Aircraft
From autonomous flying-taxis to experimental hypersonic aircraft, check out what's new in the world of aviation.
Top News
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It was set to be the world's first flight test for an aerospike rocket engine, but the MIRA I prototype crashed on takeoff before the most innovative part of its propulsion system could fire. Undeterred, Polaris is building two bigger prototypes.
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In all the buzz around eVTOLs, there's still plenty of appetite for more conventional electric planes – especially, it seems, if they make ludicrous amounts of lift, and can take off and land at incredibly slow speeds, using absolutely tiny runways.
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Rolls-Royce has taken a major green step, announcing that not only has its giant UltraFan demo jet engine been run at full power on 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), but tests have proven all its current civilian engines are compatible with 100% SAF.
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Latest News
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September 25, 2024Aurora Flight Sciences has released a new video of its revolutionary wing-in-ground-effect Liberty Lifter concept aircraft that it's developing for DARPA. The aircraft uses ground effect to lift heavy loads without the need for an airstrip or ship port.
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September 12, 2024It was just this July that we heard about the ES-30, a hybrid-electric airliner being developed by Swedish firm Heart Aerospace. Well, the company has now unveiled a full-scale demonstrator version of the plane, which should fly next year.
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September 12, 2024This unique blended-wing airliner promises not only to reduce fuel burn and emissions by an enormous 50% - but thanks to a new partnership, it could also be the best chance we've seen to deliver proper long-range, zero emissions air travel.
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September 10, 2024The world's first flight test for an aerospike rocket engine ended in disaster, but Polaris Aerospace is back on track, preparing to fly second- and third-generation prototypes for its MIRA supersonic/hypersonic aircraft platform within weeks.
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September 09, 2024A remarkably innovative clean passenger aircraft is set to begin full-scale testing this year. Regent's 12-seat Viceroy seaglider hydrofoils through the water, then takes off and rides the wing-in-ground effect for a huge efficiency boost.
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August 27, 2024Boom Supersonic has completed the second test flight of its XB-1 supersonic demonstrator. On August 26, 2024, the prototype aircraft took off with Chief Test Pilot Tristan Brandenburg at the controls for a 15-minute flight at Mojave, California.
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August 22, 2024As hydrogen-powered vehicles continue to evolve, their use will become as niche as that of some current land-, sea-, and air-transportation methods, such as a new agreement that will see helicopters powered by the green fuel used for organ transport.
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August 20, 2024If you want to get high-speed internet to people in remote communities, why not beam it to them from a high-flying blimp-like aircraft? That's just one of the proposed purposes of the Sceye HAPS, which uses solar power to hover in the stratosphere.
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August 11, 2024Aerospace startup Dawn Aerospace has made a major advance in its push to create a highly reusable spaceplane. The latest test flight reached transonic speeds of Mach 0.92 and an altitude of 50,000 ft (15,000 m), or 3 times and 5 times, respectively, better than before.
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August 09, 2024Volocopter's plans to trial air taxi passenger flights from a floating platform on the River Seine during the Olympics have been thwarted by bureaucracy. However, the company has managed to kick off the eVTOL operational validation phase.
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August 08, 2024Range-leading eVTOL startup AutoFlight is about to get a major battery boost. The company has signed a collaborative agreement with CATL, the global battery leader that's launched some of the market's most energy-dense offerings.
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August 06, 2024Since we looked in on aerospace motor startup H3X in 2020, it's gotten its first round of motors out and signed contracts with major players like the US Air Force and NASA. Now it's working to launch bigger, badder megawatt-class machines.
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July 29, 2024Travelers could be making all-electric airline flights as soon as 2028. That's when Heart Aerospace's well-funded hybrid-drive ES-30 is planned to enter service, with a battery range of 200 km (124 miles) – or much farther in extended-range mode.
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July 24, 2024Conventional helicopters have a built-in speed limit, imposed by the physical limitations of their top-rotor lift systems. This fascinating Airbus project has found a way to break through that speed limit, and it's already done it in flight testing.
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July 22, 2024Swiss clean-energy aviation startup JEKTA has announced a partnership with fuel-cell powertrain developer ZeroAvia to extend the flight range and payload capacity of an upcoming electric amphibious passenger aircraft called the PHA-ZE 100.
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