Destinus
Destinus is a European aerospace company with its head office in Switzerland and branches in Germany, France, Spain and two branches in Hengelo and Enschede. The start-up specialises in autonomous flight systems for civil and defence applications and focuses on system design, airframes, turbojet engines, flight software and AI, emphasising a holistic approach to aviation innovation. Their mission is to protect, explore and connect the world through innovation in autonomy and speed.
Hydrogen as a sustainable aviation solution
Destinus is working with the Spanish Ministry of Science on the development of hypersonic aircraft that use hydrogen as fuel to reduce travel times and enable more optimal routes. The hydrogen-powered aircraft offer significant environmental benefits and are a green alternative to traditional jet fuels, as hydrogen fuel only produces heat and water as a by-product. The tests with jet engines on gaseous hydrogen and cryogenic fuels, such as liquid hydrogen, will first be extensively tested on the ground before being integrated into the supersonic Destinus-3 prototype. They want to test the supersonic hydrogen prototype in 2026 and Destinus wants to build a real hypersonic hydrogen aeroplane in 2030.