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What does it actually take to build a zero-emission aircraft that can fly 8,000 miles — transatlantic, fully electrified, cargo-capable — using hydrogen? 

Not a better battery. Not a shinier fuel cell. 

A complete rethink of how the systems relate to each other from the very beginning.

Jared Semik is the founder and CEO of Eternium Aerospace Corporation, a Marine veteran with three combat deployments, and a 20-year aerospace R&D veteran responsible for roughly 20 proprietary technologies including a dual-rotor high-temperature superconductive motor. He's working on a cryogenic Brayton cycle propulsion architecture built on deconstructed NASA research — and a modular hydrogen production system designed to solve the infrastructure problem at the same time as the aircraft problem.

Eternium is still in stealth mode, so Jared can't share everything. But what he does share raises a question that goes well beyond aviation: why do so many innovators walk away from the old system to build something new — and then immediately recreate the same financial models and business structures they were trying to escape? New technology. Same thinking. Different result? Not usually.

This conversation covers hydrogen vs. batteries for aviation range, liquid vs. gaseous hydrogen trade-offs, why modularity fails when you're trying to change a paradigm, why critical mass in deep tech is a sociology problem as much as an engineering one, and what holistic systems thinking actually looks like in practice — in aerospace, in business, and in life.

Chapters

1. Introduction - 00:05 
2. Guest Introduction - 04:33
3. Discussion on Current Projects - 06:38
4. Challenges in Mobility Industry - 18:48
5. Energy Choices - 26:15
6. Current Work and Innovations - 37:22
7. Propulsion System Insights - 39:50
8. Conclusion and Takeaways - 55:36
9. Closing Remarks - 59:50

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/324AJrjEfeY

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