Daily Memo: Revisiting Hydrogen Fuel—Why It Might Work This Time Around

The idea of hydrogen fuel is not new, as witnessed by Soviet-era flight tests of the Tupolev Tu-155—a specially modified hydrogen- and natural gas-fueled Tu-154 variant pictured here in Aviation Week (May 16, 1988, p. 62)—but new technologies could potentially make it practical by the 2030s.
Credit: AW&ST Archive
Hydrogen propulsion holds significant potential to reduce climate impact in flight by as much as 75% when used in engines for direct combustion and as much as 90% when used in fuel cells to power electrically driven hybrid engines or distributed propulsion systems. Although liquid hydrogen (LH2) has...
Guy Norris

Guy is a Senior Editor for Aviation Week, covering technology and propulsion. He is based in Colorado Springs.

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