ORCAirships Sustainable Airship Program
Canada is blessed to be a vast country abundant in natural resources, fantastic biodiversity and wildlife, with talented people from coast to coast and multicultural diversity extending to the remote rural northern areas. However Canada lacks a sustainable aviation and carbon neutral transportation infrastructure, making accessing resources, providing connectivity, and expanding communications networks extremely challenging.
Due to warming caused by climate change, ground surface stability is worsening in these remote and fragile regions. This exposes them to isolation and renders the inhabitants economically underserved.
Conventional aviation servicing these remote areas is carbon intensive; one return flight [737-200] from Edmonton to Inuvik produces 250K lbs. of carbon! The current state of several rural and remote airports is not adequate to support conventional aircraft, runways are crumbling and require several million dollars to upgrade.
The Solution:
Through collaboration with Luffships and the Canadian aerospace ecosystem, ORCAirships proposes to build a zero emissions Airship Industry designed for operations using the existing aerospace and aviation infrastructure in Canada. Read the full Executive Summary at the link below:
ORCAirships Program Overview:
The video below provides a preliminary overview of the ORCAirship program, including the vision, leadership team, target markets, Canadian impact, design specifications, program timeline, financial analysis, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) integration as submitted to the Airbus “Why Stop at Zero” Challenge.
ORCAirships Program Highlights:
Green Is the New Black - An Overview of Sustainable Aviation & the Hydrogen Economy
Transportation of H2 is one of the foremost constraints facing the hydrogen economy. The ideal solution may be closer than you think using Lighter-Than-Air technology, such as that proposed with the ORCAirships Sustainable Aviation Program. Read more here.
ORCAirships Garners Support from UVic's Centre for Aerospace Research
ORCAirships is thrilled to receive support from the University of Victoria’s Centre for Aerospace Research (CfAR). With UVic’s support, ORCAirships will have access to a top-tier research facility and development funding to conduct design prototyping and testing of its Lighter-Than-Air (LTA) technology.
ORCAirships Partners with Trillium Digital Marketing & Communications
ORCAirships has partnered with Trillium Digital Marketing & Communications to provide support for a broad range of online & offline marketing initiatives – including corporate branding, website development, content creation & copywriting – along with all mainstream media and public relations requirements. Read more here.
Airbus "Why Stop at Zero" Challenge
ORCAirships participated in the Airbus “Why Stop at Zero” Challenge, held in conjunction with Airbus’ Innovation Factory in Taufkirchen, Munich. Participants underwent jury selection trials and finalists will participate in demonstrations at the IAA MOBILITY Conference in Munich, Germany from September 7th to 12th, 2021.
Top 20 Startups | Campbell River Impact Investor Challenge
ORCAirships, in collaboration with Avi One Services, is named one of the top 20 startups in the 2021 Campbell River Impact Investor Challenge. The challenge, offered through Spring Activator, is a “global incubator and accelerator that empowers entrepreneurs and entrepreneur ecosystem organizations to build better businesses and change the world.” Read the full article here.
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
As part of the United Nations Development Programme, 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) were adopted in 2015 “as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.” ORCAirships has identified integrations for 9 of the 17 SDGs in conjunction with the program’s strategy to reduce CO2 emissions during critical infrastructure support operations and help achieve global sustainability.
About ORCAirships:
ORCAirships is a collaboration between Luffships (UK) and the Canadian aerospace ecosystem that proposes to build a sustainable aviation airship industry within Canada. This international collaboration will increase aerospace & high-tech sector employment while simultaneously providing a means to decarbonize critical infrastructure development through autonomous goods delivery, urban eVTOL passenger vehicles, and long range cargo transport to Northern and remote communities requiring improved regional connectivity. More information on the Luffships design available at the link below:
