This Hydrogen-powered Aircraft Could Be the First to Fly Non-stop Around the Globe

The team behind Climate Impulse aims to showcase hydrogen’s value as an alternative fuel for air travel. But with many design issues to overcome and an entire industry to overhaul, the aircraft has a lot to prove.

As the aviation industry looks to lower its carbon emissions, the race is on to find an alternative way of fueling air travel, and hydrogen is looking to be a frontrunner.

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To prove its potential, a team in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France, is building a hydrogen-powered aircraft, which aims to be the first to circumnavigate the globe. It goes by the name Climate Impulse.

Leading the team is Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard, who was part of the Solar Impulse team that flew a solar-powered plane around the world between 2015 and 2016. He believes the project could be an important catalyst for the aviation industry.

“A lot of people say that you cannot decarbonize aviation. Climate Impulse, that’s my call against defeatism, against skepticism, against all the people who say there are no solutions,” Bertrand Piccard told CNBC Tech: The Edge. “There are a lot of solutions, but hope will come only if we take action.”

Of course, a move to hydrogen-propelled aviation is not as simple as just switching the fuel in planes. Among other things, having to keep the liquid hydrogen at close to absolute zero creates its own challenges in terms of design. So why did the Climate Impulse team decide on hydrogen fuel for the project?

“If you want to be fully decarbonized, you can go on solar … but it’s not practical for commercial aviation,” Piccard explained. “If you have bigger planes, you need bigger batteries, and a part of your energy will be wasted by carrying the heavy batteries. So that’s the moment where it’s more efficient to go on hydrogen.”

The team’s aim is for Climate Impulse to attempt its round-the-world flight in 2028, with testing starting in 2026.