Google billionaire plots launch of airship with world’s largest hydrogen fuel cell

Google co-founder Brin has turned his attention to airships

Credit: Getty Images

The co-founder of Google is plotting the release of a disaster relief airship that will be powered by the world’s largest mobile hydrogen fuel cell.

Billionaire Sergey Brin, who has a net worth of around $88.3bn (£63.34bn), set up LTA Research and Exploration to “dramatically increase” the capabilities of the modern-day airship.

Based in Ohio, LTA is working on a 1.5-megawatt hydrogen propulsion system, according to a job listing on the company’s website that was first reported by TechCrunch.

Airships have been tipped to be a logistical game changer for humanitarian aid due to their ability to carry large payloads over long distances. They can also land in much more convenient locations to that of planes.

An example of what the cabin of the airship could look like

Credit: US Patent Application Publication: 2019/0112023 A1

Hydrogen propulsion systems are ideal for such aircraft because they are much lighter than lithium-ion batteries, allowing the airship to have a bigger rain. 

“Where we could go something like 125 miles with batteries, we should be able to go nearly 1,000 miles using hydrogen,” Josef Kallo of the German Aerospace Center who is developing a fuel cell system, told TechCrunch.

Recent studies from researchers in Australia found the airships had the potential to cut the cost of delivering aid as well as replace local truck or sea-based transport.

Brin’s proposed airship would be considerably more powerful to that of most-powerful fuel cell to fly to date. ZeroAvia, a British American firm, flew its small passenger plane late last year, which was powered by a 0.25 megawatt hydrogen fuel cell.

LTA will demonstrate prototype airships in the coming years, which will first be powered by batteries. TechCrunch reported that LTA’s first fuel cell will be a 0.75-megawatt system that will be retrofitted into one of its existing prototypes. 

The rigid structure of LTA's airship, according to patent docs

Credit: US Patent Application Publication: 2019/0112023 A1

On the company’s website, LTA said that its airships will have the ability to “complement and even speed up” humanitarian disaster response and relief areas.

“We ultimately aim to create a family of aircraft with zero emissions that, when used for shipping goods and moving people, would substantially reduce the global carbon footprint of aviation,” the company said.​