Drone pilots don’t need to be told about the wonders of electric flight. But Scientific American believes electric aviation for passengers may be here sooner than we think as the industry struggles to decarbonize.
It’s one of the top ten emerging technologies the magazine highlights in its most recent issue.
In an article co-written by Katherine Hamilton and Tammy Ma, the authors point out that air travel accounted for 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions in 2019. And that number could triple by 2050. Electric airplanes could be one solution.
A Stratospheric Platforms antenna, inside a testing chamber
In the near future, your phone may take its 5G signal from the sky instead of a nearby mast on the ground. It’s an innovative way to solve the problem of increasing connectivity without relying on thousands of terrestrial cell towers. The concept is known as a High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS), and it essentially takes the cell tower from the ground and puts it in the sky.
The latest HAPS project to be unveiled is from Stratospheric Platforms and Cambridge Consultants. Today, the pair revealed the core of its efforts, a special antenna and unmanned aircraft, which it has been working on confidentially for the last four years.
In 2012, Bell Helicopter launched its newest offering that was something radically different and its most ambitious project in years. Dubbed the ‘Bell 525 Relentless’, the “super-medium” twin-engine helicopter is to be the first commercial helicopter to incorporate fly-by-wire flight controls and also the company’s largest civil helicopter ever. Initially designed to meet the grueling demands of offshore oil operations, the company will also offer the helicopter with a variety of luxurious cabin interiors. For the first time, Bell has given a peek inside the cabin that shows a sample of VIP interior options, including oversize swivel seating, conference layouts, and a mini galley.
For decades, we have been waiting for a fully-functional flying car – an idea mostly made popular by sci-fi movies. However, it still remains to be an unrealized dream. But, guess what? It turns out that someone has been successful in building a motorcycle, instead of a car, that can fly! A French company called Lazareth recently demonstrated a futuristic-looking motorcycle, which looks like it came straight out of the sets of Transformers, and it can actually transform into a flying hoverbike in just 60 seconds. Called the Lazareth LMV 496, the flying motorcycle is being hailed as “the very first motorcycle in the world that can be transformed into a quadricopter.” Affectionately dubbed La Moto Volante, it’s the brainchild of designer Ludovic Lazareth and his team. The company even published a video of the motorcycle showcasing its capabilities.
Gravity Industries’ suit could quickly get a medic to a remote casualty site.
The “Iron Man” jet suit we first saw back in 2017 might be less crazy than we first thought. Inventor Richard Browning and his company Gravity Industries have demonstrated that it may be a viable option to quickly get medical help to victims in remote areas. Working with the UK’s Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), Browning flew to a simulated casualty on a remote mountainous site in just 90 seconds, a fraction of the time it would take to walk there.
The sooner a paramedic can get to a victim, the sooner they can stabilize them and call for a helicopter or other support. “We think this technology could enable our team to reach some patients much quicker than ever before,” said GNAAS director of operations Andy Mawson. “In many cases this would ease the patient’s suffering. In some cases, it would save their lives.”
‘The size of this commercially available aircraft shows that paying passengers could be boarding a truly zero-emission flight very soon,’ says ZeroAvia CEO
The world’s first hydrogen-electric passenger flight was successfully completed on 24 September, potentially bringing the aviation industry a step closer to zero-emissions air travel.
The six-seater aircraft did a taxi, takeoff, full pattern circuit and landing at an airfield in Cranfield, England.
ZeroAvia, the company behind the plane, said it was the first ever hydrogen fuel cell-powered flight using a commercial-grade aircraft.
The brand’s retrofitted Piper M-class is now the largest hydrogen-powered aircraft in the world.
A swarm of Ghost 4s, controlled by a single person on the ground, can perform reconnaissance missions like searching for enemy weapons or soldiers.
Anduril’s Ghost 4 drone can carry systems capable of jamming enemy communications or an infrared laser to direct weapons at a target.
THIS SPRING, A team of small drones, each resembling a small, sensor-laden helicopter, scoured a lush stretch of wilderness near Irvine, California. They spent hours circling the sky, seeking, among other things, surface-to-air missile launchers lurking in the brush.
The missiles they found weren’t enemy ones. They were props for early test flights of a prototype military drone stuffed with artificial intelligence—the latest product from Anduril, a defense-tech startup founded by Palmer Luckey, the creator of Oculus Rift.
The new drone, the Ghost 4, shows the potential for AI in military systems. Luckey says it is the first generation that can perform various reconnaissance missions, including searching an area for enemy hardware or soldiers, under the control of a single person on the ground. The vehicle uses machine learning (the method behind most modern AI) to analyze imagery and identify targets, but it also relies on more conventional rules-based software for critical control and decisionmaking among swarm teammates.
(CNN) — Researchers have conducted a successful maiden flight of the Flying-V, a futuristic and fuel efficient airplane that could one day carry passengers in its wings.
The Flying-V’s unique design places the passenger cabin, the cargo hold and the fuel tanks in the wings, and experts hope that the plane’s aerodynamic shape will cut fuel consumption by 20% compared to today’s aircrafts.
Experts tested a 22.5 kg and 3-meter scale model of the futuristic airplane, developed by researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and partner Dutch airline KLM, to take the highly anticipated aircraft along its next developmental steps.
UAVOS has presented their air taxi SumoAir as an autonomous concept for vertical e-mobility.
The all-electric, tandem rotor helicopter concept consists of a five-seater passenger including the pilot cabin that can be attached to either a car or a flight module.
The helicopter will be operated both manually and autonomously. The project is a part of UAVOS’ R&D efforts to explore and understand the fundamental technologies behind electric aircraft and the urban air mobility (UAM) market.
Bullet-shaped plane that can travel at 460mph for more than 4,500 miles, costs just $328 per hour to operate and is set to revolutionize private air travel is unveiled
The first official information and images of the Celera 500L were revealed by Otto Aviation Wednesday.
The ‘bullet’ aircraft is predicted to revolutionize private air travel
It can travel at a cruising speed of 460mph for more than 4,500 miles
Yet it uses eight times less fuel bringing hourly operating costs down to at $328
It is hoped the the lower costs will make it a competitor for commercial travel
The plan is powered by a RED A03 engine
Otto Aviation plans for first commercial deliveries by 2025 but a price for the aircraft is not yet known
The much-anticipated Celera 500L ‘bullet’ plane which is set to revolutionize private air travel has been revealed.
