Hopefully nothing happens in this research. It’ll be a waste to see such a fat airplane getting ‘bom bom pow’-ed. But then, hydrogen aircraft can only led me to think of such incidents, no matter how safe you can get it to be.

Still, Boeing is trying out its luck in this hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft system. It’s called the Phantom Eye, and it’s supposed to be the greenest aircraft out there, as the only power is water.

The aircraft heralds a potential new market in data and communications collection, Boeing says. Later this summer, it will be shipped from Boeing’s Phantom Works facility in St. Louis to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center for ground and taxi testing. The debut flight will likely take place next year and should last four to eight hours, a mere preview of the aircraft’s apparent capabilities.

The Phantom Eye only looks fat. And that’s it, it ends there. In terms of power, Phantom Eye is a contender lightweight actually — it has two 2.3 liter, four-cylinder engines that provide 150 hp each, not much more than your average car. This makes sense, because Ford provided the engines, according to a Boeing news release.
The plane has a 150-foot wingspan and can carry up to a 450-pound payload, Boeing says. It will cruise at 150 knots, or 274kph (150mph) for you laymen.

It’s the latest effort by Boeing to build aircraft powered by hydrogen. The firm claimed ‘the first’ on a hydrogen fuel cell aircraft back in 2008 when a different Phantom Works division flew a manned aircraft powered by hydrogen fuel cells.

Phantom Eye evolved from Boeing’s Condor aircraft, also powered by a piston engine, which made history by reaching a top altitude of 67, 028 feet. It’s likely descendants include the Phantom Ray drone, which looks like a slim B-2.

[Boeing via Gizmodo]