A young Swiss company, Destinus, has just unveiled a hypersonic demonstrator, a sort of super Concorde, which could fly on hydrogen from 2040.
Whether at VivaTech, just finished, or at the Paris Air Show, which opened its doors on Monday, Destinus is causing a stir. The start-up born in 2021 and based in Payerne, Switzerland, has unveiled its prototype hypersonic device. A technology that we thought had fallen into oblivion, because of its energy cost and its low profitability. But Mikhail Kokorich’s company has an argument to convince: the device can fly thanks to hydrogen.
A hypersonic plane that would surpass the Concorde? Yes…
Before we get into the background, let’s start with the shape. On paper, the Destinus project is supposed to result in creating a supersonic aircraft capable of flying up to 6,000 km/h (thus two to three times faster than the Concorde) at an altitude of 30 kilometers. There is therefore no risk of cluttering the traditional current aircraft, which fly at an altitude at least three times lower.
With the Destinus device, a Paris-New York would take only 1h30 of your time, a Paris-Singapore around 3h15, and a Paris-Sydney around 4h30. So, on paper, the promise is rather flattering and makes you dream (even if a Paris-New York would cost 8,000 euros at the start), but that’s not all!
The Swiss start-up indicates that its plane could fly with carbon-free energy: liquid hydrogen. The first aircraft, the Destinus S, could be commercially operated in 2030. The largest aircraft, the Destinus L (which would carry between 300 and 400 passengers, like an Airbus A330 or a Boeing 777), could take to the air in 2040.
…except that hydrogen what
We feel you are thrilled, but we suspect that the mention of ” liquid hydrogen brings up some questions. While hydrogen has potential as a future energy carrier, the way it is produced today is simply not good for the planet.
” Gray hydrogen, the most popular method for producing hydrogen, is also the process with the worst carbon footprint “, explains Didier Dalmazzone, professor of chemistry and processes at ENSTA Paris, in a blog post. Interviewed several months ago by Alexandre Boero, Professor Daniel Hissel, Deputy Director of the CNRS Hydrogen Research Federation (or FRH2) confided that “ most of the hydrogen produced worldwide is based on fossil energy resources, I would tend to say ”unfortunately”. It is extracted from coal, natural gas and oil mainly “.
For hydrogen to be carbon-free in nature, a water electrolyser would have to be used. ” It is an object powered by electricity, and from the moment I have water available, I will be able to separate water in this form of H2 (hydrogen) and O2 (oxygen) “says Daniel Hissel. Except that this process covers ” less than 5% of demand today “, adds Didier Dalmazzone. And even if public policies are moving in this direction, there is still a long way to go.
Sources: Clubic, Polytechnique-Insights, BFM Business
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