Last September, a small white aircraft with an unusual design took off from Maribor Airport, in Slovenia. The two pilots were not seated front and center; instead, they steered the plane in a capsule attached far out on the right wing. The plane had some other unusual features. On the far-left wing, another slender capsule contained a tank of so-called cryogenic hydrogen, cooled to minus 253 degrees Celsius, or minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit. A fuel cell inside the plane caused the liquid hydrogen to react with oxygen, producing water and enough electricity to power an electric motor with the propeller attached. The plane flew not with fossil fuel, but with hydrogen.
The “H4Y,” as the aircraft is called, circled the southeastern foothills of the Alps for a total of more than three hours that day — a major success, according to…
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