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Airbus is trying to find ways to cut the aviation industry’s emissions, and they’re getting closer to the first full size commercial zero emissions aircraft prototype.

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After the recent success in testing the hydrogen fuel cell system Airbus has announced that it’s set to install the fuel cell propulsion system on its ZEROe test bed, an Airbus 380 registered F-WWOW, where it will be used in in flight testing from 2026.

In June 2023, the team at Airbus successfully tested the hydrogen fuel cell system, which reached 1.2 megawatts, its full power level. Later that year, the propulsion system prototype, which includes the hydrogen fuel cell system and the electric motors, was powered on at 1.2 megawatts at the E-Aircraft House in Munich.

The 1.2 megawatts that the prototype reached during testing is also the power Airbus aims to test on the A380 in-flight demonstrator, according to Mathias Andriamisaina, Head of Testing and Demonstration on the ZEROe project. This brings the project closer to in-flight testing, with the next step for the ZEROe team to continue testing and to optimize the size, mass and specifications of the propulsion system for flight conditions.

The Future of Aviation, by keynote Matthew Griffin

ZEROe gets its name from zero-emission and is Airbus’s answer to the growing demand for sustainable aviation technologies. The ultimate aim of ZEROe is to produce a hydrogen-powered commercial plane by 2035 using innovative technologies and concepts.

What exactly will the first ZEROe plane look like? There is no definite answer to the question as Airbus is exploring various concepts and technologies for the aircraft. The four concepts that Airbus proposed back in 2020 will pursue either hydrogen combustion or hydrogen fuel cell technology. The latter will be used on a fully electric aircraft type and will be the one tested on the A380 demonstrator.

The designated ZEROe demonstrator is also the very first A380 to be produced by Airbus, with production serial number MSN001. The aircraft was the very first ever superjumbo to take to the sky on April 27th, 2005, marking the start of a truly amazing run by the biggest commercial aircraft known to the world.

The life of MSN001 is just as fascinating as the A380 program itself. MSN001 first took on the role of the prototype, conducting technical testing to achieve the certifications necessary to get the plane ready for commercial operations. This includes tests like water ingestion, extreme hot and cold weather operations, high-speed rejected take-off, and more. The aircraft also went on multiple tours around the world and represented Airbus at various airshows, sometimes wearing special liveries.

After the height of the A380 program, MSN001 was preserved by Airbus while many of the other original prototypes were scrapped. MSN001 became an important instrument for testing the Trent XWB engines for the A350 program, fitting the engine under its wing as the number two engine. It first tested the Trent XWB-84 for the A350-900 variant and was then tasked with testing the Trent XWB-97 for the A350-1000 as well.

More recently, MSN001 was involved in multiple test flights for the use of sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. The first test flight, partnered with Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, used 27 tonnes of unblended SAF provided by Total Energies on the three-hour mission and was followed by several other test flights focused on Performance during take-offs and landings.

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Hydrogen fuels tanks aren’t sexy but if you want to replace jet fuel with greener energy alternatives then making them light is crucial, so this is a milestone.

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A revolutionary cryogenic tank design promises to radically boost the range of hydrogen-powered aircraft like those from Airbus, as well as hydrogen fuelled flying taxis – to the point where clean, fuel-cell airliners could fly up to four times further than comparable planes running on today’s dirty jet fuel.

Weight is the enemy of all things aerospace – indeed, hydrogen’s superior energy storage per weight is what makes it such an attractive alternative to Lithium-Ion (LiON) batteries in the aviation world. As I’ve written before HyPoint’s key differentiator in the aviation market is its enormous power density compared with traditional fuel cells. For its high power output, it’s extremely lightweight.

The new ultra lightweight tank. Courtesy: GTL

Now, it seems HyPoint has found a similarly-minded partner that’s making similar claims on the fuel storage side. Tennessee company Gloyer-Taylor Laboratories (GTL) has been working for many years now on developing ultra-lightweight cryogenic tanks made from graphite fiber composites, among other materials.

GTL claims it’s built and tested several cryogenic tanks demonstrating an enormous 75 percent mass reduction as compared with “state-of-the-art aerospace cryotanks – metal or composite.” The company says they’ve tested leak-tight, even through several cryo-thermal pressure cycles, and that these tanks are at a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 6+, where TRL 6 represents a technology that’s been verified at a beta prototype level in an operational environment.

This kind of weight reduction makes an enormous difference when you’re dealing with a fuel like liquid hydrogen, which weighs so little in its own right. To put this in context, ZeroAvia’s Val Miftakhov told us in 2020 that for a typical compressed-gas hydrogen tank, the typical mass fraction (how much the fuel contributes to the weight of a full tank) was only 10-11 percent. Every kilogram of hydrogen, in other words, needs about 9 kg of tank hauling it about.

Liquid hydrogen, said Miftakhov at the time, could conceivably allow hydrogen planes to beat regular kerosene jets on range.

“Even at a 30-percent mass fraction, which is relatively achievable in liquid hydrogen storage, you’d have the utility of a hydrogen system higher than a jet fuel system on a per-kilogram basis,” he said.

GTL claims the 2.4-m-long, 1.2-m-diameter (7.9-ft-long, 3.9-ft-diameter) cryotank pictured at the top of this article weighs just 12 kg (26.5 lb). With a skirt and “vacuum dewar shell” added, the total weight is 67 kg (148 lb). And it can hold over 150 kg (331 lb) of hydrogen. That’s a mass fraction of nearly 70 percent, leaving plenty of spare weight for cryo-cooling gear, pumps and whatnot even while maintaining a total system mass fraction over 50 percent.

If it does what it says on the tin, this promises to be massively disruptive. At a mass fraction of over 50 percent, HyPoint says it will enable clean aircraft to fly four times as far as a comparable aircraft running on jet fuel, while cutting operating costs by an estimated 50 percent on a dollar-per-passenger-mile basis – and completely eliminating carbon emissions.

HyPoint gives the example of a typical De Havilland Canada Dash-8 Q300, which flies 50-56 passengers about 1,558 km (968 miles) on jet fuel. Retrofitted with a fuel cell powertrain and a GTL composite tank, the same plane could fly up to 4,488 km (2,789 miles).

“That’s the difference between this plane going from New York to Chicago with high carbon emissions versus New York to San Francisco with zero carbon emissions,” said HyPoint co-founder Sergei Shubenkov in a press release.

There’s not a sector in the aviation world that shouldn’t be pricking up its ears at this news. From electric VTOLs to full-size intercontinental airliners, there aren’t a lot of operators that wouldn’t want to dramatically boost flight range, reduce costs, eliminate carbon emissions or simply just reduce weight to increase cargo or passenger capacity.

It won’t be simple – there’s a ton of work to be done yet on green hydrogen production, transport and logistics, not to mention developing these tanks and aircraft fuel cells to the point where they’re airworthy, certified and well-enough tested to be considered a no-brainer. But with these kinds of numbers on the table as carrots, and the aviation sector’s enormous emissions profile acting as a stick, these tanks should surely get a chance to prove themselves.

Source: HyPoint/GTL

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Aluminium Air batteries have way much more energy density than even Hydrogen, and now one startup aircraft manufacturer’s ready to bet on the technology.

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Future  aircraft will be electric, and up until now the race to electrify aviation has been dominated by talks of ammonia, batteries, biofuels, friction, and hydrogen. But now US based Wright Electric has announced a 100-seat electric short-hop aircraft slated to go into service by 2026. It’ll either be powered by hydrogen, or it’ll use recyclable metal in what the company calls an “Aluminum Fuel Cell.”

Wright is working on a number of large electric aircraft projects, including an even bigger 186 seater it’s developing in conjunction with European airline EasyJet and BAE Systems. This would be a “low-emissions” electric, presumably using a fossil fuelled range extender to top up its batteries and extend its flight range to around 1,290 km (800 miles). The partnership is pitching it as a “path” towards clean aviation, a kind of Prius of the skies, that will prove the electric powertrain while waiting for energy storage to come up to scratch.

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Wright’s latest project, however, will be totally zero emissions, and will use high density energy storage to tackle flights up to an hour in duration – that’s enough for the ~1,000 km (620 mile) hop between Sydney and Melbourne, or London-Geneva, or Tokyo-Osaka, or LA-San Francisco.

Essentially, once in production, the Wright Spirit, based on the BAE 146, will be a simple 100 seat electric option that carriers can use on a wide variety of very popular flight routes.

The new concept electric aircraft. Courtesy: Wright Electric

Wright is concentrating mainly on its specialities namely the megawatt scale motors and inverters needed to pull a big ol’ Bessie like this through the air. Indeed, the company appears not to have settled on an energy storage solution at this stage hence the two options, and is evaluating the pros and cons of both a hydrogen fuel cell system, like what we’re seeing from a number of different companies now, and an Aluminum fuel cell system that’s really got us fascinated because ironically Aluminium fuel cells are not only an old technology but they’re much better than hydrogen alternatives – even though hydrogen is winning today.

Why not run straight at hydrogen like most of the other decent sized clean airliner programs are doing? One motivating factor is volume. Liquid hydrogen is an excellent lightweight energy storage medium by weight – heck, its specific energy of 33,313.9 Wh/kg is nearly three times that of jet fuel (~12,000 Wh/kg). But volumetrically, it’s terrible. At just 2,358.6 Wh/liter, a given amount of energy in the form of liquid hydrogen will take up nearly four times the space of the same energy in jet fuel (~9,000 Wh/l).

And volume is a big deal for commercial aircraft operators; most of these early projects will be retrofits to airframes that weren’t designed to carry the extra volume of hydrogen. Every seat that needs to be turfed out of the cabin to make way for fuel is a direct punch in the bottom line. And that’s what makes aluminum so interesting.

Aluminum doesn’t carry as much energy by weight as jet fuel or liquid hydrogen; at a specific energy of 8,611.1 Wh/kg, though, it’s about 33 times better than today’s leading Lithium ion (LiON) batteries. And it knocks it out of the park on volume, packing in 23,277.9 Wh/l. That’ll be music to the ears of every airline company.

How does it work? Well, effectively it’s an Aluminum-Air battery. The aluminum acts as an anode, opposed by a carbon cathode with catalysts behind a porous polymer separator. Between the two is an electrolyte, typically a basic liquid. The aluminum reacts with atmospheric oxygen at the cathode, forming hydrated aluminum oxide and releasing energy.

The cathode and electrolyte do increase the weight of the overall system somewhat, limiting aluminum’s specific energy ceiling to 60-70 percent of what a hydrogen system might achieve. But Wright reasons that “since half of the single aisle market is flights shorter than 800 miles, the range penalty might not be as consequential as it might initially seem.”

Wright calls it a fuel cell, rather than an Aluminum-Air battery, to save on confusion. It can’t be recharged like a battery; instead it’ll need to be refuelled more like a fuel cell, with the added task of taking the aluminum oxide sludge off for recycling at a smelting plant.

Wright says this won’t be much harder than dealing with liquid hydrogen tanks, which it says will also need to be sent off to an external facility for refilling. But while the hydrogen infrastructure all needs to be built out, there are aluminum smelters all over the place already that can turn the aluminum oxide back into fresh metal ready to be loaded back into a canister and stuck in a plane, or used for other purposes.

Logistically, it’d be easy; canisters can be carted around in standard trucks and loaded onto the plane much like cargo. In pellet form, the metal can be sent down pipes if need be.

Challenges remain though. Thin, cold, low oxygen air at cruise altitudes mean that aluminum fuelled aircraft would need to run compressors and heat exchangers that threaten to blow out the weight budget. Entire aluminum cells need to be developed further from their current state to realize useful specific energy figures, and today’s Aluminum-Air batteries are typically designed for low rates of discharge, as opposed to the demands of running aircraft engines. To get higher reaction rates, you’d need to expose more aluminum, potentially by using powders or pellets instead of plates. So there’s a way to go.

Perhaps the most interesting kicker here is the bottom line. Running a rough, “first pass” simulation of an airline’s operating costs, Wright projects that where hydrogen fuel cells are likely to raise costs by around 25 percent, and biofuels are likely to add around 32 percent, the aluminum system would actually be a hair cheaper than today’s jet fuel operations.

Between the cost advantages and the fact that these planes could potentially run more seats than a hydrogen plane in a retrofit scenario, Aluminum-Air could potentially put forward a compelling case for shorter range commercial flights.

But for this kind of system to become a green option, carriers will need to source their aluminum from green smelters, using clean energy, clean heat, and carbon neutral smelting anodes. Mind you, these technologies are under development, and hydrogen has its own challenges in getting to zero emissions.

Wright is agnostic at this point, summing up the hydrogen vs aluminum debate like so: “Hydrogen fuel cell: longer range, smaller payload, harder operations, higher cost. Aluminum fuel cell: shorter range, larger payload, easier operations, lower cost.”

If the technology makes the necessary strides, it could end up being a matter of horses for courses. But it’s certainly good to see that hydrogen might not be the sole viable way to decarbonize commercial air travel – even if it still looks like the only realistic path to clean long-haul flights.

Source: Wright Electric

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Future aircraft will be powered by “greener” fuels, from ammonia and electricity to hydrogen, and their rate of development is accelerating – literally.

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The aviation industry is one of the world’s most polluting industries which is why its future will be dominated by zero emission aircraft like NASA’s electric X Plane, powered by everything from ammonia, biofuels, friction, and hydrogen to plain old electric battery power. And now, as the race to become the Tesla of the skies heats up an electric aircraft developed by Rolls Royce to smash the speed record for an all-electric plane looks to have done just that, within just three years of first being announced.

The Spirit of Innovation took to the skies at a UK Ministry of Defence testing site last week where it reached a maximum speed of 623 km/h (387.4 mph), which Rolls Royce says not only makes it the fastest electric aircraft, but the world’s fastest electric vehicle of any kind.

Learn more about the Future of Mobility 2030, by Futurist Keynote Matthew Griffin

From the outset, the Spirit of Innovation was built from the ground up to become the world’s fastest electric airplane, taking aim at the 210 mph (338 km/h) set by Siemens in 2017. The aircraft is propelled by a 500 hp (400-kW) all-electric powertrain and battery pack of 6,000 cells, described as the most energy-dense ever integrated into an aircraft.

The Spirit of Innovation completed its first taxi tests back in March, and then flew for the first time in September, completing a 15 minute flight and kicking off a more advanced testing phase. The latest outing again took place at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down experimental aircraft testing site, and culminated in a trio of world records, according to Rolls Royce.

See the plane in action!

This includes climbing to an altitude of 3,000 m (9,840 ft) in 202 seconds, breaking the previous record by 60 seconds, reaching a top speed of 555.9 km/h (345.4 mph) over 3 km (1.9 miles), and achieving a top speed of 532.1 km/h (330 mph) over 15 km (9.3 miles). These three world record claims have been submitted to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale for official certification, but the aircraft is said to have also been clocked at 623 km/h (387.4 mph) during these runs, faster than any electric vehicle on the planet, according to Rolls Royce.

“Flying the ‘Spirit of Innovation’ at these incredible speeds and believing we have broken the world record for all-electric flight is a momentous occasion,” says test pilot Phill O’Dell. “This is the highlight of my career and is an incredible achievement for the whole team. The opportunity to be at the forefront of another pioneering chapter of Rolls Royce’s story as we look to deliver the future of aviation is what dreams are made of.”

The video above shows the Spirit of Innovation in action during its latest outings.

Source: Rolls-Royce

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Flying is always the fastest way to go – and flying taxis are now literally starting to take off.

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Flying taxis and EVTOL’s have literally been taking off everywhere over the past few years with several launches in Germany, the UAE, UK, and US, and with new announcements coming almost every day and new purpose air ports being built they’re now becoming a commercial reality with actual reality paying passengers and order books.

Now one of those companies, Vertical Aerospace, believes it has more conditional pre-orders for its eVTOL than most companies in this industry, reaching up to 1,350 aircraft worth $5.4 billion. American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Avolon, Bristow Group, and Iberojet are some of its global customers. In addition, the company has now taken a significant step in the UK by teaming up with a major international hub airport – Heathrow.

The future of air taxis

Vertical and Heathrow have announced they’ve started working on the framework for future eVTOL operations, from airport infrastructure and regulatory changes that need to be made to analyzing the potential impact on the surrounding communities and job opportunities. According to Vertical, some of the airlines operating at Heathrow are interested in supporting the development of eVTOL technology and bringing it to the public.

Vertical’s eVTOL, the VA-X4, could transport four passengers from Heathrow to London in just 12 minutes. And it can do that with zero emissions, almost no noise at all, and with about the same costs as conventional taxis. The VA-X4 stands out among eVTOLs for its high-performance powertrain, developed together with Rolls-Royce, and advanced avionics similar to those of the F-35B, a military aircraft that can take-off and land vertically.

Combining speed levels over 200 mph (322 kph) with a reduced noise level, which is said to be 100 times lower than that of a helicopter, the VA-X4 could provide efficient and comfortable transportation that also supports carbon neutrality goals.

Vertical also says that governments and local authorities should be more proactive in supporting electric commercial flight and helping it become a reality by 2025. Particularly, that the UK’s Department for Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) “should establish an operating framework in the next few years, including the steps for certification, ‘reforms to airspace management,’ and access for electric aircraft.”

The VA-X4 will also begin operating in Japan, by 2025, through the collaboration between Japan Airlines (JAL) and an international aircraft leasing company, Avolon, one of Vertical’s partners.

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As we see breakthroughs in materials and control systems this concept might just be possible …

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So far we’ve seen all kinds of new aircraft propulsion systems prototyped and trialled, from common-a-garden electric and hydrogen powered aircraft, through to ones that are powered by biofuels and nothing more than the ionising gas in the air, and now a new kind of space race could emerge if the physics actually support the theory behind Eather One which could be powered by little more than friction and movement.

Designer Michal Bonikowski’s concept is probably four or five generations ahead of the current mode of thinking, but he says he was inspired by the recent Maveric concept by Airbus.

“That aircraft’s unique design helps reduce drag while providing more cabin space,” he said. “I have been thinking a lot about this lately, and wondered what could happen if a big company created an electric plane.”

Courtesy: Michal Bonikowski

What the Warsaw-based designer came up with is potentially revolutionary. Eather One uses friction between the air and high speeds of the jet as its primary source of renewable, on-demand energy.

While it looks like a jet from the future the primary difference between Eather One and contemporary hybrid aircraft are the triboelectric nanogenerators in the wings – not only do these novel mini-generators exist but they’re actually being lined up for some pretty weird new energy projects that even include using them to extract energy from the blood in people’s bodies to power medical gadgets like implanted medical devices and everything else for that matter.

The nanogenerators convert mechanical energy directly into electrical energy and in this case the aircraft doesn’t need fuel tanks or large battery banks since it will generate electricity directly from air molecules in the troposphere and stratosphere.

As Eather One travels at high speeds Bonikowski’s idea is to harness the friction generated from vibrations in the airframe and bend of the wings. The converted energy will power the electric motors and recharge on board batteries and it’s an interesting concept that actually could have some legs to it.

This readymade source of power means that Eather One will require smaller battery packs than aircraft relying on stored battery power alone. Bonikowski concedes that his aircraft will need some battery packs during frictionless points during take-off and landing.

Needless to say this concept may never fly out of the realm of sci-fi, but it demonstrates the same out-of-the-box thinking that powered the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk.

“I enjoy all attempts to revolutionize flying,” says Bonikowski, who also designed a new kind of rotorcraft called the Fusion Copter, and as the technologies mature and improve who knows one day you might be flying in a plane powered by nanotech… and friction.

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Hydrogen has more than ten times the energy density of lithium Ion batteries, zero emissions, and nothing to recycle, but distributing it has been an issue until now.

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With over 1 trillion watts of installed renewable energy generation renewables have finally become the world’s cheapest form of energy so it should come as any surprise that using fossil fuels as a means to generate energy is under threat. While renewables like solar and wind power are rising to prominence other forms of green energy production like Hydrogen have been languishing in the slow lane in part because in order to switch the global economy to hydrogen fuel companies would have to make huge investments in building out the infrastructure, from production plants to distribution centers and so on, to support it.

One of the key issues making hydrogen a less attractive energy source than Lithium Ion batteries, for example, for use in electric vehicles is the fact that it needs to be kept cold and pressurised in special tanks, like the ones in this superyacht, which makes the logistics of trucking it around considerably tougher than that of gasoline.

See the idea for yourself

But now a new hydrogen blending technology offers a potential solution – by injecting hydrogen directly into the existing natural gas grid it could be piped quickly and efficiently across an entire city, and gas stations could simply separate it out and suck it back out of the gas pipelines to fill their tanks. The distribution problem would then disappear, enabling hydrogen pumps to quickly pop up all over town – all of which means fuelling your hydrogen powered drone, supercar, or truck is no longer an issue.

To test the concept, SoCalGas is setting up a hydrogen blending demonstration program that will see surplus renewable energy electrolysed into hydrogen gas, which will be blended into the natural gas supply. An isolated segment of the grid will be chosen early this year – one that uses mainly polyethylene piping – and hydrogen will be blended in at an initial proportion of around 1 percent, potentially rising as high as 20 percent during testing.

A hydrogen-natural gas blend at these proportions behaves almost identically to a regular compressed natural gas feed when it’s burned to power kitchen stoves, boilers, hot water services and other such appliances. The main difference is a reduction in CO2 emissions at the burn site. Only once blends reach the 30 to 40 percent level does it really need to be treated much differently to a normal gas line.

On the other end, SoCalGas has also announced it’s working with Dutch company HyET Hydrogen to deploy HyET’s Electrochemical Hydrogen Purification and Compression (EHPC) technology to get the H2 out of the gas pipes and into a compressed storage tank. The EHPC system uses an electrically-actuated, hydrogen-selective membrane to suck the small hydrogen molecules through without allowing the methane and other natural gas molecules through.

The initial deployment is expected to extract and compress about 10 kg, or 22 lb, of hydrogen per day, but within two years that figure will rise tenfold. As 100 kg, or 220 lb, of compressed hydrogen would be enough to fill up about 20 fuel-cell cars, so it’s not far from that point to a commercially workable solution for gas stations.

If gas stations can easily hook themselves up to a reliable and fuss-free hydrogen source, then a lack of H2 pumps could quickly cease to be a barrier for fuel-cell vehicles which would then no doubt help accelerate their roll out. The same infrastructure could also feed larger trucking depots or airports where hydrogen-fuelled aircraft, like Airbus’ latest E-Zero hydrogen concept aircraft, could stop to refuel.

Source: SoCalGas

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The airline industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters, and as society demands action some of them are re-doubling their efforts to clean up their industries for the better.

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To celebrate Zero Emissions Day 2020, which, yes is apparently a thing now even though ironically as a society we’re nowhere near that objective, Airbus, who’ve also been showing off their latest flying robo-taxi concepts, has revealed three concept aircraft, codenamed ZEROe which would be the first hydrogen fuelled planes to produce zero emissions in flight and which the company hopes could revolutionise air transport for the future.

The three commercial planes the company unveiled are designed to “fill every niche in the commercial aviation sector,” and the European plane maker says they could be ready to enter service as soon as 2035.

Unlike many of the electric aircraft designs and prototypes that I’ve been writing about recently the three concept planes rely wholly on hydrogen as a primary fuel source, something which comes with its own set of challenges – like the lack of any hydrogen infrastructure that the company could use to fuel the planes from. However, despite this, Airbus says it believes that hydrogen is an exceptionally promising future aviation fuel because it has over ten times the energy density of today’s more traditional Lithium Ion batteries that are fuelling the airline industries “other” zero emissions arms race, and that it holds the key to meeting climate goals for the future.

“This is a historic moment for the commercial aviation sector as a whole and we intend to play a leading role in the most important transition this industry has ever seen. The concepts we unveil today offer the world a glimpse of our ambition to drive a bold vision for the future of zero-emission flight. I strongly believe that the use of hydrogen – both in synthetic fuels and as a primary power source for commercial aircraft – has the potential to significantly reduce aviation’s climate impact,” said Chief executive Guillaume Faury in a statement.

A brief overview of the new Maverick “flying wing” design

The first design is a turbofan aircraft with a range of around 2,000 nautical miles. Airbus says this aircraft would be powered by a modified gas-turbine engine, operating entirely on hydrogen as an alternative to jet fuel.

The aircraft would be perfect for transcontinental missions, seating around 120 up to 200 passengers. The plane maker says that the fuel – liquid hydrogen – would be safely stored in tanks behind the rear pressure bulkhead. It could be the A320 successor the world needs.

The second concept is a turboprop aircraft, clearly targeted to regional markets with a capacity of around 100 passengers. Despite being a small plane, it would have a range of around 1,000 nautical miles, making it ideal for the short-haul marketplace, and like the narrow body, this aircraft would be fuelled by hydrogen via modified gas-turbine engines. The propulsion would also rely on combustion of the hydrogen fuel.

While the first two concepts look pretty standard in terms of aircraft design, the third design is a step out of the box for aerospace. Airbus has presented the blended wing concept aircraft as the third zero emissions idea, something which it floated to the world earlier this year.

The unusual design would make for a high capacity of seating, up to 200 passengers. Airbus says that the wide fuselage would present more options for hydrogen storage and distribution, as well as making some interesting possibilities for cabin design like the ones from their 2030 and 2050 concepts that I showed off recently.

While all these concepts are interesting to see, Airbus concedes that there are some significant challenges to overcome if they are to be brought to the market. Things like hydrogen storage and transportation, refuelling capabilities at airports, and the considerable investment this will require all need to be navigated to realize the dream of a zero emission aircraft.

“These concepts will help us explore and mature the design and layout of the world’s first climate-neutral, zero-emission commercial aircraft, which we aim to put into service by 2035. The transition to hydrogen, as the primary power source for these concept planes, will require decisive action from the entire aviation ecosystem. Together with the support from government and industrial partners we can rise up to this challenge to scale-up renewable energy and hydrogen for the sustainable future of the aviation industry,” said Faury.

It’s a complex step change, but one which is undoubtedly necessary if the industry is serious about meeting the future needs of the planet. The next step for Airbus will be to evaluate these concepts and technologies to see whether they can be matured into viable products.

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Aircraft today burn huge amounts of fossil fuels that pollute the world, this latest breakthrough would make them zero emissions.

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Today’s planes fly by burning huge amounts of polluting jet fuel and emitting toxic greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere. But tomorrow’s planes will be battery powered and electric, some could even be Ion powered, albeit far fetched. Now though future planes might have another option – one that up until now, like NASA’s  “impossible” EM engine I wrote about a while ago that could power rockets in space without needing to use any fuel, is supposed to be “impossible” and runs on nothing more than electricity and air – no fuel required.

The breakthrough comes courtesy of a professor from Wuhan University in China who has designed a revolutionary new type of microwave jet plasma engine that generates thrusting pressure using only air and electricity.

It’s a small but ground breaking trial

In a press release, lead researcher and Wuhan University professor, Jau Tang said: “The motivation of our work is to help solve the global warming problems owing to humans’ use of fossil fuel combustion engines to power machineries, such as cars and airplanes.”

The researchers described their engine in the journal AIP Advances.

Plasma is the fourth state of matter — aside from solid, liquid, and gases. It consists of an aggregate of charged ions and exists naturally on the Sun’s surface and in flashes of lightning.

However, it’s also possible to create plasma, which was exactly what the researchers did. The team compressed air into high pressures and used a microwave to ionize the pressurized air stream, and the result was a plasma jet thruster.

If you’ve heard about plasma engines it might be bause you’ve heard about NASA‘s Dawn space probe which uses one, however, these previous versions use xenon plasma, which can’t overcome the friction in Earth’s atmosphere so, as a result, as great as they are they’re simply not suitable for commercial aircraft applications.

Meanwhile, back on Earth though, the new jet thruster generates high-temperature and high pressurized plasma using only injected air and electricity.

“I think the jet engine is more efficient than the electric motor. You can drive a car at much faster speeds. That’s what I have in mind: to combine the plasma jet engine with a turbine to drive a car,” says Tang.

In a test the teams prototype managed to launch a one kilogram steel ball 24 millimeters into the air and that level of thrust, to scale, is the equivalent to a commercial airplane jet engines, which makes the latest announcement so interesting and newsworthy.

That said though there’s obviously a long way to go still before you see a plane powered by one of these revolutionary new engines, but were there’s a prototype there’s a way.

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WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

The world of aviation and travel is changing, it’s getting faster, more autonomous, more entertaining, more personalised, and more sustainable for starters.

Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog.

Firstly, thank you to Yolanda and the team at Netflights for asking me to contribute to their Future of Air Travel 2050 paper, the reality of which I’m very much looking forward to realising as I sit here waiting to board an eleven hour flight on a Boeing 787 out of Chicago.

As we continue to see every sector be transformed by technology as I’ve discussed before the aviation industry isn’t immune. Not only is the sector facing new forms of disruption in the shape of new Mach 1 and even Mach 3 trains like the Hyperloop, as well as new developments in Mach 27 rocket travel that could get you from one side of the planet to the other in just 45 minutes, but it could also be disrupted by the emergence of autonomous hotel rooms. Yes, you heard that last one right.

Despite all these external disruptions though the sector will be fighting back with the emergence of new supersonic and stunning hypersonic aircraft concepts, and we’ll continue to see the electrification of aircraft and the emergence of fully autonomous aircraft that fly themselves.

And as for what the interior cabin experiences might look like, well, read the paper, but sensors will sense your mood and wellness, and adjust the cabins accordingly, the windows will be replaced by high definition displays and skins, and entertainment will be on tap courtesy of ultra-fast connectivity provided by swarms of low earth orbit satellites and virtual reality and augmented reality smart contact lenses –  after all VR headsets are so 2030’s.

Created using FlowPaper Flipbook Maker ↗

Source: Netflights

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