The Tupolev Tu-155 is a modified Tupolev Tu-154 (СССР-85035) which was used as an alternative fuel testbed, and was the world's first experimental aircraft operating on

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, an ...

and later liquid natural gas. The similar Tu-156 was never built.

Design and development

The Tu-155 first flew on 15 April 1988. It used first liquid hydrogen and later liquified natural gas (LNG). It flew until the demise of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and it is currently stored at Ramenskoye Airport near Zhukovskiy. The Tu-156 was intended to fly circa 1997, but was cancelled due to the end of the Soviet Union. The aircraft used

cryogenics In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th IIR International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington DC in 1971) endorsed a universal definition of “cryogenics” and “cr ...

to store fuel. The fuel tank was located in the air-blown (or

nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...

) rear compartment. A distinctive feature of the aircraft is that the protrusion of the ventilation system is visible on the tail (near the no. 2 engine). The Tu-155 used

Kuznetsov NK-88 The Kuznetsov NK-88 was an experimental alternative fuel turbofan engine, designed by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau. Development Development of the NK-88 began in 1974 at the Kuznetsov Design Bureau. It was a modification of the NK-8-2U two-sp ...

engines. The Tu-156 was intended to use

Kuznetsov NK-89 The Kuznetsov NK-89 was an experimental alternative fuel turbofan engine, designed by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau. Development The NK-89 was a modified version of the hydrogen-powered NK-88 and was designed to run on both liquified natural g ...

engines.Dmitriy Komissarov, Tupolev Tu-154, the USSR's Medium-Range Jet Airliner, (Hinckley, UK, 2007), 48–50. The Tu-155 flew approximately 100 flights before it was placed in storage. Tupolev Tu-155

References

External links

Tu-155 hydrogen-powered aircraft details

20 Years from the first flight of Tu-155

Tu-155 aircraft details

{{Tupolev aircraft Hydrogen-powered aircraft 1980s Soviet experimental aircraft Tu-0154 Trijets T-tail aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1988

Design and development

See also

References

External links