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Comment by psadri | Hacker News Reader

Is it possible to assist the plane during its take off phase? Maybe with a electric wire that supplies energy and detaches. I know it’s messy. Or maybe using something like balloon to gain altitude and then engines to cruise? Or a special battery bank that gets depleted during take off and detached + a recovery mechanism?

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Electric motors in the wheels might help on the takeoff roll during initial acceleration to rotation speed (100-150 mph). Perhaps also regenerative braking on landing. And taxiing.

I was just htinkin the same thing. Having a huge battery pack attached and then parachuted off after takeoff in a designated spot could work really well. Or even like a "plane assister" that just stayed attached for takeoff and then dropped off and landed back at the airport to re-charge / help the next plane.

I think it's all moot tho. Airbus seems to be going hydrogen for their next planes to have 0 emission.

The hydrogen project was basically started to take advantage of a grant from the French government, there are many doubts as to its viability.

The major issue with Hydrogen is usually containment (it just leaks through almost everything).

Do you have any links to the doubting of it's viability?

Aviation Week has had some coverage on the matter, their podcast is pretty good: https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/podcast-airbus-ambitious-...

Well, they do it on aircraft carriers, so technically speaking, it's possible.

Electric rail along the runway while taking off?

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