Swinburne lands grant to develop Australia’s first hydrogen powered drone

Swinburne University has been awarded a $1.3 million grant by the Australian government to develop and trial the country’s first hydrogen propelled drone.

The hydrogen powered drone will be developed by Swinburne University of Technology’s Aerostructures Innovation Research Hub (AIR Hub). The Hydrogen to the Skies (H22S) project will design and integrate a new hydrogen propulsion system into a large-scale drone.

The $1.3 million grant comes from the Australian government’s Emerging Aviation Technology Partnerships program, and Swinburne’s Air Hub hopes to spearhead the commercial development of zero-emission uncrewed air systems.

“With long range, zero carbon emissions and a low noise footprint, hydrogen powered air vehicles represent the future of environmentally sustainable and socially responsible advanced air mobility,” said Dr Adriano Di Pietro, the Air Hub director.

“We are proud to be putting Australia at the cutting edge of this rapidly growing industry and improving outcomes for regional and remote communities across the country and the world”.

Swinburne expects that hydrogen propulsion will be particularly valuable in Australia. The technology’s significantly extended range and payload options will make much easier work of the unpopulated expanses of the country as compared to pure battery electric propulsion systems.

Swinburne says hydrogen-fuelled propulsion systems will be vital to not only improving regional and remote supply routes, but also in meeting Australia’s emissions targets.

The project will seek to demonstrate how such systems can be deployed commercially.

“This next generation green technology will not only help decarbonise Australia’s aviation industry but will also have positive effects for our regional communities, emergency services and advanced manufacturing sector,” said Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research Professor Karen Hapgood.

“This funding will help grow Australia’s domestic clean aviation technology capabilities and ensure we can continue to create innovative technology for a better world.”