Solar and hydrogen-powered aircraft will fly around the world for 20 days without stopping

Euro Airship is developing Solar Airship One, a whale-shaped aircraft that plans to fly around more than 25 countries for 20 days without stopping using solar power and hydrogen.

Its plan to take off in 2026 is looming, and the team is hustling to make sure that the first non-stop world tour flight without fossil fuels will meet its deadline.

Euro Airship believes that its aircraft will be flying without any noise, fossil fuel, or carbon emissions, given that it will rely on the sun and hydrogen. The aircraft, powered by solar and hydrogen, is expected to be 151 meters long with a rigid airship and a helium expansion volume of 53,000 m3. Almost its entire surface will be covered with 4,800 m2 of solar film to fully capture sunlight. By day, it collects the sun’s energy; by night, the surplus electricity is stored in fuel cells that produce hydrogen via water electrolysis. To avoid the inertia related to the use of helium, the airship will be made up of 15 gas envelopes, each individually managed to enable an instant response and anticipation of meteorological events.

Solar Airship One wants to go on a non-stop round-the-world tour from West to East, flying close to the equator, with more than 40,000 km to cover in 20 days at an average altitude of 6,000 meters. All of this should take place without fuel and stopovers. India, China, Mexico, the USA, Mauritania, Mali, and France are only a few of the countries the pilots want to cross in 2026 using aircraft powered by solar and hydrogen.

Euro Airship is set to make the aircraft autonomous too by ensuring that it will not need any heavy infrastructure on the ground to be secured. To make it steady or ballasted, a classic water-based system and a second compressed-air-based system will be developed. Solar Airship One will emerge from over 10 years of research and development, followed by 3 years of industrial design in partnership with 100 Capgemini engineers.

Euro Airship says the aircraft’s crew will be in constant communication with schools, universities, and governments of the countries flown over, as well as with international institutions. There will be three pilots on board, namely Bertrand Piccard, a pioneer in his genes; Dorine Bourneton, the world’s first disabled female aerobatic pilot; Michel Tognini, an astronaut and fighter pilot; and Jean-Pierre Haigneré, a pilot.