Aircraft

NASA has released three concept art images showing its X-57 Maxwell all-electric X-plane in its final configuration. The X-57 is shown in its Mod IV form, which includes 5-ft diameter wingtip propellers to recover energy from wingtip vortices.

The final test prototype of Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation's SpaceJet M90, in its certifiable baseline configuration, has made its maiden flight. It flew for two hours over the Pacific Ocean for basic performance tests before returning to base.

Back in January, China's EHang aced the first flight in the US of its two-seat autonomous air taxi. Now the company has agreed to develop the first Urban Air Mobility pilot program in Seville, Spain.

As is the case with electric cars, battery range is still very much an issue with pure-electric aircraft. Hybrid propeller-drive systems are perhaps a better way to go – for now – and a new one was recently the subject of a successful test flight.

While it's important to keep aircraft wings ice-free, the application of chemical deicers before takeoff can be problematic. German scientists are working on something that could help, in the form of a laser-based treatment for flight surfaces.

Robotics engineers from Sandia National Laboratories are developing drones that can capture hostile drones in flight. The MARCUS project uses swarms of four unmanned quad-copters working in concert to intercept a drone and catch it in a net.

Ordinarily on a helicopter, the main rotor is mechanically linked to the tail rotor, so the spinning of the former causes the latter to do likewise. A new system replaces the tail rotor with four fans, potentially making for safer and quieter flight.

The final fly-off in Boeing's US$2 million-dollar GoFly personal flight contest was postponed yesterday due to high winds, but one Japanese team still went home with a substantial check to put towards further research and development.

DLR and Bauhaus Luftfahrt are studying how to make electric commuter aircraft practical. The CoCoRe project is using the example of a 19-seat hybrid-electric commuter aircraft to learn about the economics and environmental impact of the technology.

Rolls-Royce and Gulfstream Aerospace have scored a double first as the Gulfstream G700 business jet and two Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 engines made their maiden flights at the same time from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.

A super-endurance unmanned aircraft built for year-long flights has completed its maiden run. Built by BAE Systems subsidiary Prismatic, the PHASA-35 took to the air over the Woomera Test Range in Australia for its first fully-integrated flight test.

Another stunning milestone for the Jetman team, as pilot Vince Reffet demonstrates the new ability to take off from the ground, then hit the gas on the carbon jet wing's four turbine engines and soar away into the sky.