Hydrogen Skyways
Hydrogen skyways are just a natural extension of the hydrogen
highways and H2 waterways of the future. When the hydrogen-filled
German dirigible, the Hindenburg, exploded in 1937, it set back
the combination of hydrogen and commercial flying machines about
70 years. It is now known, however, that the skin of the zeppelin
is what caught fire and burned first and not the H2 as had been
previously thought.
NASA has used to power of hydrogen for years in order to boost
its rockets and propel humans, satellite and unmanned missions
alike into outer space. The hydrogen skyways of the future, though,
will not be so ambitious and in fact, one day, they will be commonplace.
The hydrogen skyways are not something that will be populated
by H2 airplanes, rockets, shuttles, weather balloons and other
aircraft next century, though. Hydrogen skyways are closer than
you think.
In fact, a company called AeroVironment on June 28, 2005 put
the world's first liquid hydrogen powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
(UAV) into the skyways for flight tests. This vehicle, named the
Global
Observer has a 50-foot wingspan and can operate at 65,000
feet for over a week with a flexible payload-carrying capacity
of up to 1,000 pounds.
The Global Observer (or a clone of this drone thereof) can be
used for hurricane tracking, imaging and mapping, wildfire detection,
weather monitoring and GPS augmentation plus many other uses for
the communications and defense industries.
In 1956, 1988 and 1989 three separate incidents of airplanes
having modified for hydrogen use were reported. One of these incidents
was with a B-57 bomber.
According to a story in Bellona,
"DaimlerChrysler Aerospace/Airbus (DASA) recently started
a new European co-operative project for developing hydrogen-driven
jet planes. There are 33 industrial companies, research institutes
and universities from 11 European countries participating. Initially
DASA started a two-year preliminary study and system analysis
on airplanes driven by liquid hydrogen. The project is called
Cryoplane, after an earlier hydrogen airplane project DASA had
run. The study will map the different aspects of using of hydrogen
as a fuel in air travel, including safety and impact on the environment,
as well as the overall feasibility of the project.
"The goal for the next decade is to develop and start limited
series production of airplanes with liquid hydrogen as fuel. Development
of a hydrogen infrastructure for airplanes is not a problem. NASA's
extensive experience with LH2 in space programs should provide
the necessary know-how. Boeing has also recently begun to look
closer at use of hydrogen as fuel in airplanes."
Changing the infrastructure for land vehicles is much more challenging
than for airplanes, according to many researchers. There are a
limited number of commercial airplanes manufacturers and parts
suppliers and airports are fewer in number and can adapt more
easily to storing and supplying hydrogen then thousands of small
filling stations scattered across the countryside and across borders.
The drawback for a switch from jet fuel to hydrogen may be less
on the technology side and more on the government side as coordinating
and garnering cooperation from other nations will be paramount
in making H2 airplanes a reality.
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