Bertrand Piccard, president of the Solar Impulse foundation, during COP 24 in Katowice (Poland) on December 4, 2018 (AFP / Janek SKARZYNSKI)
A non-stop world tour in eight days in a plane with green hydrogen as fuel: after Solar Impulse, Bertrand Piccard launches Climate Impulse, a new project to promote zero-emission technologies and “show that there are solutions” .
Designed in partnership with the Belgian chemist Syensqo, which split from Solvay in December, the plane will have a double fuselage with the cockpit installed in the middle and a 37 meter wingspan, half the size of Solar Impulse.
It is due to make its first flight in 2026 and complete its world tour two years later. It will then involve flying at nearly 200 km/h at an altitude of 3,000 meters for eight days in a row.
Its predecessor, Solar Impulse 2, powered by solar energy alone and therefore dependent on the weather, completed its world tour in 2016 after 17 stages. Climate Impulse will operate with hydrogen produced from renewable electricity, which will power electric motors.
“We live in an eco-depressed world, which does not see a future, it is time to show that there are solutions which exist today, which must recreate enthusiasm”, argues Bertrand Piccard.
The Solar Impulse plane on June 7, 2016 in New York City (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Gary Gershoff)
The Swiss, who presents himself as an “explorer of progress and sustainability”, has been working on Climate Impulse for three years.
“It’s about showing that with a fuel cell, electric motors and liquid hydrogen, we can fly a two-seater plane around the world and that, if that’s possible, it can be done anywhere “, he explains to AFP, recalling that “aviation has been a symbol of innovation since 1903.”
Several hydrogen aircraft projects, powering a fuel cell or burned directly in the engine, are currently in development in Europe, including the Dragonfly from the French start-up Blue Spirit Aero or the ZEROe from Airbus.
– Airbus partner –
Syensqo, from Solvay and which took over its activities in specialty chemicals, was already a partner of Solar Impulse.
Ilham Kadri, then head of Solvay, now Syensqo, in Paris on March 15, 2019 (AFP / Lionel BONAVENTURE)
The group works on “specialty materials, chemistry for decarbonization, for lightweighting and electrification” and a project like Climate Impulse constitutes an “extraordinary showcase” to push new innovations, affirms for his part Ilham Kadri, general director of Syensqo.
Among them, solid batteries – more energy dense and non-flammable -, composite thermoplastics – lighter than current composites and recyclable – or even the storage of cryogenic hydrogen (-253°C) on board the device.
“It’s a technological expedition, and what we want is to prove technologically that it is feasible for aviation,” she enthuses.
Responsible for 2.5 to 3% of global CO2 emissions, the aviation sector is committed to achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.
Airbus, which plans to develop its hydrogen aircraft for 2035, provides technical support to Climate Impulse, as does aeronautical equipment manufacturer Daher, CapGemini, and Arianegroup, a specialist in the use of liquid hydrogen for rockets.
Climate Impulse will be built in Les Sables d’Olonne (Vendée) notably by the former navigator and composites engineer Raphaël Dinelli.