ZeroAvia

Hydrogen fuel powered Airplanes, (stellarprojectsrussia.com) Issuser Address: GB65K7W3OOTQIVYWKPCO56JNRN7UUZVZIAPKUGWQ53PB7DMQSAEGF2OO ICO On 21/12/2023 CB:60,000%

 Project Aurora & Ukaz asset

ZeroAvia, the leader in developing zero-emission solutions for commercial aviation, was founded in 2017 by Russian-born Valery Miftakhov. 

Miftakhov is a serial cleantech entrepreneur whose previous ventures include eMotorWerks (smart vehicle-grid integration hardware and software, acquired in 2017). Before eMotorWerks, Miftakhov held  executive business strategy & operations positions at Google, McKinsey  & Company, and Nielsen. He also launched and managed 3 startup companies, in all of which he was CTO. Prior to this, Miftakhov was a high energy physics researcher at Stanford Linear Accelerator (DOE facility). Miftakhov received his PhD in Physics from Princeton University and his MS in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He was a  2-time winner of the Nationwide Russian Physics Competitions and has both airplane and helicopter pilot licenses

Backed by major tech giants and major airlines around the world, ZeroAvia built a new R&D center outside Seattle in Everett in 2022 and has been working alongside Alaska Airlines on this endeavor. Everett is home to ~500 other aerospace companies, including Blue Origin and SpaceX, creating a potential source of workers and access to a well established supply chain

Test Flights

2020: 30 test flights on 6 seater hybrid hydrogen-electric powertrain

2022: outdoor ground testing of 19 seater hybrid hydrogen-electric powertrain, including full speed taxi/runway tests

January-July 2023: 10 test flights on 19 seater (largest ever flown to date) hybrid hydrogen-electric, up to 5000 ft for 23 minutes (https://t.me/QuantumStellarInitiative/33524)

Hydrogen Fuel Supply

Hydrogen is produced through a variety of processes. The most climate friendly is “green hydrogen”, which is produced from water using renewable energy, while “gray hydrogen” is made from natural gas. Because there are not many systems in place to create abundant supplies of green hydrogen, and fuel is expensive to transport, ZeroAvia has partnered with Shell (https://zeroavia.com/shell-collaboration/) to create fueling stations at airports by building landside-to-airside hydrogen airport pipelines, a first of its kind in Europe. In April 2022, ZeroAvia also partnered with hydrogen fueling firm ZEV Station (https://zeroavia.com/zev-station/) to develop green hydrogen refueling infrastructure for airports in California

PowerCell and ZeroAvia signed the world’s first contract ever for serial delivery of hydrogen fuel stacks (https://zeroavia.com/powercell-mou/) (a series of fuel cells) to the aviation industry. This October 2022 agreement stipulates ZeroAvia first obtaining necessary certifications before PowerCell delivers 5,000 hydrogen fuel cell stacks beginning in 2024

In October 2022, ZeroAvia also acquired the world's leading HTPEM fuel cell stack technology company called HyPoint (https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/zeroavia-acquires-leading-fuel-cell-stack-innovator-hypoint-301642136.html), including all 40 staff members, in order to boost their supply of "green hydrogen". HTPEM technology eliminates a number of components from the fuel cell system and reduces cooling drag, thereby enabling commercially relevant payload and range. This means that ZeroAvia’s HTPEM can offer greater durability, further reducing operating costs for airlines in the future. In this acquisition, HyPoint's CEO Alex Ivanenko (MBA from Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) joined ZeroAvia as GM for VTOL and New Segments, to develop ZeroAvia’s rotorcraft business applications, and to explore "other applications" outside ZeroAvia’s core focus on fixed-wing commercial aviation. HyPoint is a NASA award-winning Silicon Valley startup pioneering air-cooled hydrogen fuel cell systems for aviation and urban air mobility, and their unique offering is based on several patented innovations including a HTPEM membrane, a lightweight bipolar plate, a catalyst recipe, and an industry-leading “turbo” air-cooled system. The combination of these technologies enables a lighter, cheaper, more efficient fuel system with extended lifespan that increases operational time by 500%, utilization rate by 1000%, and decreases Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by 50%. Essentially, HyPoint's world-renowned high-temperature fuel cell technology is a major gamechanger for ZeroAvia, propelling them to the forefront of developing hydrogen aircraft

This acquisition is the natural next chapter in our journey, allowing us to tap into the benefits of the larger and strategic resources that ZeroAvia has to offer. It will accelerate our product development and, as a result, partners from different market segments will get mature products based 
on
 novel turbo-air cooled HTPEM hydrogen fuel cells
- Alex Ivanenko, former HyPoint CEO (https://zeroavia.com/hypoint-acquisition/)

Absolut Hydrogen (https://zeroavia.com/absolut-hydrogen-partnership/) partnered with ZeroAvia in April 2023 to jointly explore liquid hydrogen (LH2) production, storage and refueling at airports in order to power 80 seater aircraft by 2027. Absolut Hydrogen, a subsidiary of Groupe Absolut, is a world leader in developing LH2 systems for heavy-duty mobility for aeronautical, maritime, and land applications

In May 2023, Birmingham Airport and ZeroAvia began drafting plans for renewable hydrogen production (https://zeroavia.com/birmingham-airport-plans/), which includes BHX creating an on-site hydrogen production aircraft refueling facility with the potential for multi-modal applications. Analysis by ZeroAvia suggests a 3MW hydrogen production facility could produce 365 tonnes of hydrogen annually, potentially supporting 1250 regional flights and 3000 buses or trucks yearly, with the remaining 250 kg per day of hydrogen production capacity being used for industrial purposes

UAE renewable energy giant Masdar has also partnered with ZeroAvia to explore hydrogen production and supply at key locations (https://zeroavia.com/zeroavia-masdar-partnership/). The Masdar partnership will focus initially on projects in North America and Europe, while also looking at the opportunity to establish clean flight operations in the UAE

Retrofitting Aircraft

In May 2023, Alaskan Airlines handed over their retired 76 seater Dash 8 Q400 regional turboprop to ZeroAvia to retrofit (https://www.geekwire.com/2023/zeroavia-and-alaska-airlines-unveil-turboprop-that-could-become-largest-green-aircraft-to-take-flight/) with their hybrid propulsion system. Although several more months of ground testing still need to be conducted, once the test flights are deemed successful, it will become the newest largest green aircraft in the world to fly

French rental company Green Aerolease (https://zeroavia.com/green-aerolease-agreement/) contracted with ZeroAvia in June 2023 to implement hybrid hydrogen-electric engines into retrofitted airplanes. Additionally, California-based Flyshare (https://zeroavia.com/air-cahana-engine-order/) ordered 250 engines and will be operating under the name of Air Cahana and pioneering disruptive sustainable regional air service in California and the West Coast. Also in June, ZeroAvia conducted their 1st phase technical feasibility study (https://zeroavia.com/mhirj-initial-technical-study/) on retrofitted CRJ planes using hybrid hydrogen-electric engines for regional flights. Due to the drastically reduced operating and maintenance costs of using hydrogen fuel, there may be opportunities for creating new routes or increasing passenger volume on existing routes. CRJ is currently the world’s most successful family of regional aircraft, and there are over 1400 CRJ Series aircraft that could potentially be converted to fly with ZeroAvia's ZA2000 engine

In August 2023, brand new operator Surcar Airlines (https://zeroavia.com/surcar-airlines/) will begin operations with conventionally powered aircraft and then retrofit ZeroAvia's hybrid hydrogen-electric engines on their Twin Otter seaplanes for sightseeing tours in the Canary Islands. Taking the same approach as Surcar, Ecojet (https://zeroavia.com/ecojet/) (which aims to become Britain's largest green carrier) will begin operations in 2024 with conventional airplanes and, once certified, will also retrofit using ZeroAvia engines with the goal of becoming the world’s first electric airline

In November 2023, ZeroAvia partnered with Japan Airlines (JAL) (https://zeroavia.com/japan-airlines/) and JAL Engineering to collaborate on assessing operational parameters for retrofitting JAL aircraft for existing and prospective routes, as well as work on pathways for regulation, retrofit operations, hydrogen fuel infrastructure and engine maintenance, and repair and overhaul. 

New Designs

In June 2022, Otto and ZeroAvia began collaborating to integrate ZeroAvia’s ZA600 engine into Otto’s revolutionary Celera plane to make Celera the first new airframe design to leverage ZerAvia's propulsion in ZeroAvia's future launch models (https://zeroavia.com/otto-aviation/). Celera is an innovative new model of transcontinental aircraft, scalable to 19 passengers, that significantly improves the efficiency of flight while reducing operational costs of flying. This combination significantly expands the opportunities for private air transportation

Together with Shell, Rotterdam The Hague Airport, and Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport (https://zeroavia.com/rotterdam/), as of February 2023, these parties will develop a concept of operations for hydrogen in airports and demonstration flights to European destinations by the end of 2024, gearing up for commercial passenger flights by 2025

Natilus (https://zeroavia.com/natilus-partnership/), a leading innovator in designing and developing new autonomous blended-wing body (BWB) cargo aircraft, and ZeroAvia announced a strategic partnership in May 2023 to jointly develop hydrogen-electric engines for the Natilus Kona cargo aircraft with the hopes of creating a scalable, long-range solution for the entire cargo delivery industry

In August 2023, ZeroAvia unveiled the world’s 1st compressor for aviation fuel cell systems (https://zeroavia.com/compressor-for-aviation/). This is a significant milestone because a key challenge was delivering the high flow of oxygen needed for the chemical reaction in the stacks to take place in order to provide sufficient quantities of electricity to power the plane. At higher altitudes, air compressors need to be powerful and efficient, without adding unnecessary weight to the propulsion system, which significantly impacts payload and range. Thus, this breakthrough removes these limitations since it was designed to operate with zero latency and helps ZeroAvia become one step closer to meeting large commercial standards

BASF Environmental Catalyst and Metal Solutions (ECMS) (https://zeroavia.com/basf-htpem/) and ZeroAvia partnered together as of September 2023 to develop and produce HTPEM fuel cell systems for next generation aircraft. As part of this initial agreement, ECMS and ZeroAvia will also work to establish a long-term supply agreement for membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), including the supply and sourcing of the associated platinum group metals (PGMs) and PGM containing catalysts. Joint development work aims to enhance the components and materials supplied, thus increasing the performance of ZeroAvia’s overall HTPEM fuel cell stacks

In October 2023, Air France Industries and KLM partnered with Zeroavia to create new processes for technical training and hybrid aircraft maintenance  (https://t.me/QuantumStellarInitiativeChat/1374067)

Investors

Financial Investors:
Agartha Fund LP
Alumni Ventures
Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund
AP Ventures
Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital
Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Ecosystem Integrity Fund
Hong Kong fund Horizons Ventures
Horizons Ventures
Ihar Mahaniok
Innovate UK
London-based the Aerospace Technology Institute
Neom Investment Fund
SGH Capital
Shell
Sweden's Summa Equity
SYSTEMIQ
UK's Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy

Airline Investors:
Airbus
Alaska Airlines
British Airways
United Airlines Ventures

As of June 2023, MONTE Aircraft Leasing (https://zeroavia.com/monte-za600-purchase-agreement/) converted an MOU to a definitive Purchase Agreement for up to 100 engines. ZeroAvia currently has 1500 provisional orders for their hydrogen-electric airplane, with interest from American Airlines, United Airlines, and IAG

Anticipated Product Timeline:

By 2025: ZA600 (https://zeroavia.com/download-brochure-2023-form/?utm_campaign=brochure-2023) 9-19 seater, up to 500 NM
By 2027: ZA2000 (https://zeroavia.com/download-brochure-2023-form/?utm_campaign=brochure-2023) 40-80 seater, up to 1000 NM
By 2029: ZA2000 RJ: up to 90 seats, up to 1000 NM
By 2032: 100-200 seater, up to 3000 NM
By 2040: 200+ seats, up to 5000 NM

Stellar Humanitarian Wealth Transfer:

? Passive Income Assets (https://t.me/QuantumStellarInitiative/22968)
? Project Aurora & Ukaz (https://t.me/QuantumStellarInitiative/21777)