LJ - I don't know where you get "a lot of real estate" from. It needs about twice its own length to get airborne, most of which can be any flat surface. Mooring (using two trailer-mounted pieces of kit) requires a circle of less than 2X the length, which can be flat surface you can drive a truck across.
It's also quiet, removing fixed-wing noise constraints from the operation.
As for hangarage, I don't think that's the plan. The outer layer of the envelope is made from the same stuff they use to protect ocean-yacht sails and the inner layer is carbonfiber fabric.
However, your concerns are understandable. Ground-handling for a large conventional (always negative weight) ship is a pain in the tuckus, which is why Roger Munk switched to the hybrid and added thrust-vectoring and FBL controls, and modern fabrics are a huge factor in terms of strength-to-weight, sustained gas-tightness and climate resistance.
Dies ist ganz nicht Ihr Grossvaters Zeppelin!
Last edited by LowObservable; 19th Sep 2015 at 09:03.