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 7:12 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis

Last updated on Dec 11, 2023 at 3:30 PM (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.

READ MORE: New Concorde’ supersonic jet that flies from New York to London in record time set to make first flight

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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Experienced content creator with a strong focus on cars and watches. Alessandro penned the first-ever post on the Supercar Blondie website and covers cars, watches, yachts, real estate and crypto. Former DriveTribe writer, fixed gear bike owner, obsessed with ducks for some reason.