H₂ Clipper announced that it has completed a simulated wind tunnel test using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of its H₂-powered Pipeline-In-The-Sky airship. The analysis confirms that the airship’s aerodynamic design achieves an extremely low level of residual drag and is another step in validating the airship’s operating performance and the company’s cost modeling.

H₂ Clipper founder and CEO Rinaldo Brutoco said, “The successful analysis with CFD marks a major milestone for the development of the Pipeline-In-The-Sky airship and brings H₂ Clipper one step closer to realizing our goal of providing the fastest, most flexible, and efficiently scalable way to transport fuel-grade H₂ to market worldwide.”

The H₂ Clipper airship design is the result of radically innovating and re-thinking lighter-than-air flight for global fuel and cargo transport. The airships offer unprecedented speed, payload, and cost advantages: 70% less than the cost of traditional air freighters, payloads up to 277 tons (252 tons), 7 to 10 times faster than shipping by truck or cargo vessel, and 100% carbon-free. H₂ Clipper has received multiple patents on using an airship to deliver liquid H₂ to market, offering economic and logistical advantages over other methods of bulk delivery of H₂. By transporting cheap clean power produced from renewable sources to markets with high energy demand, H₂ Clipper solves the economical and effective challenges of transporting H₂ from where it can be produced at the lowest cost to where it is most needed. H₂ Clipper anticipates completing the construction of a prototype in 2025, with the goal of flying its first full-sized airship in 2028.

In 2021, H₂ Clipper was selected for inclusion in Dassault Systèmes’ exclusive 3DEXPERIENCE Lab accelerator program. Participation in the accelerator will help H₂ Clipper advance its mission of developing and commercializing a global fleet of 100% green airships that will transform the H₂ and air transport industry. Using the Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE platform, H₂ Clipper can simulate and rapidly evaluate complex engineering design concepts on the path to the optimal design for a 21st century version of the H₂ dirigible.