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Hydrogen helicopters to be called into service for organ delivery

By Michael Franco
August 22, 2024
Hydrogen helicopters to be called into service for organ delivery
The new hydrogen-fueled copters will be based on Robinson's R66 and R44 (seen here) models
The new hydrogen-fueled copters will be based on Robinson's R66 and R44 (seen here) models
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The new hydrogen-fueled copters will be based on Robinson's R66 and R44 (seen here) models
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The new hydrogen-fueled copters will be based on Robinson's R66 and R44 (seen here) models

As hydrogen-powered vehicles continue to evolve, their use will become as niche as that of some current land-, sea-, and air-transportation methods, such as a new agreement that will see helicopters powered by the green fuel used for organ transport.

The agreement was inked between Unither Bioletronics and Robinson Helicopter Company. Unither is a Canadian company specializing in the airborne delivery of lab-made lungs with a focus on autonomy and environmental awareness. Robinson is a California-based company that builds custom helicopters for such clients as news agencies, law enforcement, and private customers.

The plan is for the collaboration to result in a fleet of hydrogen-fueled electric copters that would be based on Robinson's R44 and R66 models. Once the birds are built and tested, the two companies are seeking to receive certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA).

“Just as protons from hydrogen atoms drive the mitochondrial power plants in each of our body’s cells, we look forward to using protons from green hydrogen to drive the membrane-based fuel cell power plants in our Robinson R66 organ-delivery electric helicopters,” said Martine Rothblatt, CEO of United Therapeutics, Unither's parent company. “We are honored to be working with one of the world's largest helicopter manufacturers as we continue to extend our track record of saving hundreds of lives through aviation-delivered transplanted lungs."

Unither has already made advances in developing electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (EVTOLs) that can be flown either by a pilot or autonomously to deliver the lungs it manufactures, as you can see in the following video.

UTODS Avionics User Interface

“This collaboration accelerates the development of sustainable transportation solutions for life-saving organs,” said Mikael Cardinal, head of this program. “Hydrogen-powered aircraft are the next frontier in sustainable aviation. We are committed to developing a zero-operational carbon emission fleet of aircraft, and we look forward to working with the expert team at Robinson Helicopter to enable regulatory approval and production of these aircraft.”

Sources: Robinson Helicopter Company, Unither Bioelectronics

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AircraftHelicoptersHydrogen AviationHydrogen-poweredTransplantTransportFuel CellGreen+Energy
7 comments
Michael Franco
Michael Franco
Michael Franco has combined a masters degree in creative writing with a passion for peeking under the hood of life on Earth to write about the serious and silly sides of science and technology for years. He's published in Discovery Channel Magazine, Discover Magazine, CNET, HowToGeek, Lifehacker, and more. But by far, his favorite home so far is at New Atlas where he's allowed all the beakers and Bunsen burners he needs in which to mix his words. The mountains and beaches of central Portugal, where he now lives with his wife and two giant poodles, offer the perfect foil for way too much screen time.

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7 comments
Jinpa
Seems like a non-sequitur situation. Why would hydrogen-powered choppers be any better for organ transport?
gybognarjr
Stop stating that hydrogen is green fuel!! It is a lie. Hydrogen now, at this time is generated from natural gas and it is using more energy to generate, make the storage systems, store, distribute and stored again in vehicles, than the energy content of the hydrogen produced. Even, if it would be generated from water with solar or wind electricity, it would still waste energy while being compressed. liquified, transported, stored and filled in vehicles, where the liquid have to be kept near super cold temperature. The storage systems are extremely heavy, including the thick stainless steel cylinders, again a waste of energy and materials, also added weigh and complexity to the vehicles. Hydrogen systems must be built extremely close tolerances, as hydrogen can leak out easily, being a very small atomic particle. How long would a hydrogen system hold up in various vehicles, while being shaken as the vehicles operate, before the leaks show up? Hydrogen fuel with the present use of primitive and idiotic methods is an abominable stupidity.
Spud Murphy
What gybognarjr said, hydrogen is nothing more than a greenwashing con. Green hydrogen takes 3-4 times the energy to make, store and transport than just using that energy directly in battery electric vehicles of whatever sort. Hydrogen is and always will be nothing more than a way for conmen and ignorant politicians to be seen to be doing something while actually making things worse.
pete-y
Hydrogen can be a green fuel... and it packs more energy density than batteries.
So good on them for experimenting especially using fuel cells rather than converted engines.
Don't let neanderthal views from some commenters restrict good old-fashioned experimentation.
The organ delivery looks like a pink herring!!
Brian M
Those saying hydrogen power vehicles aren't green are just simply wrong. Yes the hydrogen might/could come from non-green/renewable sources, but that doesn't mean it has to in the future (or now). Its also a clean fuel with low pollution compared to burning normal aviation fuel, so that's a win now.

Other alternative fuels also have their draw backs including rechargeable secondary batteries, for aviation use you really do need a higher density energy fuel. Readers of these pges will also be aware of techniques being developed to store hydrogen more safely and easily.
christopher
Hydrogen is not green, and it's not going to be used any any kind of mainstream transport ever, for all the obvious reasons that nobody wants to face.

There's a good reason why almost all of the hydrogen transport experiments run to-date have been discontinued. It's just plain ridiculous! Attempting to contain such tiny molecule is horribly difficult, expensive, and inefficient, it destroys everything you try to contain it in ("embrittlement") , it's made from fossil fuels almost all the time, hard to transport, and store, etc etc.
AM
I think with more development there are great opportunities with hydrogen, we shouldn't dismiss it this quickly. Also some research is being done to produce the hydrogen on-site rather than transport it for the reasons you're rightly pointing out. When petrol was first used, people would laugh and argue no-one would want to sit on a can full of flammable liquid...
What surprised me more was how the whole point was to make organ transplant as fast as possible and the technician is taking her time to get to the chopper, then the chopper takes ages to get ready and do all the checks, a lot of valuable time wasted for something that was meant to be fast!