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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Boom's XB-1 supersonic jet took its fifth test flight last week setting a few new records. The XB-1 is the one-third scale platform that Boom is using for its eventual Overture program aiming to bring back commercial supersonic passenger flight.
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Latest News
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November 12, 2024Another example of how the bleeding edge aerospace sector is going through a massive shakeup has surfaced as civilian supersonic startup Exosonic has announced that it is going out of business after being unable to raise needed funding.
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November 09, 2024Aerospace startup Natilus is taking on the biggest players in civil aviation, unveiling its plans to build its Horizon Blended Wing Body (BWB) passenger/cargo liner that can carry 200 passengers from New York to London with 50% lower emissions.
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November 08, 2024In a feat that can only be described as legendary, and after many months and a catastrophic setback, Polaris Spaceplanes has finally accomplished something that's never been done before: lit the fuse of an aerospike rocket in flight.
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November 05, 2024Austrian flying vehicle tech company CycloTech is building an eVTOL demonstrator to showcase its CycloRotor-powered propulsion system for electric flight. The firm is hoping to commence test flights in early 2025.
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November 04, 2024It was just a year ago that the Switchblade flying car made its first flight, moving one step closer to real-world usage. Based on what was learned in that flight, its makers have now unveiled the design for the production version of the vehicle.
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October 31, 2024A major player in aerospace innovation has bitten the dust. Reaction Engines, a developer of hypersonic engine technology since 1989, has gone into administration and its closure is having an impact on the hypersonic weapons program of Britain and others.
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October 25, 2024Seven years after its first test flight, German electric air taxi manufacturer Lilium has run out of funding, and filed for insolvency for its two subsidiaries. It failed to raise an emergency injection of $54 million to continue its operations.
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October 23, 2024In a major jump into the era of eVTOL air taxis and multicopter cargo drones, the US FAA has issued new regulations that introduce the first new aircraft category, called "power-lift" aircraft, since modern helicopters were introduced in the 1940s.
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October 23, 2024Making a virtue out of necessity, Airbus is joining forces with Toshiba to develop a super-efficient superconducting motor for aircraft that uses the liquid hydrogen that supplies the electricity to cool the propulsion and adjacent systems.
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October 15, 2024When it comes to things that have a reputation for being hard to learn, flying an airplane certainly ranks among the hardest. The Airhart Sling could soon change that, however, as it's designed to radically automate and simplify the flying process.
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October 13, 2024Jetson Founder Tomasz Patan is clearly getting very comfortable with the Jetson One eVTOL's flight control system ... Watch him wrench the controls around to show off how sharply – and safely – this thing can handle tight turns in flight.
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October 08, 2024Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences is working on a high-speed VTOL military aircraft as part of DARPA's Speed & Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) program. Early ground effect testing has demonstrated its fan-in-wing vertical lift system.
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October 03, 2024When it comes to crazy and costly movie stunts, Cliffhanger made history by featuring the most expensive aerial stunt ever performed. It was so expensive that star/co-writer Sylvester Stallone took a pay cut to help offset the million-dollar price tag.
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October 03, 2024When is an empty tube not an empty tube? When it's a ramjet that uses rotating detonation technology to propel aircraft at hypersonic speeds. A case in point is Venus Aerospace's new Venus Detonation Ramjet 2000 lb Thrust Engine (VDR2).
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October 01, 2024Low-flying ground effect aircraft can deliver zero-emissions coastal transport that goes a lot further and a lot faster than electric boats – without needing FAA certification. So what happens when you add energy-dense hydrogen fuel to the equation?
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