Video Transcript
Hydrogen fuel is a strong candidate to help the aviation industry reduce its carbon footprint and a non-stop flight around the world could be the thing that takes it out of the proving-ground phase and into wider adoption.
That’s the hope of the team behind Climate Impulse, an emission-free aircraft that plans to circumnavigate Earth in 2028 using only hydrogen as fuel. Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss explorer who previously circled the globe in a balloon and a solar-powered aircraft, is leading the team.
Piccard told CNBC the project is about proving that hydrogen is a viable option for decarbonizing commercial air travel. He said the energy source can produce enough power for larger aircraft while not adding so much extra weight that efficiencies are canceled out. But the trip is also about developing and testing technology that will make extended hydrogen-powered flight possible.
One of the biggest challenges for Climate Impulse will be keeping liquid hydrogen at -253°C, or right around absolute zero, during a flight that could last up to nine days. The team is partnering with Syensqo to build adapted thermal tanks that can help the hydrogen fuel keep its cool.
Syensqo (formerly part of Solvay) previously worked with Piccard for his team’s Solar Impulse flight, and this time, it will again help to manufacture the plane using its composite materials, films, and additives for the aircraft’s structure, fuselage, wings, and hydrogen tanks. Climate Impulse will rely on those materials to help maintain lightness, density, and efficiency in the compact design of the plane.
Climate Impulse has already completed two years of research, development, and design supported by major aerospace companies, including Airbus. The aircraft is now under construction and should be ready in two years, at which point it will begin another two years of testing. After all of that, it should be ready to fly around the world.
