FutureFlight
Spain Backs Hydrogen Propulsion Plans of Hypersonic Aircraft Developer Destinus
The European start-up is building a facility in Madrid to design air-breathing hydrogen engines and develop liquid hydrogen technology.
Destinus is developing hydrogen-powered, air-breathing engines for aircraft.
Destinus is developing hydrogen-powered, air-breathing engines for high-speed aircraft. (Image: Destinus)

The Spanish government this week awarded grants to support Destinus’s plans to develop hydrogen-powered hypersonic and supersonic aircraft. The funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science’s Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial (CDTI) program, which is expected to total around €10 million ($11 million), will help the European start-up to step up research and development on initial models capable of supersonic speeds.

One of the two grants confirmed on March 23 will pay for the construction of a facility near Madrid that Destinus will use to design air-breathing hydrogen engines. The second grant will fund research into aspects of liquid-hydrogen-powered propulsion with a view to testing innovative powertrains for future supersonic aircraft. The size of the grants has not been disclosed.