Aerospace

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Universal Hydrogen completes first flight of fuel cell regional airliner

Universal Hydrogen has flown a 40-passenger regional airliner using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. It is the largest hydrogen fuel cell-powered aircraft to take to the skies so far and the largest to cruise principally on hydrogen. It flew for 15 minutes and reached an altitude of 3500 metres above sea level. The flight, conducted under […]

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Airbus discusses role of hybridisation in aviation’s future

Airbus says it believes hybrid-electric power can reduce aircraft CO2 emissions by up to 5%, and by up to 10% for helicopters. It has already flight tested a hybrid-electric system that takes over from the thermal engine should it fail. Its Engine Back-up System is the forerunner of larger hybrid propulsion systems that will be […]

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ZeroAvia tests hydrogen-electric aircraft

ZeroAvia has flown a 19-seat Dornier 228 twin-engine aircraft as a testbed for its full-sized hydrogen fuel cell engine (writes Nick Flaherty). The aircraft was retrofitted to incorporate ZeroAvia’s ZA-600 600 kW hydrogen-electric engine on its left wing, which ran alongside a single Honeywell TPE-331 stock engine on the right. The hydrogen-electric powertrain has two […]

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Ampaire flies first hybrid-electric regional aircraft

Ampaire’s Eco Caravan, a nine-seat regional aircraft, has made its first flight on an integrated hybrid-electric propulsion system. Ampaire expects it to be the first electrified regional aircraft to enter commercial service and the first in a series of larger Ampaire hybrid-electric aircraft. Fully electric aircraft are range-limited because of the weight and energy capacity […]

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Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 design takes inspiration from cars, aircraft and nature

Hyundai Motor Company says its Ioniq 6 EV has a drag coefficient of 0.21 and an all-electric range of 614 km (WLTP-rated) on a single charge, thanks to lessons learned from some of the most streamlined shapes in automotive and aircraft history, as well as in nature. From the automotive realm, it cites the 1947 […]

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Smart Test solutions partners up for high-power fuel cell testing project

As part of the FullStack TS fuel cell test bench project, a new generation of test benches is being developed to cover full stacks of cells of up to 200 kW. In the project, Smart Testsolutions will be responsible for monitoring the cell voltages. The project’s funding comes from the Baden-Wurttemberg Lebens-grundlage Umwelt und ihre […]

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Cool approach to efficient air liners

GKN Aerospace has been working on cryogenic technology to boost the efficiency of hydrogen fuel cells and electric motors for aircraft (writes Nick Flaherty). The ‘hyperconducting’ systems proposed by the company use the liquid hydrogen stored in the aircraft as fuel as a heat sink, cooling the electrical conductors to temperatures below -200 ºC to […]

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The power of decay

Launched on September 5, 1977, NASA’s space probe Voyager 1 is now the most distant human-made object in existence (writes Peter Donaldson). At the time of writing, the spacecraft had made it more than 14,569,656,000 miles from the Sun, a figure that continues to grow at a rate of about 38,027 mph. The probe is […]

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Airbus combines electric aircraft designs for air mobility initiative

Airbus is combining its two short-range electric aircraft designs – the rotor-based Vahana and the fixed-wing CityAirbus NextGen concept – for a collaboration in Germany (writes Nick Flaherty). “The first is for a long hover times, for example for rescue operations, while the Vahana is for longer flights, for example from Nuremberg to Munich,” says […]

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Meeting the challenges of developing e-VTOL air taxis

AutoFlight’s Prosperity I, a Chinese-designed e-VTOL air taxi sized to accommodate a pilot and three passengers, is intended to meet the rigorous safety standards that apply to transport-category aircraft including the largest airliners, and the company is aiming for certification and service entry in 2025 (writes Peter Donaldson). Invited by electric aviation pioneer and AutoFlight’s […]
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