The world’s first zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell-powered jet made a successful maiden flight over the skies of Bern, Switzerland, earlier this month. Okay, the aircraft is about five-feet long (1.6 meters), has a three-foot wingspan and weighs 13 pounds. Still, the flight (video below) was pretty bloody impressive as the HyFish swooped and swooshed, reaching speeds of nearly 125 miles an hour. The jet is a collaboration between the German Air & Space Center and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. Don’t expect to board a hydrogen-powered Boeing or Airbus any time soon, though. But with commercial aviation a growing source of planet-warming greenhouse gases, hydrogen-fueled planes may eventually replace unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, used for military missions and environmental
monitoring.
"We are confident that record-breaking 15 to 30 hour flight times are now within reach for
small UAVs, which would offer new and disruptive possibilities in the aviation industry," Horizon CEO George Gu said in a statement. The Singapore-based company has a 
knack for making really cool toys to publicize the potential for its industrial-grade fuel cells. The H-Racer, Horizon’s solar-powered, hydrogen fuel cell toy car (photo at left) was a winner in Business 2.0 magazine’s Bottom Line Design Awards this year. The H-Racer certainly captured the imagination of my eight-year-old son and his buddies when I brought it home for a demo, prompting lengthy discussions about cars and global warming. Their interest is sure to be peaked by the HyFish. Now if Green Wombat could only bring one of those home.
First Hydrogen-Powered Jet Takes Off
April 17, 2007 by Todd Woody
Green Wombat 
First Hydrogen-Powered Jet Takes Off
“Okay, the aircraft is about five-feet long (1.6 meters), has a three-foot wingspan and weighs 13 pounds. Still, the flight (video below) was pretty bloody impressive…” L…
Why do they call it a jet? The press release clearly says it is powered by a fuel cell generating electrical power. This thing has no jet.
An electrical motor could technically power a small turbine/compressor set up, producing a jet of air. It obviously is producing a high speed thrust somehow, or else it wouldn’t fly!
you do know this wasn’t the first hydrogen (H) powered jet right? NASA/USAF did this a couple of time during the the old X-planes and the scram jet was designed run on H too.
From Wikipedia: “…hydrogen is an energy storage medium, not a primary energy source.”
Where does the hydrogen come from? How is this “zero-emission”? Hype.
Hydrogen can be obtained through the electrolysis of water (using, duh, electricity) irrespective of how that electricity was generated. The implication is that electricity generated from a “zero-emission” source (e.g. nuclear, solar, hydroelectric, etc.) could be used to produce the hydrogen.
The “problem-solved, case closed” implication in your post is disturbing. I guess the problem really is solved, for as long as we can ignore it. It’s not this little baby jet that gets to me… I’d kinda like to have one myself! It’s all the hype lately about hydrogen as power for the future. It’s simply not realistic, and it negates the urgency to solve some serious problems that we really should be concentrating on.
With all due respect, I think you’re reading too much into the post. I’m not suggesting that hydrogen-powered aviation will happen anytime soon or will be any near-term solution to the immediate and pressing problem of radically reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
No no, don’t get me wrong, the article is very cool. However, the fact that I found it through CNN Money’s technology section instantly made me question the motive. Not your motive. Theirs.
Le premier avion à réaction propulsé à lhydrogène
Le 6 avril, la compagnie Horizon Fuel Cell annonçait la réussite du premier avion à réaction propulsé par une pile à combustible. Ça vaut la peine de regarder le vidéo de ce vol inaugural. On y voit lavion effectuer plusieurs manœuvre…
Hydrogen is the future. Look at our planet and even our bodies, we are all made of water H2o.
I think the solution lies in our vast oceans and our sun. I propose making large floating honeycomb-shaped solar panels to be placed in the ocean where storms are rare and sun-shine is ample. Maybe a grid of 10 miles or so. They collect water and sun and through electrolosis convert the water to usable hydrogen. wallah
Does no one remember the hindenburg? Hydrogen is combustable… almost anything is with the right pressure and heat applied to it. Electrolysis can be produced from the use of an alternator (found in all automobiles as a means to run electrical components and recharge the battery system). This is not “magic” and it is not the same as CREATING energy, rather a means of converting energy from potential to kinetic. Simply put, the engine runs from the combustion of hydrogen, the engine runs the alternator and the alternator produces the energy needed to release the hydrogen from the water molecule. The energy created from combusting the hydrogen far out-weighs the amount of energy needed for releasing it from the water molecule.
Now, the emissions created are another matter altogether. The term “Hydro-carbons” comes to mind. I keep hearing people say zero-emissions in connection with burning hydrogen and I do not know that this is entirely correct. I am no chemist, but it seems clear to me that the having a Hydro-carbon problem is better than having a Carbon-monoxide problem.