(KRON) -- A large white airship flew over San Francisco Tuesday morning. The helium airship, named "Pathfinder 1," was built by LTA Research, a Silicon Valley aviation startup.
LTA Research said the 400-foot-long airship is the company's proof-of-concept prototype for demonstrating "lighter-than-air" technology.
The aviation company wrote, "Pathfinder 1 is the first step in bringing back large-scale lighter-than-air flight. It was built to validate a modern take on the historic rigid airship design. Pathfinder 1 is generating the data LTA needs to determine what we build next." In the future, the company hopes to use its technology to transport passengers and cargo.
(Photo: LTA Research)
LTA Research, co-founded by Google executive Sergey Brin, has been conducting test flights from Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View to the San Francisco Bay periodically since May 2025.
