Liquid-hydrogen-powered
plane would fly from the UK to the US without refueling
- The FlyZero aircraft is capable of flying
from San Francisco to London without refueling
- Because it’s powered by hydrogen, it is
significantly ‘greener’ than current aircraft
- It is (nearly) twice the size of a Boeing 737
Published on Nov 29, 2023 at 7:12PM (UTC+4)
Last updated
on Dec 5, 2023 at 3:48PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Adam Gray
A UK government-backed
company is working on a revolutionary aircraft that can travel halfway around
the world without having to refuel.
And it’s capable of doing that thanks to one clever solution.
The Aerospace Technology
Institute (ATI) is working on a new
aircraft called FlyZero.
The FlyZero is powered by
liquid hydrogen, which is why the range is so massive.
The hydrogen-powered jet
is fitted with tanks designed to store liquid hydrogen at minutes 250° Celsius
(418° Fahrenheit).
It has four tanks in
total, two at the back – the biggest ones – and two smaller ones at the front.
In car terms, this is a
bit like having a rear-biased all-wheel drive car.
The FlyZero is relatively
large.
It has a wingspan of 54
meters, nearly twice the size of a Boeing 737, and
279 seats.
It’s an ambitious project,
and an expensive one at that.
But, at the moment, it is
also slightly underfunded.
The ATI has received
roughly $2.6 billion in funding in total, but the Institute has allocated a
relatively small portion of that to the FlyZero program.
So far, they’ve only spent
around $20 million, which is more or less peanuts when we’re talking about
aircraft.
There’s no deadline yet,
but the goal is have this hydrogen-powered jet ready by the next decade.
This is because that’s
when major aerospace companies are planning to launch their own
hydrogen-powered aircraft.
Airbus should lead the pack, with a hydrogen-powered airliner scheduled
to debut in 2035.
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