Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have conducted successful test flights of a hydrogen-powered unmanned aircraft believed to be the largest to fly on a proton exchange membrane fuel cell using compressed hydrogen. The fuel cell system that powers the 22-foot wingspan aircraft generates only 500 Watts. "That raises a lot of eyebrows," said Adam Broughton, a research engineer who is working on the project in Georgia Tech’s Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory. "Five hundred watts is plenty of power for a light bulb, but not for the propulsion system of an aircraft this size." In fact, 500 Watts represents about 1/100th the power of a hybrid car like a Toyota Prius. A collaboration between ASDL and the Georgia Tech Research Institute, the project was spearheaded by David Parekh, GTRI’s deputy director and founder of Georgia Tech’s Center for Innovative Fuel Cell and Battery Technologies. In November, the researchers will present details of the project at the Society of Automotive Engineers’ Power System Conference in New Orleans. [28-Aug-2006, Georgia Institute of Technology]