Innovators gear up work on ‘green’ hydrogen plane with plans for nonstop 9-day trip around Earth

LES SABLES D'OLONNE, France (AP) — When aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard a decade ago spearheaded a much-hyped flight around the world in a plane powered by sunlight, it raised awareness about climate change but held little promise of revolutionizing air travel.

Now, the 66-year-old Swiss adventurer behind Solar Impulse is aiming higher, in hopes of heading toward greener commercial flight than that of fossil fuel-powered planes today — this time using super-cold liquid hydrogen.

From a workshop on France's Atlantic coast, Piccard and partners are ramping up Climate Impulse, a project started last February to fly a two-seater plane around the globe nonstop over nine days fueled by what's known as green hydrogen. That's hydrogen split out of water molecules using renewable electricity through a process called electrolysis.

The Climate Impulse team, whose backers include Airbus and a science incubator called Syensqo (pronounced “science-co”) born from Belgian pharmaceuticals company Solvay, presented its first-year progress to reporters Thursday in Les Sables d’Olonne, an oceanside town better known as host to the Vendee Globe round-the-world sailing race.

First test flights are planned next year, but the grueling round-the-world trip is set for 2028. Made with lightweight composites, the plane is dependent on several untested innovations and is far from a sure bet.

Piccard says a major airplane manufacturer wouldn't take on the risk of producing a prototype such as Climate Impulse in case it fails.

”It’s my job to be a pioneer," he said in an interview. “We have to show it’s possible, then it’s a big incentive for the others to continue.”

Even if the project is successful, experts say green hydrogen-powered flight on a commercial scale would be decades away at best. The project has lured tens of millions of euros of investment, and the team of dozens of staffers is growing.

The solar-powered plane was a technological feat in 2015, but wasn't scalable, said Climate Impulse engineer and co-pilot Raphael Dinelli. Limited in range, that plane had to make more than a dozen stops on its trip around the world.

Climate Impulse is supposed to take off unassisted, fly some 40,000 kilometers (about 25,000 miles) around Earth along the Equator and return to its starting point with no mid-air refueling — and with no stops at all.

The controlled release of liquid hydrogen from ultra-insulated tanks under the airplane's wings produces energy that seeps into the membrane of a fuel cell that powers the plane.

“The plane has the wingspan of an Airbus 320: 34 meters (about 110 feet). It weighs 5-1/2 tons and it flies at 180 kilometers per hour — that means 100 knots at 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) altitude,” Piccard said Thursday.

One aim is to draw on energy from the “turbulence section" of the atmosphere, which airlines could also use one day to help save fuel, he said.

Because it's hydrogen, the only emissions will be water vapor. Still, outside experts caution that the environmental impact of such water-vapor “contrails” remains unknown in a real-world or large-scale scenario.

The International Energy Agency says air travel is responsible for about 2% of global emissions of carbon dioxide.

Hydrogen has been used in flights for decades but as a gas, not a liquid. Use of liquid hydrogen will take time to scale up. Fossil fuels, which are cheaper and more efficient, still produce most hydrogen today.

Many governments want to produce more green hydrogen, but for now, the world can’t make enough clean electricity for power needs on land, let alone to generate enough for wide-scale use by planes in the air.

In the last year, the team has built the cockpit shell, started building the wing spar, and finalized interior components. They include swivel seats, a bunk and a stationary bicycle-like workout system to promote blood circulation for the co-pilots who will be cramped in a small cockpit in low-oxygen conditions over the nine days.

The hardest parts await.

Tests are planned this year on the fuel cells and propulsion systems, to see if the electric motor, propeller and batteries could work for an initial fully-electric flight phase.

The trickiest part is to regulate the flow of liquid hydrogen to ensure efficient consumption over the longest range possible, Dinelli said.

Another challenge: the liquid hydrogen must be maintained at minus 253 degrees Celsius (minus 423 Fahrenheit), or nearly absolute zero. Construction of a leak-proof tank is essential. Liquid hydrogen is highly flammable, so any seepage could have devastating results.

Liquid hydrogen, until now, has perhaps most prominently been known as a propellant to blast rockets into space.

Aviation’s share of carbon emissions is relatively small, but growing faster than in any other industry because development of electric-powered planes trails far behind electric cars and trucks on the ground.

Batteries are heavy in EVs on roads today, and keeping down battery weight in planes will be crucial for electric-powered flight.

“We have not had a ‘Tesla moment’ in aviation yet,” said Nikhil Sachdeva, an expert in how the aviation sector can transition to more climate-friendly technologies at consulting firm Roland Berger. “Hydrogen has the potential to be that for aviation, which is why it’s worth doing this right.”

Using super-cold liquid hydrogen is “extraordinarily difficult, and we can barely do it for a few minutes right now. And here we’re talking about doing it safely for hours," Sachdeva said.

But Solar Impulse faced pessimism too, he added, and Piccard's team has “proven it can do what people would consider impossible.”

Keaten reported from Lausanne, Switzerland.

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Swiss aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard speaks about Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, at the press presentation of the project in a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.(AP Photo/ Yohan Bonnet)

Swiss aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard, center, Raphael Dinelli, left, Climate Impulse engineer and co-pilot, and project manager Cyril Haenel speak in front of the wings of the Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, at the press presentation of the project in a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

Swiss aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard touches Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, at the press presentation of the project in a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

Employees gather at a press event for the Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, in a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

Raphael Dinelli, Climate Impulse engineer and co-pilot, explains the Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, to journalists at a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

Raphael Dinelli, Climate Impulse engineer and co-pilot, stands near wings of the plane, powered by liquid hydrogen, at a press presentation of the project in a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

Swiss aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard poses for a photo in front of the Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, at a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

The Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, is displayed at a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

The Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, is displayed in a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

Swiss aviation pioneer Bertrand Piccard touches Climate Impulse, a plane powered by liquid hydrogen, at the press presentation of the project in a hangar in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Yohan Bonnet)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media that the U.S. Coast Guard had boarded the Motor Tanker Veronica early Thursday. She said the ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean.”

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Noem posted a brief video that appeared to show part of the ship’s capture. The black-and-white footage showed helicopters hovering over the deck of a merchant vessel while armed troops dropped down on the deck by rope.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, it was partially filled with crude.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for moving cargoes of illicit Russian oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

However, other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear that they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro's capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)