June 2008

E-Mail This Article Printer-Friendly Version

Another fuel cell-powered airplane: Germany’s aerospace agency DLR and German sailplane maker Lange Aviation, Zweibruecken, are cooperating in plans to convert one of Lange’s high-performance motor gliders, the Antares 20E to fuel cells and hydrogen fuel. Technical details were not immediately forthcoming, and it wasn’t clear exactly at what stage the plane is right now (Apparently it was not shown at the International Air Show at the end of last month in Berlin where DLR displayed an A320 Airbus ATRA with a Michelin APU fuel cell system). The new plane, dubbed Antares DLR H-2, will be a flying test bed that will be available to DLR until 2017. Fuel cell systems and hydrogen fuel tanks will be carried in two pods slung underneath the strengthened wings left and right of the fuselage. The purpose essentially is to use the plane as a test bed for future fuel cell applications as auxiliary power units for wide-body passenger planes such as the Airbus. In April, Boeing announced it had successfully flown a similar fuel cell plane, and the European Union is also developing such a plane based on a Czech design (H&FLC April 07, May 08).

Contact: DLR, Josef Kallo, +49/711-6862-672, Josef.Kallo@dlr.de.