Major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as industrial accidents, wildfires, landfills, and thawing permafrost, often occur in remote or unpredictable locations where installing permanent capture infrastructure is not feasible. In this work, we introduce a novel concept involving airships equipped with mobile capture units, designed to provide rapid-response mitigation at these high-emission sites. Using detailed modeling and scenario-based optimization, we assess the feasibility of this approach under diverse conditions, accounting for variations in capture technologies and site-specific uncertainties such as emission rates and wind speeds. Our results show that a single airship operating near concentrated emission sources can achieve GHG capture rates comparable to or even exceeding those of ground-based direct air capture (DAC) facilities. The airborne system shows particularly high potential for methane removal, where fast deployment is essential. We also explore how advances in capture materials, system design, and renewable energy integration could further enhance the performance of these platforms. This work lays the foundation for developing flexible, scalable, and responsive airborne GHG capture systems to address emissions in locations beyond the reach of conventional infrastructure.
