Toulouse-based Hylight said it has successfully test-flown an airship powered with hydrogen using fuel cells made by H3 Dynamics.
The tests were done in Milan and, according to Hylight, mean it is "one of the few companies " to show hydrogen as a "viable power supply for small unmanned airships".
The technology promises "a whole new category in air mobility", Hylight said, though airships were used for commercial air travel in the early part of the 20th century.
Like their predecessors, these revived zeppelins "move slowly", Hylight said, but are to run on zero-emissions engines, with H3 Dynamics' fuel cells said to be the world's smallest and lightest.
Other advantages of the new-brand airships, Hylight said, are that they "don’t need to consume any power to stay aloft" and "can operate for days at a time with heavier payloads compared to conventional drones, to conduct long range inspection of critical energy assets like power-lines & pipelines or scan industrial infrastructure over long distances.