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dasme · 10/04/2007 07:27 AM

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The future of travel is looking to be both fast AND fuel-efficient. Swiss aeronautical designers claim that a full-scale model of their SmartFish project will be able to carry two people at 560mph using less fuel than a car.

The SmartFish project is a lightweight, fuel-efficient hydrogen fuel cell-powered aircraft. The Swiss design team has pumped five years' worth of work into the project, which is finally at the small model prototype phase. The HyFish prototype also relies on "an aerodynamic configuration known as a lifting body" as well as its fuel-cell turbofan technology in order to compensate for its small wingspan.

The designers behind the SmartFish project also claim that construction is simple and since it has few moving parts and low operating and maintenance costs, it shouldn't be too expensive to build. There are currently two vehicle types planned for the SmartFish project. The first is a 20-foot two-seater, and the second is a vehicle designed to carry 20 people on board. You can check out a video of it in action at the SmartFish website.

- Source: [Smartfish]

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