New generation of airships to transport goods around the world

Airships are set to return to the skies in a Nasa project aimed at revolutionising the way cargo is transported around the world.

The space agency is developing the new generation of airships, which it believes will replace lorries, trains and ships as means of carrying freight.

The first prototype is expected to make its maiden voyage next year and scientists leading the project predict airships capable of carrying hundreds of tonnes of cargo at a time will be airborne by the end of the decade.

It comes more than 70 years after the Hindenburg disaster, which brought an end to the earlier airship era.

However, the development of modern materials and aerodynamics knowledge gained from the space race means that the new generation will be capable of safely carrying loads that could not be managed in the past.

Dr Simon Worden, director of the Nasa Ames Research Center in California, said: "Currently the majority of goods are put on trucks and trains to be transported around the country.