China’s indigenously developed hydrogen-powered drone recently completed a 30-hour non-stop flight, a new record for such aircraft produced in the country, according to the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).
This type of hydrogen drone weighing 50 kg was jointly developed by AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Industrial (Group) Co. and Tsinghua University, AVIC said.
According to the developer, it has achieved a breakthrough in the integrated design of flight, control and movement of the aircraft based on the output characteristics of hydrogen cells.
The hydrogen drone has completed a record-breaking flight in the city of Dujiangyang in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.
The system used for the takeoff was a hydrogen drone mounted on the roof of an unmanned vehicle. The drone took off from a moving vehicle and successfully demonstrated the scenario of using a takeoff through a non-standard runway.
During the flight, the hydrogen drone was able to conduct remote dynamic monitoring on the ground using its onboard facilities, a promising scenario in terms of the use of hydrogen drones in the low-altitude economy and green aviation, AVIC said.