SK E&S Showcases 'World's Longest Flight' Liquid Hydrogen Drone at Drone Show Korea

"SK Supported Company Axens, Partnership with Hexa
World Record Broken: 13 Hours 24 Minutes"

Image of the SK E&S exhibition hall at '2022 Drone Show Korea' held at BEXCO, Busan from the 24th to the 26th. (Photo by SK E&S)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] SK E&S announced that it will participate in '2022 Drone Show Korea,' the largest domestic drone exhibition held at BEXCO in Busan for three days starting from the 24th, showcasing a liquefied hydrogen drone that succeeded in the world's longest continuous flight of 13 hours.

SK E&S set this year's exhibition theme as "Farther, Longer: Drones Evolving with Hydrogen" and introduced the latest products and use cases of drone-specialized venture companies collaborating with SK E&S.

At the exhibition, SK E&S unveiled the actual liquefied hydrogen drone that achieved the world's longest continuous flight time and a video capturing the entire flight process. This drone was produced through a partnership between Accens, a hydrogen drone specialized venture company supported by SK E&S's research and development, and another venture company, Hexa. Recently, it set a flight record of 13 hours and 24 minutes during its own demonstration. This is 1 hour and 17 minutes longer than the previous longest drone flight record of 12 hours and 7 minutes. Plans are underway to undergo official record recognition procedures soon to register the record in the Guinness World Records.

The liquefied hydrogen drone uses hydrogen gas cooled down to minus 253°C as fuel. The company explained that, based on liquefied hydrogen with high energy density, it can fly up to 26 times longer than conventional lithium-ion battery drones and more than 6 times longer than gaseous hydrogen drones.

Starting next year, SK E&S will begin operating a liquefied hydrogen production plant with an annual capacity of 30,000 tons in Incheon. They plan to establish a supply chain covering hydrogen production, distribution, and consumption. Chu Hyungwook, CEO of SK E&S, said, "Liquefied hydrogen is more economical and safer than gaseous hydrogen, making it a key driving force to open the future hydrogen economy era. We will strive to expand the hydrogen ecosystem from production to distribution and utilization through collaboration with various partners."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.