Collaborate Disseminate
By analyzing the way butterflies rapidly take flight in wind tunnel experiments, scientists have uncovered new detail around how the insects evade predators. The mechanics of their wings were found to help generate small pockets of air that can quickly… Continue reading Butterflies cup their wings to produce tiny jets and evade predators
Once upon a time, bailing out of a plane involved popping open the roof or door, and hopping out with your parachute, hoping that you’d maintained enough altitude to slow down before you hit the ground. As flying speeds increased and aircraft designs changed, such escape became largely impossible.
Ejector …read more
International travel. Remember that? Stepping out airport doors, past grimy masses of smokers into the alien smells and strange weather of some foreign shore. Learning the local grifts, eating the weird foods, drinking all of the beers, and either broa… Continue reading Boom Headrest might actually let you sleep on long-haul flights
Over many thousands of years, evolution has bestowed certain animals with some very clever capabilities, and robotics researchers are endlessly turning to these creatures as sources of inspiration. Of particular interest to scientists working on small,… Continue reading Agility of bees could inspire drones that squeeze through tight spaces
Spanish company Quaternium has destroyed its own record for gasoline-electric drone endurance with a 10-hour, 14-minute flight. But how does that stack up against hydrogen and batteries, and what are the implications for the emerging eVTOL market?Conti… Continue reading World record drone flights: Hydrogen vs battery vs gasoline-electric
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an extraordinary aircraft, the result of a project that began all the way back in 1981, five years before Top Gun. It entered military service in 2007, and delivered its final aircraft in 2012.Continue ReadingCategory… Continue reading The F-22 Raptor shows off its agility in glorious 4K
The RC world was changed forever by the development of the lithium-polymer battery. No longer did models have to rely on expensive, complicated combustion engines for good performance. However, batteries still lack the energy density of other fuels, and so flying times can be limited. Aiming to build a drone …read more
Continue reading Fuel Cell Drone Aims For Extended Flight Times
Back in 2016 we looked at an interesting project out of Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where researchers had taken inspiration from birds to produce a feathered drone with unique capabilities. The team has continued refi… Continue reading Feathered drone uses morphing wings and tail to fly like a raptor
Intrigued by the remarkable ability of birds to remain stable in the face of powerful winds, aerospace engineers in the UK have carried out a study to examine the phenomenon in great detail. By observing a barn owl in flight as it contended with bluste… Continue reading Lessons from barn owl flight could help aircraft handle strong winds
Aviation startup Boom Supersonic has unveiled a fully assembled version of its demonstrator aircraft, taking an important step forward in its efforts to build the world’s fastest airliner. The company’s XB-1 is a sleek, one-third-scale prototype of its… Continue reading Boom Supersonic reveals XB-1 plane built to break the sound barrier