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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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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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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