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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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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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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