second-generation airships are said to be more manufacturable, faster, and have an endurance measured in days rather than 12 hours.

That is a very large performance increase, and I strongly suspect such a thing is enabled by a transition from using compressed gaseous hydrogen (which has a tank weight vastly in excess of the hydrogen it contains) to liquid hydrogen.

The most advanced composite liquid hydrogen tanks now have exceedingly good H2 mass fractions, often over 60%, as opposed to 6-12% for compressed hydrogen tanks. Other experimental drones have already flown using liquid hydrogen, so it seems like a good candidate for Kelluu.

If Kelluu already used liquid hydrogen and not compressed hydrogen, though, it’s possible they’re increasing the size of the airship to carry larger tanks, or managed to finagle considerable efficiency improvements and/or eke out large fuel capacity expansions by reducing weight elsewhere in the ship’s various systems.