The Technology Behind the Flight
This remarkable achievement showcases the potential of renewable energy in aviation. The process involved in producing the ‘green hydrogen’ is as follows:
Solar panels capture energy from the sun
This solar power is used to split water molecules through electrolysis
Hydrogen gas is produced as a result
The hydrogen is used to inflate and power/fly the balloon
Sciboz and Tièche’s flight was made possible through a collaboration with local firm Gruyère Hydrogen Power (GHP) and the Swiss startup GRZ Technologies for the innovative solid-state hydrogen storage container.
Normally, gas balloons rely on hydrogen transported by road from factories far away, but this balloon took off directly next to the Gruyère Energie site where the GHP plant, which produces hydrogen directly on site, was built.
Solar-powered flights
This balloon flight is notable for its use of hydrogen produced with electricity from the sun.
Solar-powered flights have a history dating back to the 1970s. The unmanned AstroFlight Sunrise achieved the first successful solar-powered flight in 1974, while the first manned solar-powered flight took place in 1979.
The 21st century brought even more ambitious projects, notably with Solar Impulse. Solar Impulse 1, completed in 2009, made significant achievements and records including the first international solar-powered flight from Switzerland to Belgium in 2011. Its successor, Solar Impulse 2, completed a record round-the-world journey between 2015 and 2016, covering more than 41.000 km in over 555 hours of flight.
More recent developments include the Airbus Zephyr, a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle powered by solar energy. In 2021, the Airbus Zephyr Programme set a world record by flying for 454h30m without landing.
In the realm of ballooning, Leticia Noemi Marqués broke multiple Duration and Distance world records in 2020 aboard the Aerocene solar balloon which transformed solar radiation into heat by means of its dark coloured membrane.
Photo and video credit: Fribourg Challenge Team
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Publish date : 2024-09-25 02:20:00
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