Unlike the automotive industry, aviation still is stable in terms of who's doing what. In a nutshell, legacy makers of airplanes still own most of the market, even if at times their
products and methods fail miserably.
But, just like the arrival of Tesla and Chinese carmakers upset the order in the automotive world, the same will likely happen in aviation in the coming years, thanks to the efforts made by the many startups that have come to be recently.
One such startup is called Natilus (like the Lincoln SUV, only misspelled), and it operates out of San Diego, California. It first came onto our radar a couple of years ago, when it announced plans to build a blended wing body (BWB) flying machine capable of carrying cargo.
A blended wing body design means the aircraft's design shows no clear distinction between its body and the wings, despite the fact that both elements are present there. Because of its layout, it offers significantly more interior space, making it ideal for use in cargo transport. READ MORE...
WITH a huge bulbous cabin, massive sweeping wings and enough space for 755 passengers - it's clear to see why this concept plane is dubbed the "Sky Whale".
Boarding the aircraft ahead of a long haul flight, you would find three huge decks with up to five rows of seats - including a lavish top floor business class complete with "sky view" roof windows.
And when it comes time to take off, long gone are the days of waiting to taxi down the long runways at airports like Gatwick and Heathrow.
Instead, the enormous AWWA Sky Whale lumbers itself into position before its massive engines pivot at a 45 degree angle like a Harrier jump jet fighter plane.
It then begins to move and the swivelled engines boost forward, allowing the mammoth machine to take off at a near vertical climb.
And this incredible feature allows to Sky Whale to not be restricted to big airports, with it only need enough space for its 288 foot wingspan and 252 foot length. READ MORE...
As a kid, steven barrett, an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, would watch the movie and tv series ‘star trek’ during his free time. his young eyes would gaze upon the shuttle crafts, so futuristic and dystopian that they would glide through the horizon at a lightning speed. barrett noticed how these space crafts seemed frameless, bare of their moving parts such as the propellers, and noiseless. such an observation still influences him today to the extent that he thinks, in the long-term future, planes should be stripped of their turbines and propellers to be more like the shuttle crafts of ‘star trek’ in their glowing light. at MIT, the professor did just that.
MIT engineers, led by barrett, have introduced the world’s first plan without moving parts, bare from any propellers and turbines. the lightweight aircraft relies on an ‘ionic wind’, or the abundant flow of ions produced aboard the plane that generates enough force to thrust the plane over a steady and sustained flight. through this concept and design, the plane ditches the use of fossil fuels, an element that adds to its silent glide.
As the professor spoke to the university’s official news site, he describes how the plane is the first-ever sustained flight with no moving parts in the propulsion system. ‘this has potentially opened new and unexplored possibilities for aircraft which are quieter, mechanically simpler, and do not emit combustion emissions.’ the design weighs about five pounds and has a five-meter wingspan attached to thin wires resembling fences. these wires act as positively charged electrodes, while similarly arranged thicker wires, running along the back end of the plane’s wing, serve as negative electrodes.
The fuselage of the plane holds a stack of lithium-polymer batteries. barrett’s ion plane team included members of professor david perreault’s power electronics research group in the research laboratory of electronics, who designed a power supply that would convert the batteries’ output to a sufficiently high voltage to propel the plane. in this way, the batteries supply electricity at 40,000 volts to positively charge the wires via a lightweight power converter. READ MORE...
