Google co-founder Sergey Brin is planning to make a massive disaster relief airship powered by a record-breaking hydrogen fuel cell, several times larger than any to take to the skies yet.
LTA Research and Exploration, the billionaire’s secretive airship company, is planning a 1.5-megawatt hydrogen propulsion system for a craft to deliver humanitarian aid in hard-to-reach places. Airships are much slower than jet airplanes, but they can land almost anywhere and carry large payloads over long distances.
However, its first fuel cell will be a 0.75 MW system, built by a separate company and retrofitted into one of its existing prototype crafts.
The company is taking on this ambitious project to revolutionize transportation. Such a system would be powerful enough to cross oceans.
The current largest hydrogen fuel cell to fly is a 0.25 MW system (250 kilowatts) in aircraft startup ZeroAvia’s zero-emissions small passenger plane.
In the coming years, LTA will demonstrate its first prototype airship (Pathfinder 1) using batteries. Then, a prototype with the 0.75 MW hydrogen system. And eventually, the 1.5 MW system.
The Pathfinder 1 is powered by 12 electric motors and could carry 14 people. It’s about the same size as the Zeppelin NT – the only passenger airship in operation today, which conducts sightseeing tours in Switzerland and Germany.
Hydrogen fuel cells are lighter and potentially cheaper than lithium-ion batteries, making them an attractive solution for electric aviation. This extends the range considerably.
Dr. Josef Kallo, a professor at the German Aerospace Center who is developing an unaffiliated 1.5 MW fuel cell for a 60-seater regional electric aircraft with colleagues, said:
Where we could go something like 125 miles with batteries, we should be able to go nearly 1,000 miles using hydrogen. And airships are even more perfect for the efficiency of fuel cells.
Functionality-wise, there is no showstopper to using a hydrogen fuel cell. The challenge is to find someone who can afford not to look at the business case because I don’t think it works out from an economic perspective. Maybe Sergey Brin can afford to do that.
However, there are still challenges to overcome, like the fact that the systems produce lots of excess water and heat. Fuel cells use oxygen and hydrogen to generate electricity, producing water in the process. Then there’s the complication of safely storing the liquid hydrogen.
LTA’s ultimate goals are to create a fleet of zero-emissions aircraft for passenger travel and global cargo. It says on its website:
We ultimately aim to create a family of aircraft with zero emissions that, when used for shipping goods and moving people, would substantially reduce the global carbon footprint of aviation.
So, in addition to helping those in need, these airships could help combat climate change. Recent studies found that airships could reduce emissions if used instead of polluting trucks or sea-based transport. They’d also reduce the cost of delivering aid or goods.
Current options include the Airlander 10, which produces 75% fewer emissions, and the Celera 500L – the world’s most fuel-efficient aircraft. Both are fossil-fuel-based airships, so hydrogen is much better, but they’re far less polluting than a standard airplane.
