Collaborate Disseminate
NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator full-scale single-aisle research plane designed to explore net-zero aviation emissions and faster, more economical passenger flight near the speed of sound has been named the X-66A by the US Air Force.Continue Rea… Continue reading NASA’s X-66A transonic plane doesn’t have a perfect wing, but it tries
Are you, by any chance, wondering about giving yourself wings? You should listen to [Liz McFarland] sharing her experience building a Wonder Woman suit, and not just any – the …read more Continue reading Supercon 2022: [Liz McFarland] Builds Golden Wings, Shows You How
Flapping-wing ornithopter drones may potentially be more agile and energy-efficient than their fixed-wing counterparts, but most of them still can’t loiter in one spot. A new model addresses that limitation by using a claw mechanism to temporarily perc… Continue reading Autonomous P-Flap ornithopter uses a claw to perch like a bird
You may have noticed that on some take-away drink cup lids, there are small domes that can be “popped down” to indicate what sort of beverage is in the cup. Scientists now believe that similar domes could help drones monitor the air pressure on their w… Continue reading Drink cup lids inspire a system that could keep drones flying safely
No matter how good our human designs may be, evolution has had a 4-billion-year head start, so there’s no shame in copying off Mother Nature’s homework. Engineers at the University of Bristol have done just that – and even improved on it – developing a… Continue reading Dragonfly-sized drone flaps its wings more efficiently than insects
Back in 2018, we heard how UK startup Volerian was planning to build a VTOL aircraft with a unique flapping-wing propulsion system. Although we’ve yet to see a functioning model of that vehicle, the company has now incorporated the technology into what… Continue reading Volerian packs its flapping-wing VTOL tech into a room fan
Although an airliner’s engines may be quite loud on takeoff, its wings also create a lot of wind noise when it’s landing. According to a new study, the latter problem could be addressed with the addition of a shape-memory alloy filler within the wing.C… Continue reading Shape-memory alloy component could make for quieter aircraft landings
Humans didn’t come with wings from the factory, and most efforts to fit them after the fact have been at least as far as flight is concerned, largely fruitless. That doesn’t mean you can’t cut a devastatingly sharp aesthetic though, and [Natalina’s] fiber optic wings are a great way to …read more
While there are some fixed-wing drones in the hobby world, most of us around here think of the quadcopter when this word is mentioned. There have been some fixed-wings around, and lots of multi-rotors, but not much of a mix of the two. [Paweł] wanted to see what would happen …read more
For a century, nobody knew why Satyrini butterflies had inflated veins on their forewings. Turns out the structures are hearing aids. Continue reading These Butterflies Can Hear With Their Wings