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.
