I don't know what they need in terms of development money to get to a 2nd Airlander 10. As I understand it they have done a lot of that work already and their worries and concerns are related to certification.
They have apparently hired a very great expert in certification who will guide them through it.
Someone asked what it would cost to buy "one" and I wasn't clear whether they meant the -10 or the -50 unfortunately. That figure was quoted approximately $40 million. I suppose the -50 has 3 hulls stitched together rather than two but 3x the volume. So in the world of wild guesstimates it might be 1.5 to 3x more than the -10 if we assume that the quote referred to the -10.
They were also asked about Helium. Apparently:
1) Even with 100 airships their use would be a blip compared to the uses of Helium today in things such as medical scanners and so on.
2) The price has been stabilising because these devices are getting better at not losing Helium in their lifecycle even as supply has become a little more constrained.
3) A lot of natural gas production produces Helium which no-one has bothered to capture because of the somewhat artificially low price of it thanks to the large American stockpile that has been available.
4) Fracking does not offer a supply.
Last edited by t43562; 9th Sep 2014 at 13:15.
Reason: correct estimates a bit.