On 3/8/2021 1:53 PM, Eric Greenwell wrote:
wrote on 3/8/2021 10:35 AM:
On Monday, 8 March 2021 at 18:26:28 UTC, AS wrote:
Ran across this short article about an interesting project at the
Delft University in The Netherlands:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dutc...153606032.html


Uli
AS
Easy to tell it's H-powered ... look at all the water vapour it's left
behind!Â* ;-o)

The article startles with the announcement the aircraft will have a 164
foot wingspan! Better to use the developers' website at ...

https://aerodelft.nl/project-phoenix/

... where you learn it is an 18M wingspan. Hydrogen aircraft have flown
before, but I don't know if any used liquid hydrogen. I did see recently
that Toyota is offering the hydrogen fueled Mirai sedan for 2021. For
our electric gliders, batteries will remain the best choice because
energy density is not critical, as it is for airplanes.

"Hydrogen is kept in a cryogenic tank at -253°C and warmed to 0°C using
a complex tubing system."

The hydrogen may be light, but the cryogenic tank isn't. Hydrogen is
notoriously difficult to store in a dense form. If you can make a fuel
cell affordable (big if), there are better fuels for the purpose, that
store as a liquid in ambient conditions or mild pressure, e.g.,
methanol, ammonia... (All of which can in theory be produced using
solar power, but don't hold your breath, it's makes no sense economically.)