Recently, China's first large-scale manned airship "GTGA-K9000 Air Travel Sightseeing Airship" was rolled off the production line at Xi'an Aviation Base. The airship carries 28 people, and is currently the world's most publicly reported airship.
The "GTGA-K9000 Air Travel and Sightseeing Airship" was researched and designed by Shaanxi Jiutian General Aviation Co., Ltd., and was jointly manufactured by the company and the Optoelectronic Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Fourth Academy of Astronautics. The airship is 66 meters long and has a volume of 11,500 cubic meters. It uses a lithium battery as a power source and has a design ceiling of up to 3000 meters above sea level. In addition to tourism, it can also be used for emergency communications and security patrols.
The airship belongs to the military-civilian dual-use technology development project. It has a number of world-leading technologies, a rigid airship with a full carbon fiber composite material skeleton, an all-electric multiple-engine vector power system, remote measurement and control, and an advanced optical transmission and electronic control flight control system. The material balance control system, etc., has filled a gap in China's large airship manufacturing projects. At present, the "GTGA-K9000 air travel sightseeing airship" has been completely assembled, and it is expected that it will be officially put into operation next year.