Aerostat (disambiguation)

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An aerostat is an aircraft that remains aloft through the use of lighter-than-air gases. A narrower and more technical meaning refers only to tethered balloons.

Aerostat may also refer to:

Airships[edit]

Airships are powered aerostats:

  • Airship, or dirigible, any aerostat that can be manoeuvred through the air using propellers, rudders, etc.
  • Blimp, an airship with no structural framework, using only gas pressure to maintain its shape
  • Rigid airship, uses only a structural framework to maintain its shape
  • Semi-rigid airship, uses a partial structural framework in combination with gas pressure to maintain its shape

Balloons[edit]

Balloons are unpowered aerostats:

Tethered[edit]

The term aerostat is sometimes used to refer specifically to tethered balloons:

Untethered[edit]

Hybrids[edit]

Hybrids combine aerostatic buoyancy and aerodynamic lift.

Powered[edit]

Unpowered[edit]

Other uses[edit]

See also[edit]