Fuel Cells for Aircraft

Observing the success of fuel cells in space flight, NASA researchers in the late 1990s began to explore the potential for fuel cells to power air­craft. The cells were attractive to NASA’s aeronautics directorate because they have near-zero emissions, are quiet and efficient, and can work in any environment where the temperature is lower than the cell’s oper­ating temperature. Valerie Lyons, NASA’s Division Chief of Power and In-Space Propulsion, said she began pushing for NASA aeronautics to pursue fuel cell research about 10 years ago. "I would venture to say they hadn’t really looked at it before that,” she said. "When I looked at the fuel cell area, I said, ‘This is pretty interesting, can we use this?’”[1478]

One of NASA’s main fuel cell initiatives was the Next Generation Clean Aircraft Power (NEXCAP) program, which sought to use the cells as auxiliary power units (APUs) for aircraft.[1479] The APUs could be used in onboard electrical systems to power a grounded aircraft, providing an alternative to wasting fuel and producing emissions by drawing on power from an idling engine. NASA researchers hoped that the APU research would eventually lead to the design and test flight in 2030 of an electric airplane, which would rely on fuel cells for propulsion.[1480] While NASA’s electric airplane never came to fruition, Boeing flew the first piloted airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells in 2008.[1481] NASA researchers maintain a strong interest in the potentiality of fuel cells to meet the future energy needs of the Nation.