Boeing has entered into a deal to buy 7.5 million gallons of blended Neste MY Sustainable Aviation Fuel for its commercial airplanes business operations, the fuel producer announced Tuesday.

The purchase marks Boeing’s largest annual SAF purchase to date, 60 percent more than in 2023, Neste said.

“Sustainable aviation fuel is essential to decarbonize aviation,” Ryan Faucett, vice president of environmental sustainability at Boeing, said in a statement. “About 20 percent of our fuel usage is a SAF blend, and we continue to increase our use of this fuel to encourage growth in the SAF industry. We are also working to make SAF more available and affordable to our commercial airline customers through collaboration, investment, research, and policy development.”

• READ MORE: Business Aviation Industry Groups Aim to Speed Adoption of SAF

SAF is a renewable aviation fuel consisting of 30 percent renewable waste and residue raw materials, such as fats, oils, and greases used in cooking, which is blended with 70 percent conventional jet fuel. 

According to Neste, the use of SAF reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent over the fuel’s life cycle, compared to using conventional jet fuel.

The total volume of blended SAF purchased will be supplied to Boeing’s commercial operations directly or through a book-and-claim system, according to the company. Four million gallons of blended SAF are destined for Boeing fuel farms in the Pacific Northwest. EPIC Fuels, a Signature Aviation company, will supply 2.5 million gallons and Avfuel will provide 1.5 million gallons of blended SAF from Neste. 

This latest order will be used to support the Boeing ecoDemonstrator program and Boeing’s U.S. commercial operational flights through 2024.

Boeing will also purchase SAF certificates corresponding to the emission reduction provided by the use of 3.5 million gallons of Neste-produced blended SAF produced through a book-and-claim system.

• READ MORE: Jet Aviation Signs Deal with World Fuel Services to Sell SAF at 2 More FBOs

Book and Claim 

Book and claim is an accounting process in which a company purchases SAF certificates to displace conventional jet fuel. Instead of putting the fuel into a Boeing fuel farm, distributors will deliver it to nearby airports for use by airlines and other carriers, ensuring the corresponding SAF use and related greenhouse gas emission reductions.

“Sustainable aviation fuel is a key lever to reduce aviation emissions,” said Carrie Song, senior vice president of commercial renewable products at Neste. “Working together with aviation sector leaders like Boeing is crucial in accelerating SAF usage and production.”

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Australian vertiport developer Skyportz, which is building a network of sites across the country that could accommodate advanced air mobility (AAM) operations, is now looking to operate AAM aircraft itself.

The company over the weekend announced the establishment of Wilbur Air, a wholly owned subsidiary that will operate drones, air taxis, and other electric and hybrid aircraft across the future Skyportz network. 

Wilbur will have “priority access” to vertiport locations being developed across Australia. Several partners will provide aircraft to the new company to enable drone delivery, short- and long-distance passenger travel, and other AAM services.

“Wilbur Air will be establishing operational partnerships across Australia with existing small charter and helicopter companies interested in moving into advanced air mobility and flying under the Wilbur Air brand with priority access to our Skyportz vertiports,” said Clem Newton-Brown, founder and CEO of Skyportz and Wilbur Air.

American manufacturer Electra.aero is the first aircraft partner Wilbur Air has announced. The company and Skyportz signed a letter of intent (LOI) in 2021 for 100 Electra hybrid-electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) aircraft.

Even among electric aircraft, Electra’s eSTOL is unique in that it can take off or land in an area as small as a soccer field. According to the manufacturer, it is the first company to deploy blown lift technology using distributed electric propulsion. Blown lift redirects slipstream flows over the aircraft’s wings into large flaps and ailerons, reducing its runway requirement to just 150 feet.

Electra in January said it surpassed 2,000 orders for its flagship aircraft, including large purchase agreements with American operators Bristow Group and JSX and India’s JetSetGo.

“Our sustainable eSTOL aircraft is perfectly suited for Australia’s diverse geography, with its ability to access short airstrips in both urban and remote areas while offering exceptional operational efficiency,” said Marc Ausman, chief product officer of Electra.

Newton-Brown, meanwhile, pointed to the eSTOL’s long range—about 434 nm—as a factor that could open up potential use cases for Wilbur.

Additionally, the aircraft cruises at 175 knots and can carry nine passengers or up to 2,500 pounds of cargo. According to Electra, it has twice the payload, 10 times the range, and 70 percent lower operating costs than designs that take off vertically, such as electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis.

Another advantage is the eSTOL’s hybrid-electric configuration. Because it uses hybrid power to fuel up and recharge its batteries during flight, airports won’t need electric charging infrastructure to accommodate it.

Electra intends to begin eSTOL deliveries in 2028. The company envisions a wide range of use cases for the aircraft, including passenger transport, on-demand urban air mobility, defense, cargo logistics, executive transport, humanitarian aid, and disaster response.

According to Newton-Brown, Wilbur intends to announce more aircraft partners in the future, expanding its fleet with aircraft that “suit a range of uses that we intend to operate.”

Although Skyportz will give its subsidiary priority access to its network of vertiports, the company’s goal is to “break the nexus between aviation and airports” for other operators. Many AAM infrastructure developers are looking to install vertiports at airports or FBOs, but Newton-Brown believes the industry should reduce its reliance on those sites.

“We are working with governments, air regulators, and communities to establish the parameters for the introduction of vertiport infrastructure and short takeoff and landing runways,” said Newton-Brown. “If all the aircraft do is fly from airports and helipads, then there will be no revolution. We need to start developing vertiports in new locations now.”

Last week, the Australian Association for Uncrewed Systems, the country’s largest AAM industry advocacy group, released its Industry Vision for the integration of eVTOL, eSTOL, drones, and other emerging aircraft into the country’s ecosystem. Like the FAA’s Innovate28 blueprint or U.K. Civil Aviation Authority’s Future of Flight action plan, it seeks to position Australia at the forefront of the AAM industry.

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German manufacturer Lilium, which is developing what it says will be the first electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) jet for regional travel, is continuing to ramp up manufacturing.

Following the start of aircraft production in December, the company on Tuesday began building the aviation-grade battery packs that will power its flagship Lilium Jet: a seven-seat eVTOL designed for regional air mobility (RAM) services.

Each Jet will be fitted with 10 independent battery packs, intended to boost range. The packs are also redundant, allowing the aircraft to fly and land safely if one fails. According to Lilium, production follows extensive testing all the way down to the individual battery cell.

The first battery packs off the assembly line at the manufacturer’s purpose-built battery factory, just outside its headquarters in Munich, will be used to perform verification testing ahead of the Lilium Jet’s first piloted flight. That milestone is being targeted for late 2024.

“The start of production of the battery packs is a proud moment for Lilium,” said Yves Yemsi, chief operating officer of Lilium. “Battery technology is central to the goal of delivering sustainable regional air mobility, including overcoming the challenges of developing and industrializing a battery pack that will meet the stringent safety standards of aircraft certification.”

Lilium’s battery packs are composed of lithium-ion cells with silicon-dominant anodes. The company claims these enable greater energy, power, and fast-charging capabilities than graphite anode cells, which are much more common in batteries today. However, many automakers, including Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and General Motors, are eyeing transitions to silicon anodes, which are believed to provide a higher energy density than graphite.

The packs are designed to meet European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) safety standards around shock resistance, heat resistance, containment, and redundancy. According to Lilium, it has secured intellectual property rights for the technology.

The German manufacturer says its batteries are designed to support a higher power and energy density for regional—rather than urban—air mobility operations, with the implication being that they are more powerful than those of competitors focused on urban air mobility (UAM).

RAM and UAM are subsets of advanced air mobility (AAM). RAM seeks to connect cities within a region, while UAM focuses more on intracity operations. The Lilium Jet is expected to cruise at 162 knots on regional trips spanning 25 to 125 sm (22 to 109 nm).

Each Jet’s 10 battery packs will power electric jet engines produced by Honeywell and Japan’s Denso. Propulsion comes in the form of 36 electric ducted fans embedded in the aircraft’s fixed wings. The unique configuration sacrifices hover efficiency for improved cruise efficiency and lower noise.

Lilium began building its flagship aircraft in December with the delivery of seven fuselages to its manufacturing facility, ramping up production in February with the installation of a serial production line for the Jet’s propulsion systems.

These components and others will be assembled into seven aircraft, which the company intends to use for piloted flight testing and, later, for-credit evaluations with EASA. It hopes to achieve type certification in 2025 ahead of a planned commercial launch in 2026.

In February, Lilium designated Orlando International Airport (KMCO) as the hub for its U.S. operations in Florida.

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has shared the space agency’s “revised path forward” for the Mars Sample Return program, a proposed NASA-European Space Agency (ESA) mission to return Martian rock and soil samples to Earth. NASA’s Perseverance rover has been collecting rock and soil samples on the Red Planet since 2021.

The agency is asking “the NASA community,” including its Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other agency centers, to collaborate on “out-of-the-box” designs, using existing technology, that could return the samples.

NASA on Monday released its response to a September 2023 Independent Review Board (IRB) report analyzing Mars Sample Return and its costs. It estimated the mission’s budget at $8 billion to $11 billion, with the high end of that range being more than double previous estimates of $4.4 billion.

Under those constraints, Nelson said, the mission would not return samples until 2040, which he said is “unacceptable.”

“Mars Sample Return will be one of the most complex missions NASA has ever undertaken,” said Nelson. “The bottom line is, an $11 billion budget is too expensive, and a 2040 return date is too far away. Safely landing and collecting the samples, launching a rocket with the samples off another planet—which has never been done before—and safely transporting the samples more than 33 million miles back to Earth is no small task. We need to look outside the box to find a way ahead that is both affordable and returns samples in a reasonable timeframe.”

Nelson also pointed to Congress’ recent budget cuts as a contributing factor in the agency’s current challenges.

The agency’s response to the IRB report includes an “updated mission design with reduced complexity; improved resiliency; risk posture; [and] stronger accountability and coordination.”

It said it will solicit proposals from the industry that could return samples in the 2030s, with responses expected in the fall. These alternative mission designs, NASA said, would reduce cost, risk, and mission complexity. It is unclear exactly what kind of solution the agency is seeking. But it emphasized leveraging existing technologies that do not require large amounts of time and money to develop.

Without more funding, according to NASA, Mars Sample Return could dip into money allocated for projects at the Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other centers. Projects such as Dragonfly, a mission to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, could be discontinued, warned Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Plans for a Mars sample return mission have been proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory since 2001. The samples are expected to help researchers understand the formation and evolution of the solar system and habitable worlds, including our own. They could be used to learn whether there was ancient life on Mars and aid in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in 2021 and has been collecting samples since. Originally, the plan was to return them to Earth in 2033 using a rocket, orbiter, and lander. However, the IRB report found that the orbiter and lander likely would not leave the Earth until that year.

A Sample Retrieval Lander would deploy a small rocket to collect samples from Perseverance, using an ESA-provided robotic arm. Sample recovery helicopters—based on the successful Ingenuity autonomous Mars helicopter and also capable of collecting samples—would serve as backup.

A Mars Ascent Vehicle, which would be the first rocket to launch off the Mars surface, would carry samples to the planet’s orbit, where they would be captured by an Earth Return Orbite—also designed by ESA—and brought back to Earth.

The initiative would be the first international, interplanetary mission to return samples from another planet and, according to NASA, would return “the most carefully selected and well-documented set of samples ever delivered from another planet.”

Earlier this year, the space agency marked the 20-year anniversary of its twin Spirit and Opportunity rovers’ arrival on the Martian surface, where they provided the first compelling evidence that the red planet once held water.

NASA’s Curiosity rover is currently surveying a region of the planet thought to have been carved by a river billions of years ago. Its explorations could lead to further discoveries about life on Mars.

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Drone delivery manufacturer RigiTech has announced a key update with implications for its aircraft in the U.S.

The company last week announced that the FAA confirmed its Eiger drone to be compliant with the regulator’s Remote ID rule, a key step toward expanding operations in the U.S. to go beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of the operator.

RigiTech’s U.S. customers—which include medical drone delivery operator Spright, a subsidiary of helicopter operator Air Methods—could leverage the approval to commence BVLOS operations with a waiver from the FAA.

“Achieving this approval is a crucial milestone for RigiTech and the drone community at large, propelling us towards more complex and beneficial drone operations,” said David Rovira, co-founder and chief business officer of RigiTech. “We are committed to continuing our work with the FAA and other stakeholders to ensure a safe, secure, and innovative future for drone technology.”

BVLOS flights are considered some of the highest-risk operations in the drone delivery industry due to the lack of human oversight, since they take place where the operator cannot see them. In lieu of a final rule regulating BVLOS operations, the FAA approves them on a case-by-case basis using waivers.

However, many industry stakeholders are pushing for a more reliable system. Doing away with the human oversight requirement would expand—in some cases significantly—the area that drone delivery companies can serve, allowing them to attract more customers.

Remote ID is one of the ways the industry can reduce its reliance on human operators. It is essentially a digital license plate for drones, broadcasting live information such as a unique identification number, location, altitude, and velocity over a 2-3-mile radius. That information can be used by law enforcement, the FAA, or other federal agencies to monitor flights and ground unsafe drones.

The FAA’s Remote ID rule took full effect in March, requiring all agency-registered drones to be flown with broadcast capabilities installed either during or after manufacturing. 

Most manufacturers began producing remote ID-compliant drones in September 2022, according to the regulator. But a company can retrofit its aircraft to broadcast remote ID with technology such as a beacon. RigiTech says Eiger is compliant with the FAA’s standard remote ID requirements, meaning the drone is produced with broadcast capabilities already built in.

For a drone, Eiger is quite durable. The aircraft has a range of about 62 sm (54 nm) and payload of 6.6 pounds, capable of flying during daytime or nighttime and in winds as fast as 33 mph (28 knots). A temperature-controlled cargo hold allows it to carry medical and humanitarian payloads such as blood or vaccines.

Working behind the scenes is RigiTech’s RigiCloud software, which enables autonomous and remote Eiger flights—another key tenet of BVLOS operations. RigiCloud provides real-time flight tracking and creates preprogrammed routes in compliance with aviation regulatory authorities across Europe. The software even tracks drone maintenance and operator credentials to help customers avoid run-ins with regulators.

In July, RigiTech conducted successful tests of Eiger’s prototype precision dropping system, flying spare parts to Anholt Offshore Wind Farm 20 sm (17 nm) off the coast of Denmark. The system, an optional add-on to the drone, autonomously releases cargo from a few feet in the air when RigiCloud detects the drone has reached its destination. The tests were monitored remotely from the Danish capital of Copenhagen, 83 sm (72 nm) away.

In October, the State University of New York Upstate Medical University (SUNY Upstate) became the first U.S. company to conduct a domestic flight with Eiger. RigiTech has also received a handful of Eiger orders from Spright, beginning delivery of the first six systems in May.

According to the company, its systems have been approved for and flown BVLOS operations on five continents. Outside the U.S., it has laid the groundwork for initial service or begun flying in its home country of Switzerland, France, Greece, South Korea, and Uruguay. In February, RigiTech added Dutch drone operator Medical Drone Service as a customer to launch healthcare deliveries in the Netherlands.

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During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Air Force secretary Frank Kendall told U.S. lawmakers he will get in the cockpit of an artificial intelligence-controlled fighter jet.

Kendall said the flight is intended to allow him to observe the technology underlying the Air Force’s future fleet of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), which will pair crewed jets with fleets of tiny, buzzing, autonomous drones. A second pilot will join the Air Force secretary, but neither will actually fly the aircraft—a modified F-16—except in case of emergency.

The U.S. is investing plenty of money into the CCA. According to the Associated Press, the Air Force requested $559 million in its upcoming budget to support the program, out of a total budget request of $188.1 billion. The department’s 2025 fiscal year begins October 1. For the 2024 defense spending bill, the U.S. Department of Defense requested $1.8 billion worth of artificial intelligence investments.

“We have a cost problem with the aircraft that we’re buying now,” Kendall said in response to a question from Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, during a hearing for the Air Force and Space Force fiscal year 2025 budget request. “Our fighters are very expensive. The F-35 and the F-15EX cost about $100 million each, NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) will cost over $300 million and will be bought in small numbers.

“The uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft give us an opportunity to address the cost and the quantity issues with relatively inexpensive but very highly cost-effective platforms that we add to the fleet.”

The Air Force earlier this month welcomed three F-16s to Eglin Air Force Base (KVPS) in Florida, where they will be modified for autonomous testing. The modifications are part of the Viper Experimentation and Next-gen Operations Model-Autonomy Flying Testbed program, or VENOM-AFT, which supports CCA with funding for autonomous software testing on crewed and uncrewed aircraft.

VENOM-AFT testing will be performed by the Air Force’s 40th Flight Test Squadron and 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron. Personnel will monitor the autonomy system during flight and provide feedback.

Additionally, the Air Force Research Laboratory this month received a $4 million grant to build an AI and machine learning research center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (KFFO) in Ohio.

Kendall’s comments on Tuesday come amid the backdrop of China’s rising military might, particularly in the air.

Drones manufactured in China have been spotted on the battlefield in Eastern Europe and the Levant, where they have inflicted devastating attacks on troops, infrastructure, and civilians. Chinese manufacturer DJI is considered the largest seller of consumer drones. But many cheaply bought DJI products have been modified for use in combat, prompting wariness among U.S. lawmakers.

Kendall urged senators to modernize the department’s technology, warning that any further budget delays could give China a leg up. The budget for the current fiscal year was enacted in March, more than six months later than intended.

“Time matters, but so do resources,” Kendall said. “The United States is also now facing a competitor with national purchasing power that exceeds our own, a challenge we have never faced in modern times.”

Beyond the CCA, the DOD is also building up an army of “small, smart, cheap” drones through the Replicator initiative, announced by Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks in August.

According to Hicks and other senior officials, the plan is to produce “multiple thousands” of systems that are attritable, meaning they could be lost or shot down with minimal impact to U.S. military capabilities. These drones would be ideal for high-risk operations in which the chance of a crash or takedown is likely.

Hicks said the objective is to “outmatch” China. But William LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, clarified that Replicator systems will be distinct from CCA aircraft. However, LaPlante added that Replicator drones could be “very complementary” to the CCA initiative.

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Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier Wizz Air and U.K. biofuel company Firefly have announced a partnership that aims to power 10 percent of flights operated by the carrier with sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) produced out of human waste by the year 2030.

The Firefly plant located in Harwich, England, will be adapted to convert human feces into SAF of which they are planning to deliver up to 525,000 tons over 15 years starting in 2028.

This initiative is part of Wizz Air’s effort to reduce its carbon emission per passenger/km by 25 percent by 2030. The aviation industry as a whole has set itself a ambitious target to be carbon neutral by the year 2050, and according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 80 percent of the reduction in emissions will be achieved through the use of SAF.

• READ MORE: Ampaire Completes Hybrid-Electric Ground Test Using Pure SAF

In February 2023 Wizz Air announced a similar agreement with Finnish group Neste for the supply of up to 36,000 tons of SAF over the period of three years starting in 2025. Neste MY SAF is produced from renewable waste and residues such as used cooking oil and animal fat waste.

Other airlines such as Swiss, Ryanair, Etihad Airways, and Southwest Airlines have already made similar agreements to source SAF from Neste or other companies.

Lifecycle Carbon-Emissions Neutrality

Currently, the main issue with the sustainability targets pursued by the aviation industry is the lack of large-scale availability of SAF and the supply chain that is supposed to deliver it where it is needed at airports around the world. SAF is intended to work with the existing technology as far as engines and aircraft are concerned and can deliver a reduction of up to 80 percent in greenhouse gas emissions due to the oxygen-positive and carbon dioxide-negative effects during the production phase of its life cycle.

When burned to power jet engines, SAF generates similar amounts of greenhouse gases as traditional oil-based fuels, but since they absorb those gases during their production phase, the net result of their impact on the environment is significantly lower.

• READ MORE: Business Aviation Industry Groups Aim to Speed Adoption of SAF

In addition to that, SAFs are generated from renewable resources, unlike oil-based fuels.

“There are enough biosolids in the U.K. to satisfy half of the mandated SAF demand in 2030” said Paul Hilditch, Firefly’s chief operating officer.

A utility company has committed to providing the biosolid needed by Firefly during the initial pilot phase, the BBC reported. The biosolids are a product of the wastewater treatment process.

“Wizz Air celebrates two decades of transformation this year, transitioning from a small airline into a global leader of sustainable aviation and affordable travel,” said Yvonne Moynihan, corporate and ESG officer at Wizz Air. “Alongside fleet renewal and operational efficiency, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) plays a crucial role in reducing carbon emissions from aviation. Our investment in Firefly, which has the potential to reduce our lifecycle emissions by 100,000 tons CO2-eq per year, underscores our commitment to mainstream the use of SAF in our operations by 2030.

“However, achieving our aspiration requires a significant ramp-up of SAF production and deployment. Therefore, we call on policymakers to address barriers to SAF deployment at scale by incentivizing production, providing price support, and embracing additional sustainable feedstocks for biofuel production.”

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AirlineGeeks.com.

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A Dutch aircraft manufacturer is racking up orders for its battery-electric regional air mobility (RAM) design.

Electron Aerospace, the maker of the 100 percent electric Electron 5, on Thursday announced an undisclosed but “significant” number of aircraft orders from business aviation provider Air2E and private air taxi operator Hopscotch Air. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) committing to explicit payment schedules.

Air2E operates primarily in Germany, not far from Electron’s headquarters in the Netherlands. Hopscotch is licensed to fly in the U.S. and Canada. According to Electron, the fresh orders bring the company’s sales pipeline to an estimated $213 million.

“Securing orders from two pioneers in the regional air mobility sector like Air2E and Hopscotch Air affirms the market fit of our Electron 5 aircraft,” said Marc-Henry de Jong, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Electron.

Electron’s flagship aircraft is the zero-emission Electron 5, designed for one pilot, four passengers, and their luggage. The firm anticipates first deliveries in 2028 following certification with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in 2027. Beyond passenger and cargo transport, Electron says the aircraft could be used for pilot training and medical evacuation.

Compared to traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) aircraft, Electron 5’s twin-engine, battery-electric-drive system can slash operating costs by more than half, the company says. The propulsion system also limits noise to around 55 dB, quieter than a vacuum cleaner.

“The reduced operating costs of the Electron 5 will allow us to significantly broaden our customer base, providing more affordable and accessible air travel alternatives,” said Andrew Schmertz, CEO of Hopscotch.

Electron says its aircraft is optimized for “short intra-European hops.” With current battery technology, it has a maximum range of about 466 sm (405 nm) and top speed of 188 knots at 10,000 feet, making it ideal for regional flights, such as between New York City and Washington, D.C.

According to the company, aircraft with the same mission profile in the U.S. and EU typically have a range less than 311 sm (270 nm), more in line with Electron 5’s operating range of 310 sm.

An updated Electron 5 design, revealed in March, deploys some biomimicry and is inspired by the albatross, which is considered to be one of the most efficient flying animals on earth.

“Taking inspiration from the albatross, our Electron 5 features an aerodynamically efficient body, robust wings, and windows that mimic the bird’s vigilant eyes,” said Alexander Klatt, head of design at Electron.

One newly added feature is an easily accessible cargo door, which the company says is “unheard of” for an aircraft of Electron 5’s size. The cargo door allows the aircraft to accommodate up to four passengers or 1,100 pounds of cargo. In addition, the manufacturer claims Electron 5 has the largest windows in its class. These wrap around the aircraft to provide 180-degree views for the pilot and passengers.

Electron has stated Europe will serve as its primary market. So far, the firm has an agreement with the Netherlands’ Twente Airport (EHTW) to launch zero-emission flights in 2027. It claims it will be able to fly passengers from Twente to London, Paris, or Berlin within two hours.

Electron also has a strategic partnership with South Korea’s Mint Air, which placed an order for ten Electron 5 models and intends to become an operator and official reseller in the country.

With Hopscotch now getting in on the action, it appears North America will serve as another future market.

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The U.S. and Japan on Wednesday signed a quid-pro-quo agreement to give both countries’ space exploration initiatives a boost.

NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) have agreed to facilitate missions to the moon using a crewed lunar rover designed, built, and operated by Japan. The enclosed and pressurized rover is designed to serve as a mobile habitat and laboratory for human personnel.

In exchange, NASA will set aside space for two JAXA astronauts on future moon landing missions under its Artemis program. Artemis is essentially the successor to the Apollo program, with the aim of initiating a new generation of lunar exploration.

NASA expects the rover, which will give crews more time to work on the lunar surface, to land on the moon during the Artemis VII mission, which is tentatively scheduled for 2030 or 2031. The agency anticipates it will have a 10-year lifespan and be used on subsequent Artemis missions. Japan will design, develop, and operate the rover, while NASA will provide launch and delivery to the moon.

“America no longer will walk on the Moon alone,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “With this new rover, we will uncover groundbreaking discoveries on the lunar surface that will benefit humanity and inspire the Artemis generation.”

Nelson and Masahito Moriyama, Japan’s minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology, signed the agreement Tuesday at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The following day, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced “a shared goal for a Japanese national to be the first non-American astronaut to land on the moon on a future Artemis mission, assuming important benchmarks are achieved.”

A crewed, pressurized rover called the Lunar Cruiser has been under development by JAXA and Toyota since 2020. The vehicle uses hydrogen fuel cell technology found in the automaker’s electric vehicles. It could transport astronauts across the lunar surface for up to 30 days and cruise for up to 6,200 miles, providing ample time to perform research and conduct experiments. The partners are further developing systems to automate most of the driving and navigation.

The Lunar Cruiser’s tires are made from metal, and an onboard fuel cell uses solar energy and stored water to produce hydrogen and oxygen, generating electricity. The rover can also convert electricity stored in its battery pack back into hydrogen and oxygen.

According to NASA, two astronauts will use the vehicle to traverse the moon’s south pole during Artemis VII. Toyota expects it to be ready for launch by 2029.

“The pressurized rover will be a powerful contribution to the overall Artemis architecture as Japan and the U.S. go hand in hand with international and industry partners to the lunar surface and beyond,” said JAXA president Hiroshi Yamakawa.

The lunar rover arrangement falls under a framework agreement signed between the U.S. and Japan in 2023, which signifies the countries’ “mutual interest in peaceful exploration.”

The agreement covers a wide range of activities from science to exploration and will include Japanese participation in NASA’s Dragonfly mission, which will study Saturn’s largest moon, called Titan, using a dual-quadcopter lander. JAXA will also contribute to the development of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. In return, NASA will help develop JAXA’s SOLAR-C sun-observing satellite.

The U.S. space agency will allocate crew space for a JAXA astronaut on a future Artemis mission to deploy Gateway, a lunar orbital space station. An agreement between the two calls for Japan to supply the space station’s environmental control and life support systems and cargo transportation.

Artemis I—an uncrewed lunar flight test of NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion capsule—splashed down in December 2022 after a 25-day, 1.4 million-mile jaunt around the moon and back. However, issues unearthed during the flight have delayed Artemis II, a crewed lunar flyby, and Artemis III, intended to be the first crewed lunar landing in half a century, to September 2025 and 2026, respectively.

Artemis III astronauts would become the first humans to visit the moon’s south pole, where they will collect lunar samples, images, and other data. NASA describes the mission as “one of the most complex undertakings of engineering and human ingenuity in the history of deep space exploration.”

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Autonomous flight systems provider Merlin Labs is stepping up its quest for a supplemental type certificate (STC).

The company on Wednesday announced it completed the build of its Certification System Bench, a flight test simulator designed to speed its path to an STC. The simulator contains the company’s certifiable software and hardware components and is located at its Boston headquarters.

An STC is issued by a regulator when a company intends to modify an aerospace product from its initial, type-certified design. The approval authorizes the modification and how it will affect the original product.

In the case of Merlin, the company is seeking an STC from New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for Merlin Pilot, its platform-agnostic, takeoff-to-touchdown autonomy system for fixed-wing aircraft. Pilot uses an array of sensors to understand the state of the aircraft and its surroundings. The firm is working toward concurrent validation with the FAA through a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement between it and the CAA.

However, Merlin’s goal, at least in the short term, is not to remove the pilot from the cockpit entirely. Rather, it intends to supplement pilot workloads to combat the ongoing pilot shortage.

“In many ways, the Certification System Bench acts as a testing ‘funnel,’” said Sherif Ali, chief engineer for Merlin Pilot. “It allows us to test hundreds of cases with speed and ease, selecting edge cases to take to in-flight testing. As a result, we’re able to reduce the use of our test aircraft and keep it for limited cases only.”

The Certification System Bench will allow Merlin to test its automation systems from its headquarters, with no limitations due to factors such as weather, maintenance schedules, or pilot availability. The company says it provides a one-to-one replica of its in-flight technology, with three screens representing the pilot deck, instrument panels, and primary flight display.

The technology is equipped with the same software and hardware components found within the Pilot system. Further, cameras installed on the Bench allow Merlin’s global team to access it and perform testing remotely.

“With pilots on the Certification System Bench, we are able to learn multitudes about human factors while gaining accreditation towards our STC,” said Ali. “No other company in the sector has put more resources towards this type of testing simulator.”

According to Merlin, the Certification System Bench represents a “significant investment” for the firm—costing millions of dollars more than its actual aircraft—but one that will be worthwhile.

The company says ground tests on the Certification System Bench are accredited by aviation regulators, allowing those evaluations to contribute toward STC approval. Further, the technology should allow testing to become more routine. Technicians won’t need to worry about heavy rain or malfunctioning aircraft parts.

“Ensuring the Merlin Pilot is robust, safe, and reliable is our top priority, which underscores this [Certification] System Bench build as a huge milestone in Merlin’s certification journey,” said Matt George, founder and CEO of Merlin. “It took the team six months to design, vet solutions for, and build the Certification System Bench to extremely stringent specifications.”

Merlin is taking a “crawl-walk-run” approach to certification and operations, beginning with testing with the FAA and CAA, from which it recently obtained Part 135 operator approval. The next step will be to fly small aircraft with reduced crews, relying mostly on Pilot but augmented by a safety pilot. After that, the company intends to remove crews from small aircraft and reduce crews on larger aircraft.

Merlin received the first certification basis for an autonomous flight system from the CAA in 2023. Last year, Pilot also became the first autonomy system to secure U.S. National Airspace System integration and FAA validation, following agency-contracted uncrewed cargo network trials in Alaska, the company says.

Pilot so far has been integrated on five different aircraft types, including Dynamic Aviation’s fleet of Beechcraft King Airs and several aircraft from Ameriflight, the largest Part 135 cargo airline in the U.S.

Merlin further has a longstanding relationship with the U.S. Air Force, through which it has modified several military transport aircraft. In 2022, the company tested single-pilot crews aboard a Lockheed Martin C130J Hercules and conducted an autonomous refueling mission using a KC-46A Pegasus with no copilot.

In February, the partners extended their collaboration to demonstrate Pilot on a KC-135 Stratotanker. Merlin expects in-flight trials to begin next year, starting with a series of basic air refueling operations.

However, Merlin is not the only autonomous flight systems partner working with the Air Force. The department also has relationships with providers such as Xwing, Reliable Robotics, and rotorcraft manufacturer Sikorsky, which is developing an autonomy suite called Matrix.

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April 8 may go down in aviation history as the busiest day for GA, as thousands of pilots took to the air to watch the solar eclipse.

According to Flightradar24, a distinct line of aircraft clustered along the path of totality. The aircraft were shown as gold icons, and the clusters on that day were reminiscent of goldfish swarming for food.

But not every pilot who went up was there just to watch the show in the sky. Some pilots were working and providing transportation, and the eclipse was just an extra attraction.

One of these pilots was David Nelson, the captain of a Dassault Falcon 900 EASy who started his day with an 8 a.m. PST launch from Seattle, headed east. Nelson had passengers with meetings to get to, so the purpose of the flight was not necessarily to view the eclipse, but he knew the route would take them across the path of totality.

General aviation traffic tracking #Eclipse2024, beginning at 08:00 EDT this morning. Convergence of most flights in the path of totality happens at 19:00 UTC. pic.twitter.com/pNBSBPGkwz

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) April 8, 2024

“I had downloaded AOPA’s Eclipse App for ForeFlight, and we had determined that our flight plan would cross the path of the eclipse totality soon after we passed the Fort Wayne [Indiana] VOR,” Nelson told FLYING. “Around South Dakota I took my first look at the sun and could not see the moon at all. Passing through Iowa, I took my next look at the sun and saw that the moon was just starting to cover a bit of the sun.”

Nelson said the crew didn’t really notice any changes in the environment, and at one point they tried to take photographs through a dark lens—but that didn’t work so well.

“As we continued on, it became obvious that it was not a normal flight day as the daylight was dimmer,” he said. “One of the last times I looked at the sun before we began our descent, there was just a sliver left showing. I’d estimate it was 90 percent to 95 percent covered.”

According to Nelson, the celestial event reduced the light in the cockpit as if it was dusk.

“[Only] with the sun still high overhead,” he said. “Also, the stratus clouds were more of a light gray than their normal white as we looked down on them.”

The effects of the eclipse were still apparent when the flight landed on the East Coast as they disembarked in decreased light and cooler temperatures than expected.

“Overall, since we didn’t experience a total eclipse, it was different from what I experienced on the ground in 2017,” Nelson said. “But it was still a unique event and to be able to watch the moon cover most of the sun from 41,000 feet was an experience I’ll remember for a long time.”

NASA’s Eclipse Experiments

NASA sent up aircraft during the eclipse for scientific experiments. The space agency uses three WB-57s because they can fly much higher than commercial aircraft and don’t have to worry about clouds blocking their view.

The altitude flown puts the jets above most of the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in clearer images that wouldn’t be possible from the ground. Because of the speed at which jets travel, they are able to stay within the eclipse longer than it travels over the ground, basically flying with it as it moves across the Earth.

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One of America’s most powerful and expensive commercially made space launch vehicles is flying into the sunset.

Tuesday marked the swan song for Delta IV Heavy, a heavy-lift launcher headed for retirement. The spacecraft was built by United Launch Alliance (ULA)—a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing—and is considered one of the most prolific in U.S. history.

Delta IV Heavy, standing 235 feet tall, is part of ULA’s Delta family of rockets, which along with its Atlas family is used primarily by the U.S. government. Tuesday’s launch was conducted in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which is responsible for designing, building, launching and maintaining U.S. intelligence satellites.

The mission, NROL-70, is ULA’s 35th for the NRO and 99th for U.S. national security. Its payload is classified.

NROL-70 also represented the 389th Delta launch since 1960 and the 294th to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It was ULA’s 45th and final launch of a Delta IV rocket and its 16th in the Heavy configuration.

ULA is in the process of transitioning launches from Cape Canaveral and Vandenburg Space Force Base in California to its Vulcan Centaur, the successor to Delta and eventually Atlas. Vulcan completed its maiden voyage in January, carrying a Peregrine lunar lander for commercial customer Astrobotic.

On Tuesday morning, teams at Cape Canaveral reported 90 percent favorable conditions for the launch, which was originally scheduled for March 28. Crews promptly began filling the rocket’s eight cryogenic tanks with 470,000 gallons of supercooled liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

The tanks power the spacecraft’s three common core boosters, which fuel three RS-68A engines each producing 700,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. The RS-68A is the largest hydrogen-burning engine in existence, per ULA.

The tanks also fuel Delta IV Heavy’s Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS), which is powered by a single RL10C-2-1 engine producing nearly 25,000 pounds of thrust. The DCSS avionics system provides guidance and flight control for the booster.

At 12:24 p.m. EST, ULA received confirmation that weather conditions were “green.” Minutes later, NRO mission director Colonel Eric Zarybnisky gave the final “go” for launch.

ULA began pressurizing the rocket’s tanks and started the launcher sequence, which independently verifies systems are functioning during the remainder of the countdown. Those systems include the hydrogen burnoff igniters beneath the engine, which play a critical role during launch.

Liftoff took place at 12:53 p.m., exactly as planned, enshrouding the launch pad in a ball of fire. That was also planned—Delta IV uses hydrogen gas to cool the rocket down before takeoff, which ignites and burns off during launch. A staggered engine ignition mitigates this process and reduces the burnoff.

After clearing the launch tower for the final time, the rocket could be seen across most of the Florida peninsula, barring cloud cover. About 1 minute and 30 seconds into the flight, Delta IV Heavy broke the sound barrier. One minute after that, it weighed just half what it did at takeoff due to the amount of fuel it must consume.

By the time the booster core and DCSS separated about six minutes into the mission, Delta IV Heavy was traveling 15 times the speed of sound. A few seconds later, the rocket reached space, and ULA ended its coverage.

“For the final time, this is Delta Launch Control, signing off,” ULA said.

At the time of its retirement, Delta IV Heavy is the third-highest capacity launch vehicle in operation, after NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.

Delta rockets have ferried NASA’s Spirit and Opportunity rovers and other missions to Mars, launched probes that “touched the sun,” and even carried out the first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion capsule. Orion will ferry astronauts around the moon and back during NASA’s Artemis II mission in 2025.

Delta’s successor, Vulcan, is less expensive than both it and Atlas V, the most recent addition to the Atlas family. It is designed primarily for the National Security Space Launch program. But ULA is also collaborating Vulcan launches with Amazon’s Project Kuiper and other commercial customers.

ULA’s new flagship spacecraft will need to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, which unlike Vulcan are reusable. The company also has 17 remaining launches for Atlas V, the country’s longest-serving active rocket.

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Whether you love them, hate them, or are in the process of building them, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis have a key hurdle to overcome: noise. Air taxi manufacturers are turning to NASA for assistance.

According to the space agency, “several” eVTOL companies are deploying a NASA computer program to model their future operations and the noise they will produce. The program, called Overflow, was developed in the 1990s. But NASA tells FLYING it has made “significant improvements” to its code to improve its usefulness for the industry. The code is publicly available for download.

Manufacturers developing technology related to NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Mission—which explores passenger transport, cargo delivery, public service, and other applications for eVTOL designs—are being granted an early look at how their propellers, wings, and other components may perform in action.

Per the agency, the technology can save these manufacturers time and money when making decisions related to aircraft design.

Overflow is a NASA-developed computer software tool that predicts aircraft noise and aerodynamic performance. Using a series of calculations, the program models the flow of air around an aircraft, anticipating the pressures, forces, moments, and power requirements it might produce.

Users can integrate the Overflow code into their own aircraft modeling programs to measure performance and efficiency. They receive a visual depiction of how air behaves on or around the aircraft, represented by different colors. A high pressure coefficient, for example, might be shown in red, while a lower coefficient is represented by blue.

As NASA points out, fluid flows are one of the culprits of aircraft noise. Understanding how those flows interact with the airframe can help engineers make design decisions that keep volume in check.

Supporters and detractors of eVTOL air taxis consider noise pollution a chief concern, particularly when operations take place over an urban area such as a city. Manufacturers such as Archer and Joby—whose designs combine movable propellers with fixed wings—contend their designs will be quieter than helicopters.

According to images shared by NASA, Archer and Joby each have given Overflow a try. Notably, both companies have a prior relationship with the agency.

Joby in December collaborated with NASA and a recruited cohort of air traffic controllers to model air taxi operations around a busy airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International (KDFW). Air taxi pilots “flew” on predetermined routes in various simulated weather conditions, evaluating traffic schedules developed by Joby based on the manufacturer’s demand projections.

The partners successfully simulated 120 eVTOL arrivals and departures alongside existing airport traffic. According to NASA, certain air traffic control procedures evaluated could be applied and scaled at airports nationwide to accommodate eVTOL aircraft.

Archer, meanwhile, continues to collaborate with NASA on a battery testing partnership. The partners are evaluating the manufacturer’s proprietary batteries to gauge how they could safely be applied to eVTOL aircraft, eCTOL aircraft such as Beta Technologies’ CX300, and potentially even spacecraft. Archer last month completed a critical battery pack drop test, intended to assess the batteries’ resistance to leaks or fires in the event of a crash.

In addition to Archer and Joby, Wisk Aero, the eVTOL air taxi subsidiary of Boeing, appears to be using Overflow as NASA shared an image of what looks to be the company’s Generation 6 aircraft. Archer, Joby, and Wisk are among the top U.S. firms in the AAM industry.

NASA—which is also working with the U.S. Air Force to build a nationwide AAM operations center—the Department of Defense, and FAA have each emphasized growing the country’s emerging aircraft technology in a bid to foster the domestic AAM industry. U.S. agencies and representatives have sounded the alarm on manufacturers in China in particular, fearing that a wave of cheap, mass-produced Chinese aircraft could shut out American competitors.

Those fears may not be entirely unfounded, given that Chinese air taxi manufacturer EHang just received approval from the country’s civil aviation authority (CAAC) to begin mass production. Recently, the company revealed its self-flying eVTOL will have a price tag of just $330,000. Few eVTOL manufacturers are public about the cost of their aircraft, but internal projections typically have been in the millions—not the hundreds of thousands.

Having obtained production, type, and standard airworthiness certification for its flagship EH216-S, EHang is the only eVTOL manufacturer with all three approvals. In the U.S., Archer and Joby are the furthest along, targeting type certification before their expected commercial launches in 2025.

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Chinese electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer EHang says it has obtained the world’s first production certification for a pilotless eVTOL design, allowing it to begin mass manufacturing.

The approval was granted by the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC), representatives of which met with EHang founder, chairman, and CEO Huazhi Hu at a ceremony in Guangzhou’s Huangpu District on Sunday.

The event was attended by local government officials, including the district mayor of Huangpu District and deputy mayor of Yunfu City—the site of EHang’s main production facility. The facility is expected to churn out 600 aircraft annually once production scales.

EHang has now obtained production, type, and standard airworthiness certification for its flagship EH216-S: a self-flying, two-passenger design with a range of about 19 nm and cruise speed around 70 knots. The company said the latest approval gives the company “all requisite regulatory certifications” needed to lay the groundwork for commercial operations in China.

“We believe the collaborative efforts of pioneering low-altitude enterprises like EHang and governments, will infuse the industry with momentum and confidence, propelling the low-altitude economy towards a prosperous future,” said Dan Xu, deputy district mayor of Huangpu District.

Autonomous eVTOL aircraft like EHang’s EH216-S are intended to form what Chinese officials have termed the “low-altitude economy.” Similar to the advanced air mobility (AAM) industry being developed in places such as the U.S. and European Union, the low-altitude economy is expected to encompass aerial tourism and sightseeing, emergency medical services, passenger air taxi flights, and other eVTOL-related activities.

EHang in December gave citizens a glimpse of the promised services with commercial demonstration flights in the cities of Guangzhou and Hefei. According to the company, these represented the first passenger-carrying flights by an eVTOL. However, customers flew for free, and the service is not yet routine.

With production certification now joining EHang’s prior approvals, the company is in position to scale up those operations.

“The issuance of the PC [production certification] is pivotal for the EH216-S, as it opens the door to mass production and a crucial step for our advancement towards commercial operations,” said Hu. “With the PC as the starting point, we are poised to gradually expand production and delivery to meet escalating market demands. Our vision is to introduce safe and reliable pilotless eVTOL aircraft to the global market.”

The production certificate is validation from the CAAC that EHang’s mass production quality management system meets the regulator’s airworthiness requirements, authorizing it for mass manufacturing.

The quality management system covers EH216-S’s raw materials, supplier management, production organization and quality control, pre-delivery testing, and post-sale repair and maintenance. The system also enables traceability and safety control to ensure the aircraft rolling off the production line adhere to EHang’s type design requirements, the company says.

CAAC assessed 19 elements of the system and the company’s production capabilities, concluding it has the ability to produce aircraft that will fly safely in Chinese airspace.

EHang says the company is now preparing for commercial operations in China, such as by training personnel and developing EH216-S operational systems. According to the manufacturer, about 20 Chinese provinces are prioritizing the development of the low-altitude economy in 2024, including by enacting favorable policies and regulations, allocating funding and subsidies, and identifying suitable eVTOL takeoff and landing sites.

Recently released CAAC guidance positions the Nansha District in Guangzhou—one of the two cities in which EHang flew in December—as the focal point for the industry. The Guangzhou municipal government has announced several policy initiatives intended to back EHang, while Hefei has committed to invest as much as $100 million.

EHang’s China market entry is also being heavily supported by the central government, which last week released plans for the low-altitude economy through 2030. Beijing’s upcoming initiatives include the construction of takeoff and landing infrastructure, streamlining of airworthiness certification, and improvement of the country’s air traffic management system. The government also called to establish a network of eVTOL demonstration sites, with a particular focus on urban use cases.

EHang, working with CAAC, said it will help establish the world’s first regulatory system and standards for commercial eVTOL operations in the second quarter of this year. Several regulators, including the FAA and more recently the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), have proposed guidelines for such services, but few, if any, have finalized them.

Throughout 2024, EHang says it will coordinate with multiple governments to build eVTOL vertiports and shape the “benchmark” cities it views as ideal candidates for the low-altitude economy. It intends to launch commercial operation ceremonies for use cases such as aerial tourism and urban air taxis, using its demonstration sites in Guangzhou and Hefei in addition to its urban air mobility (UAM) operation center at OH Bay in Shenzhen.

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A first-of-its-kind drone designed for endurance, stealth, flexibility, and operational simplicity has found its latest customer in the U.S. Navy.

Kraus Hamdani Aerospace, manufacturer of the solar-powered, ultralong-range K1000ULE uncrewed aircraft system (UAS), last week won a contract to provide the Navy with its first UAS capable of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL). The contract was agreed through PMA-263, the Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Unmanned Air Systems program office at Patuxent River, Maryland.

KHAero’s K1000ULE is a 100 percent electric, solar-powered, Group 2 UAS. The company claims the aircraft boasts a greater flight endurance than any eVTOL in its category, capable of remaining airborne for 26 hours during a single flight.

The U.S. Marine Corps Small Unit Remote Scouting System will field K1000ULE to enable what KHAero predicts will be simpler, faster, and more cost-effective intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations. The UAS will also enhance the Navy’s beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations in “denied or contested areas.” Operations are fully autonomous, relying on onboard artificial intelligence and autopilot technology.

“Today we live with the prospect of a new era of defense technology in which autonomy and artificial intelligence will become more important,” said Fatema Hamdani, CEO of KHAero. “The Navy wants to discover what’s possible. And we’re honored to give them the solutions they need.”

KHAero claims K1000ULE has the longest endurance of any fully electric, zero-emissions, autonomous UAS in its size and weight category. Its 26-hour flight time comes from a propulsion system that runs on lithium ion batteries and photovoltaics (or solar power), powering a brushless electric motor and folding propeller. The aircraft’s solar technology is licensed by the U.S. Department of Energy, per the company.

KL1000ULE is about 10 feet long with a 16.5-foot wingspan, capable of taking off at a weight of 42.5 pounds and reaching an altitude of 20,000 feet msl. The aircraft cruises at around 30-40 knots, giving it a 1,000 sm (867 nm) range. It can be equipped with electro-optical, infrared, communications and other payloads. In addition, KHAero says it can accommodate any Department of Defense MOD Payload compliant payload.

KHAero’s focus is largely on data, intelligence, and communication services, created using multidrone coordination systems. It aims to service customers in emergency and disaster relief, data and telecommunications, defense, agriculture, oil and gas, climate change, and wildlife preservation.

The company’s system additionally shares information across platforms to allocate aircraft on demand, based on sensor needs. In the case of the Navy, crews across operations will be able to keep informed on the UAS’ status.

A single Navy operator could operate a swarm of K1000ULE drones, creating a “self-aware constellation,” in KHAero’s words, that autonomously makes decisions and performs terrain and airspace deconfliction.

The system is controlled through a wearable tablet interface, which helps the user select a coverage area and launch the correct number of assets within 15 minutes. Operators can review or change the coverage area or mission objectives, view the position, flight time, and battery power of the aircraft, and track how many drones are in the sky.

Before awarding the contract to KHAero, the Navy made sure to vet the aircraft, requesting that the manufacturer demonstrate a range of capabilities. U.S. and international partners deployed it for the first time in March 2023,  conducting operations over Aqaba, Jordan, as part of the International Maritime Exercise 2023.

Further evaluations were performed at both KHAero and U.S. government test facilities and overseen by the UAS Research and Operations Center at the University of Maryland. Among the capabilities and technologies tested were flight endurance, vertical takeoff and landing without a runway, and operations in daytime, nighttime, and other environmental conditions.

Removing the runway requirement is a key component of KHAero’s offering. The company also aims to reduce the Navy’s UAS operational footprint from 120-150 to less than five people, performing testing on K1000ULE’s maneuverability. Further, KHAero expects these operations to be nearly undetectable, which it tested by having the Navy track the drone’s audio and visual signatures from the ground.

After gauging K1000ULE’s capabilities, the partners performed reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition tests. They evaluated the aircraft’s full motion video capabilities, which can identify and classify targets, among other mission systems packages.

The Navy could use the UAS to scout an unidentified vehicle, track enemy force movements, shadow friendly troops on the move, or perform other ISR tasks. KHAero is among several aircraft and technology manufacturers collaborating with the U.S. military—Archer Aviation, Pivotal, Xwing and many others are working with the Air Force via its innovation arm, AFWERX.

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Joby Aviation glows with the shining health of an organization led by a vision drawn from childhood dreams. The California-born-and-bred company, founded by JoeBen Bevirt, feels clear in its purpose: to make the most challenging “last mile” of aerial transport between points an accessible—and quiet—reality.

Bevirt thought up the premise for an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) as he walked home from the last point a school bus could take him near his home in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. Today, Joby is a roughly $4 billion-cap enterprise on the cusp of its type certification for-credit testing with the FAA on an evolution of the very vehicle Bevirt envisioned would lift him from that dusty bus stop into the peaceful meadow near his parents’ forest home.

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From a flying prototype launched in an empty quarry in 2010 to the first flight of the latest conforming production prototype, the final iteration of this initial commercially viable eVTOL will carry a pilot and up to four passengers as far as a 100 sm range solely using electric motors, bringing with it a new way of managing flight.

However, though the Joby aircraft is piloted, the team is not building an aircraft for pilots. By deliberate choice, the idiosyncrasies that make up the kinesthetic joy of flying are dialed out of the aircraft’s flight control system—they have to be in order to make the Joby fly like it does. You can hand fly it, sure, but like other aircraft aimed at owner operators who are new to the game and not interested in the romance of flight, you’re in a version of autoflight all the time. In fact, an autopilot per se is unnecessary because the foundations of autoflight run continuously—designed to manage the cascade of failures and corners of the envelope we train so hard to avoid and mitigate and respond to.

• READ MORE: We Fly: Diamond DA62

While we can’t yet fly the version slated for the final rounds of type certificate (TC) testing—the production aircraft, in company parlance—we can fly the sim. As one six-month Joby employee at the company’s Washington, D.C., office told me, even they like to fly it—and they’re not into driving themselves anywhere. Being “in control” just doesn’t interest them—quite a change from what we think of as a pilot.

So where is this going? I had to find out for myself. In a series of introductions, I visited Joby’s R&D and production facilities in Santa Clara and Marina, California, last summer and Joby’s offices in D.C. in January, along with an interview with Bevirt at the Paris Air Show in June, which we covered in Issue 940 (“In Depth”).

How It Works

The Joby aircraft consists of a rounded, wide-windowed fuselage to carry passengers with a single pilot seat up front. A wing transects the top at about its midsection, with a V-shaped tail in the back. Six equally sized rotors stand in a roughly hexagonic position: two in front, two at the wingtips, and two aft, on the apex of each V in the tail. They pivot and rotate in such a way as to produce both thrust translating into airspeed and thrust directed for flight control. The aircraft also uses ailerons and ruddervators (akin to those on the Vision Jet or V35 Bonanza). But those are sectioned, with two sets of aileron-style controls on the wings and three sections of ruddervators on the V-shaped tail.

The previous conforming prototype version had flaps, but according to Greg Bowles, head of government affairs for Joby, “they didn’t buy their way onto the production version.” In other words, no need for them. The six motors obtain their juice from a series of battery packs, but these are unlike any created for electric aircraft thus far. They work in pairs for each motor and in isolation from the other pairs so that they are doubly redundant. We learned how Joby arrived at this arrangement—along with other details regarding their makeup—when we walked through the plant at Santa Clara earlier on the day of our visit preparing us for the observation of the remotely piloted demo flight of the preproduction prototype later on.

With an aspect that looks like a helicopter with six rotors instead of main and tail rotors, the quietness of the Joby’s departure struck me immediately. Normally, hearing the main rotor spool up causes you to plug your ears against the sound. But with the powering up and lifting off of the Joby, the high-pitched rpm of the blades barely registered over the wind about 100 feet away.

A New Kind of Motor

The “engine” driving the Joby aircraft is unlike any motor I’ve ever seen. Granted, I’m not versed in much outside of the two- and four-stroke combustion engines that provide thrust for light airplanes and the odd motorbike. But this is essentially a 3D-printed titanium ring. A doughnut of sorts, outlined by a series of copper-and- tan-colored power packs.

A lot of people have asked why Joby didn’t buy motors from another company—with so many electric choices out there on the market. “What we found was that [by] making it fit exactly for purpose, we could do much better in terms of weight and size,” said Jon Wagner—head of batteries, powertrain, and electronics and based at the Santa Clara facility—during our tour. The core starts with a 3D-printed titanium housing in the middle, and the magnetics that drive the rotation are made from copper and steel. “And we buy big rolls of copper and big sheets of steel, and we build this thing up out of the raw materials,” said Wagner. At the D.C. office, Bowles handed me a featherweight bottle opener made from the remnant titanium dust—an elegant example of upcycling waste from the process.

Three pins, and three pins—this is actually two motors, with two sets of three-phase windings. “That’s two different electrical circuits inside this motor that drive the rotation,” said Wagner. “So if you have a failure, you’ve segmented the system and now you have a secondary means of driving the motor.” The electronic brain that’s always on in the background figures out how to redistribute the remaining power, cycling up and down as needed for both thrust and flight control. This requires a new way of managing that control.

Unified in Flight

The world of eVTOL will almost certainly be based on the use of “simplified flight controls”—as outlined in the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certificates (MOSAIC), which update light sport aircraft (LSA) certification but also set the stage for use of similar regulatory structure in the Special Federal Aviation Regulations (SFARs) covering eVTOLs.

The simplified flight control is simple to the pilot— taking the most basic of inputs and figuring out what the pilot wants to have happen and ensconcing them in a swaddle of envelope protection so they will neither stall nor exceed limit load factors. To do this, those controls are anything but simple under the surface. Joby has patterned these after the unified controls in high-end military hardware, such as the F-35.

The Joby aircraft is flown with a power lever in the left hand and a joystick-style flight control in the right—and you sit in a single seat centered in the cockpit. Though at first it feels familiar, you don’t use the control stick in quite the same way as you do in a traditional airplane—you rarely hold in continuous pressure, for example. So it’s OK that it’s purposefully stiff. You give input, then take it out. The power lever is similarly centering—hold in to speed up in airplane mode, and leave it in place while in TRC (translate, or hover) mode. You twist to yaw about the vertical axis in translate mode, and you bank to either translate or side step while in TRC or bank while flying the wing. But you don’t need to hold back pressure in the bank to maintain a level attitude since the rotors are compensating for the change in lift vector direction.

To illustrate, let’s look at one common failure mode in rotorcraft: One commonality to the Joby is the bearing plate—“but we can get around it,” said Bowles. If there’s a motor failure, the computer picks up load, slows the rotor on the diagonal corner, and speeds up the rest. The aircraft also retains the ability to glide on its wing—so Joby has tested that mode as well—which, as a fixed-wing pilot, I admit helps me wrap my brain around the whole package.

On Speed, On Target

You don’t think of stall speeds and V_NE in the same way either, since the aircraft’s flight computers protect you from those exceedances in most all situations. “It is important to understand that the aircraft has 6 propellers and 10 control surfaces along with a rather advanced fly-by-wire control system,” said Jason Thomas, flight engineering lead for Joby, “and those propellers can tilt as well as change their blade pitch…It creates a situation, unlike a traditional fixed wing aircraft or helicopter, where there is more than one way to trim the aircraft at a given state or maneuver.”

How will pilots transition to Joby? It helps that the controls feel fairly intuitive. In my sim flights at Marina and D.C., it took just a few minutes to understand how to take off, land, and maneuver in the traffic pattern at a normal airport—KOAR and KSEA were programmed into the sim—during a standard flight. The FAA has established an SFAR for existing pilots under the powered-lift category—and the goal is to allow them to transition by taking essentially a type-rating course.

As a foundation for its business model, Joby established a Part 135 operation using a Cirrus SR22 between KSQL, Palo Alto, California, and KOAR. It plans to add the SFAR-covered aircraft to the certificate, with a track record in flight operations, maintenance, and safety management with the local FSDO. Similarly, the company has also set up a Part 141 operation, training internal pilots, to which it will add the Joby aircraft.

And the proof, then, will be flying the actual aircraft—and seeing just how that feels as a pilot.

Cockpit at a Glance

A. The pair of displays can be laid out in many ways for the pilot. The MFD hosts the power and propulsion system schematic in this view.

B. The primary flight display features a familiar Garmin interface, with airspeed and altitude tapes, plus standardized callouts for winged and vertical flight regime modes.

C. A Garmin GTC-style touchscreen controller also feels familiar to many pilots, following on to the similar control unit found in many new piston and turboprop airplanes and rotorcraft.

D. The power lever on the left side of the pilot’s seat is self-centering and allows for acceleration and deceleration control, as opposed to placing it at a given power setting.

E. The flight control stick self centers as well as twists for yaw control and banks to either turn or translate sideways, depending on the flight mode.

Spec Sheet: Joby Aircraft

Price, Projected: Not for sale, operated exclusively by Joby

Propulsion System: 6 electric dual wound motors, 4 on the wings, 2 on the V-tail

Crew: 1

Passenger Seats: 4

Length: 21 ft.

Height: TK

Wingspan: 39 ft.

Maximum Takeoff Weight: 5,300 lbs.

Empty Weight: TK

Useful Load/Payload: 1,000 lbs.

Cabin Width: TK

Cabin Height: TK

Power Capacity: Four lithium-ion battery packs

Endurance: TK

Range: Up to 100 sm (87 nm)

Liftoff Speed: Hover

Top Speed: 170 kt (200 mph)

Landing Speed: Hover

Stall Speed: N/A

Part Two: Building the Childhood Dream

It starts with a specific type of composite.

The sourcing of the raw materials to make the part that goes into the component that tucks into an aircraft in a strategic place—in the post-pandemic global aerospace industry, that perhaps is not so uncommon.

But when Joby Aviation first began coalescing into reality in various warehouses in the Bay Area southeast of San Francisco, most manufacturers didn’t get involved with the creation of the material—let alone purchasing the raw stuff from which to produce minor hardware in house.

That’s exactly what Joby has been up to since those early days—the development of the requirement alongside the technology needed to deliver the performance and capability of a new type of aircraft. By taking control of every aspect of the requirement to the final disposition of a part, it gets more precisely what it wants.

Diving into the Works

We took a walk around the skunk works—well, just one portion of them—in nondescript buildings, feeling like we were walking through a back lot on land adjacent to the San Carlos Regional Airport (KSQL). Leading the way was the perfect guide, Jon Wagner, as noted, Joby’s head of batteries, powertrain, and electronics. If that job title feels a bit cobbled together, it’s not. He’s the juice guy—how to store it and how to deliver it to the motors as well as the avionics and flight control system.

Working with Wagner is Jason Thomas, flight engineering lead. Thomas came to the company in 2021 from a designated engineering representative firm in Florida called EQ Dynamics. Before that, he worked with Aurora Flight Systems and its UAS concepts, and prior to that, at Honda Aircraft Company and Gulfstream Aerospace, in flutter and structural engineering roles. “I am the sole DER for external loads, aeroelasticity (flutter), and ground vibration testing (GVT),” said Thomas of the fascinating confluence of disciplines that by necessity must cover new territory in just about every mode of flight on the airframe.

The prop blades, for example, land under Thomas’ oversight—with their wide chord and downturned tips to dramatically reduce resonance and, thereby, noise.

“We design and make everything inside the airplane here,” said Wagner, as he kicked off our walk-through of the Santa Clara facility. “Six years ago [in 2017], we flew the first full-scale airplane, and coming out of that experience, we realized that, OK, this airplane works, the concept is solid, and we could architect the business. We made a really important decision—it was right around the time I was joining—that we were going to build up an engineering team to design and manufacture all of the electronic equipment in the plane.

“It started with a discussion about batteries and progressed [to] talking about motors, talking about actuators, talking about all the flight computers, things like that.”

Joby’s founding members decided to hire the team—design, manufacturing, and testing engineers— to create each critical component.

“When you buy something from a vendor, you’re gonna get whatever they have, with maybe some small changes to fit what you need,” said Wagner. “And when you design it yourself, you’re going to get exactly what you need.”

That takes enormous investment and engineering bench depth to pull off—that’s why so many OEMs work with vendors for a long parts list in the construction of an airplane. But CEO JoeBen Bevirt planned to vertically integrate Joby to that level from the beginning.

How They Got Here

Though the company boasted more than 1,000 employees around the time of our visit—and keeps growing daily—it still feels like a startup. The origin stories encased in various discarded components and updated blueprints lay around in plain sight. We stop in a showroom that’s between engagements, but it still houses one of the iterations of the fuselage and the cockpit and cabin contained therein. The moves Joby has made to determine the best combinations and materials for the interior and exterior it calls “explorations,” and posters walking back through those imaginings line a wall behind the mock-up. It’s like they’re not quite ready to put these pieces in storage yet, because they may gain use or traction somewhere down the line.

Following that experimental phase, the last seven years have been the more traditional aerospace development path, with requirements-based design “fit for purpose.” From scratch, it builds all of the battery packs for the airplane, the motors, and all of the electronics. “With the exception of the pilot interface—that’s the Garmin, we purchase that from Garmin, the displays—but all the rest of the avionics and electronics we build,” Wagner said.

Cruisin’ Down the Coast

Schedules kept us from hitching a ride with Bonny Simi, now president of air operations for Joby, in the Cirrus SR22 it operates. But we made our way nevertheless to the primary production and assembly and flight test operation in Marina, located on the airport there in a series of massive white Quonset hut-style tent hangars—that echoed in a way reminiscent of the big historic hangar at Moffett Field to the north, when it housed the dirigibles and other experimental aircraft in development. Fitting.

Once there, we were going to meet up with Didier Papadopoulos, head of the aircraft OEM for Joby, and the one responsible for much of what was going on inside those hangars. Instead—because we were there right after Memorial Day, our own scheduling concern, we had the next best thing, Scott Berry, a nine-year veteran of Joby. He’s also, tall, ranging, with a preternatural goodness and health emanating from him that feels like a trademark here. Berry has also built a Lancair Legacy and posts an AirCam on his LinkedIn profile. Taking aviation into an innovative direction feels like a natural fit.

“I had this dream that I always wanted to fly a seaplane into this area [Santa Cruz Wharf] and bring my children in and surfboards, put out an anchor, and then fly away,” Berry said. “I literally did that yesterday [in the AirCam on floats].”

The Joby aircraft will take this concept up another notch.

“I got my job because I had started my own eVTOL company,” Berry continued. “I was working for General Atomics…and I always wanted to develop my own aircraft. I was trying to convince General Atomics to do a version of the Predator drone with electrics…and I couldn’t do it, so I started my own company. I came to try and sell my aircraft to [Bevirt while on a holiday in Santa Cruz], and he convinced me to come work for Joby.”

Berry has spent the last nine years developing the design and certification team, running flight tests, and leading the company’s establishment of culture. That’s a critical element when what you’re doing is constantly pushing the human-machine interface—to watch the “human” part of the equation.

Humans and Robots

The production line order was still a bit out of sequence during our visit. At every turn, the interface between man and machine took center stage. We expect the use of robots in a variety of roles in manufacturing—and with Joby, they have been integrated from the beginning. Those integrations resonate in aerospace, but much of what I saw around me has roots in automotive manufacturing. Early on, Toyota invested in the company, and a significant part of its investment lay in the dedication of teams of Toyota colleagues embedded within Joby’s research and development—and that pattern continues as it transitions to production. But wait—it isn’t the same as a traditional transition from R&D and prototyping to building a conforming, deliverable model. Joby has been building the production line as it has developed the string of prototypes, so it would be ready as soon as the final fix was in to start production. That’s what we saw.

First, we toured the composites manufacturing facility, where boxcar-sized automated CNC machines crafted parts and shepherded through components from raw materials to layup.

Then we moved into the next big white tent, through a pass-through, hangar-sized door, on to the assembly and integration facility, where those components would join together into the airframe.

About Lunch

Back to culture now. Douglas Aircraft Company pioneered the concept of providing holistically for its employees, in the supposition that if they were healthy, well fed, and well housed, that security would translate to better job performance, less sick leave, and fewer HR issues. In Joby’s world, that means everyone gets fed, family style, at the Marina complex. But the shared tacos are just an indicator.

“The vibe at Joby is energizing and unprecedented in my career,” said Thomas. “Joby embodies a truly unique and interesting mix of talent, passion, energy, innovation, focus and a can-do attitude that is very pervasive.”

Watching It Fly

During that visit in late May 2023, we had a unique window open to see the conforming prototype fly. The production unit was nearing completion at the apex of the line (also under construction), and though we couldn’t talk about that at the time, we can now.

A small team of specialists hovered around the model, smiles illuminating the obvious pride it felt in being so close to the completion of this next critical stage. Our ability to walk around the unit gave us an opportunity to talk through in more detail how the prototype had evolved into the airframe that would be ready for the final flight-test program of the primary campaign to TC.

In parallel, other teams at Joby are working on the business and operational cases, figuring out how the initial run of aircraft will fit into the national airspace system. “We’re not trying to create segregated airspace,” said Bowles, “but to blend in, working heavily with ATC in key regions that are in the initial target, i.e. [helicopter] routes in New York and LA.”

At the state and local level, the question is, are communities excited and ready? The low-noise profile helps immensely—at 65 dBA at 100 meters away on takeoff (vs. 93 dBA for a traditional helicopter liftoff) and in cruise down to 45 dBA—barely recognizable over the wind noise, as we discovered on the ramp in Marina.

It’s a “very torquey motor” in Bowles’ words, to turn the props slowly enough, with a big chord, so efficient at low rpm; plus a drooped tip lowers the vortex a blade length; plus five blades, with their angle of incidence not common to each other. The arrangement is such that it doesn’t stand up a resonance—so no sine wave and its resulting noise footprint.

As the teams look at every geographic location as a special case—procedures are always local—they assess the existing infrastructure—airports, helipads—and, over time, the development of a vertiport: a 50-foot piece of concrete with electric charging and noise limits.

Joby already can make use of the roughly 5,080 GA airports in the U.S. but adds 5,000 more heliports. That’s a lot of opportunity already in place if we can keep those landing sites open. With most people living an average 16-minute drive from an airport, that future lies in clear sight.

These columns first appeared in the March 2024/Issue 946 of FLYING’s print edition.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has hinted at the goals for the next integrated test flight of the company’s Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster, which together form the largest and most powerful spacecraft ever built.

Starship’s next mission, IFT-4, will be the massive rocket’s fourth since it made its maiden voyage in April 2023. The spacecraft launched for the third time in March, but it was also grounded by the FAA for a third time after SpaceX was unable to recover the rocket and booster when they reentered the atmosphere.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk on Wednesday said SpaceX is now preparing for that fourth test flight. The goal, he said, is for the spacecraft to survive the fireball that forms around it during reentry, when temperatures reach their highest point.

Gwynne Shotwell, chief operating officer of SpaceX, said last week that the flight could happen as soon as early May. It will not have a payload.

SpaceX completed a full-duration static fire test of the Starship upper stage’s six Raptor engines on Monday, less than two weeks after its third voyage. A static fire test involves the loading of propellant and firing of the engines while the rocket is bolted to the launch mount. It is intended to ensure the engine is functioning properly and assess factors like pressure and temperature.

The company on Wednesday completed a second static fire of a single upper-stage engine using the spacecraft’s header tanks. These fuel the engines as they fire shortly before landing, which returns the reusable rocket to a vertical orientation as it approaches the landing pad.

IFT-4, if it goes according to Musk’s plan, would mark the first time Starship and Super Heavy make it to orbit and back to Earth in two pieces. Each of the rocket’s first two test flights ended in explosions. But the third attempt, while still resulting in the loss of the rocket and booster, was comfortably SpaceX’s most successful one yet.

Starship’s six second-stage engines successfully powered on and carried the rocket to orbit for the first time. While in orbit, it achieved several more firsts, including a critical propellant transfer test that demonstrated a maneuver the spacecraft will need to perform on future missions to the moon and beyond, including for NASA. The space agency this month applauded the company’s effort.

Starship also demonstrated the ability to open and close its payload door, which could one day be used to deploy Starlink satellites and other cargo, while in orbit.

After coasting nearly halfway around the Earth, Starship reentered the atmosphere for the first time, adding to the milestones. But after that SpaceX lost communications with the rocket and announced it believed it to be lost.

Before Starship can fly again it will need to be cleared by the FAA, which initiated a mishap investigation following the third test flight. A mishap investigation is standard procedure whenever a launch does not go according to plan. The process concludes with SpaceX obtaining a fresh launch license and could take anywhere from a few months to a few weeks.

Musk, however, does not anticipate any future slowdowns for Starship. He earlier this month said in a post on X that SpaceX would aim for six more Starship launches this year, which would be an unprecedented number for a new super heavy-lift rocket.

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Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi manufacturer Archer Aviation has reached what it says is a crucial milestone in its test campaign—one that could prove valuable as it pursues type certification for its flagship Midnight aircraft.

The company on Friday said it successfully completed a series of drop tests on Midnight’s battery packs, an evaluation it will need to complete again during for-credit testing with the FAA. A key step toward type certification for eVTOL designs, for-credit testing allows the regulator to gauge how well an aircraft conforms to its approved specifications.

Archer said it wrapped up the first phase of uncrewed Midnight flight testing in January and intends to begin piloted evaluations later this year. Following the completion of those tests, it will prepare for the FAA’s final exam.

The manufacturer considers the battery pack drop test significant, claiming it is regarded by the electric aviation industry as “one of the most difficult tests to pass for an eVTOL aircraft.”

Midnight’s six lithium-ion battery packs power a dozen electric engines. The aircraft’s tiltrotor configuration positions six propellers on each side of its fixed wings: During cruise, the front propellers tilt forward to provide thrust, while the back propellers lock in place.

The air taxi can carry a pilot and up to four passengers (or 1,000 pounds of cargo) as far as 100 sm (87 nm) at a cruise speed of 130 knots. It is optimized for back-to-back, 20-to-50 sm (17-to-43 nm) trips, with minimal charge time in between.

The drop test is designed to ensure Midnight’s battery packs could withstand a significant impact, similar to the 50-foot fuel tank drop test for rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft. Like fuel tanks, battery packs are flammable and could leak, catch fire, or even explode in the event of a crash.

The first 50-foot drop test for eVTOL aircraft batteries took place in 2022 at a National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) lab at Wichita State University in Kansas. It was sponsored by the FAA and conducted by NIAR and Beta Technologies, which is producing an eVTOL air taxi as well as a conventional takeoff and landing (eCTOL) variant. Recently, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) adopted the test as a formal part of its own certification for battery-powered aircraft.

To simulate “extreme impact scenarios,” Archer dropped packs from a height of 50 feet at 100 percent, 30 percent, and 0 percent charge at a NIAR lab. The company said the batteries showed no signs of failure, and they actually functioned properly after each drop.

The company attributed the test’s success to its choice of using cylindrical cells produced by Molicel in its proprietary design. U.K.-based eVTOL manufacturer Vertical Aerospace is also using cylindrical cells from Molicel on its VX4 model.

Archer believes it will be able to replicate the results of the drop test for the FAA when the time comes. In February, the company began production of three type-conforming Midnight models to be used in those for-credit evaluations.

“Successfully passing the battery pack drop tests marks a pivotal moment that paves the way for future ‘for-credit’ certification testing with the FAA,” said Alex Clarabut, battery lead for Archer. “This accomplishment highlights our dedication to not just meeting but exceeding safety standards. It is a critical step towards our goal of ensuring that Midnight will be among the safest aircraft in the skies.”

Archer also has a battery testing collaboration with NASA. The space agency will gauge the batteries’ safety, energy, and power performance using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), one of the world’s most advanced high speed X-ray facilities. The partners aim to understand how battery cells function in “extreme abuse cases” in order to safely integrate them into advanced air mobility (AAM) services and, potentially, spaceflight.

Archer said the partnership’s focus on batteries will expand to other technologies under a Space Act Agreement calling for the development of “mission critical” eVTOL systems.

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One of the most prolific families of space launch vehicles in U.S. history is preparing for its swan song.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) on Friday will attempt the 16th and final launch of its Delta IV Heavy rocket, one of the world’s most powerful—and expensive—commercially produced launch vehicles. The launch was initially scheduled for Thursday afternoon but was scrubbed a few minutes before takeoff.

The mission represents ULA’s 160th overall and the 45th and final flight for the Delta family of rockets as the manufacturer transitions to its Vulcan Centaur. Vulcan made its maiden voyage in January, carrying a Peregrine lunar lander for commercial customer Astrobotic.

“The Delta legacy will live on through Vulcan,” said Gary Wentz, vice president of government and commercial programs for ULA. “We also take this moment to celebrate the thousands of men and women who made the Delta program such a success over the decades. We carry their lessons and wisdom with us into the future.”

ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. It produces the Delta and Atlas families of rockets, primarily for U.S. government use. Delta IV Heavy is the third-highest capacity launch vehicle in operation, behind NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.

The Mission

Friday’s mission, NROL-70, is on behalf of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which develops and operates spy satellites to collect intelligence and support disaster relief and humanitarian efforts. NROL-70 is ULA’s 35th mission for the NRO and 99th for U.S. national security.

The mission’s payload is classified. But it is possibly intended to give the U.S. more eyes and ears in the stars, which could be used to listen into communications or radio transmissions, for example. Delta IV Heavy is the only rocket in the world that meets all of the requirements to perform the mission, according to ULA.

“The NROL-70 mission will strengthen the NRO’s ability to provide a wide range of timely intelligence information to national decision makers, warfighters, and intelligence analysts to protect the nation’s vital interests and support humanitarian efforts worldwide,” ULA said on its website.

The 235-foot-tall spacecraft will lift off from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral as early as 1:37 p.m. EDT Friday. On ascent, the rocket looks as if it is catching fire, but this is by design, as hydrogen gas used to cool it down before takeoff ignites and burns off. The process is mitigated by a staggered engine ignition, which reduces the amount of hydrogen burned.

First stage separation is expected to occur about five minutes into the mission, followed by the ignition of the main engine and jettisoning of the payload fairing. The spacecraft’s route and final destination are classified.

The Machine

Over six decades, Delta rockets have launched 388 times. About two-thirds of those launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the base for Friday’s mission. Delta IV rockets have successfully launched 44 times, carrying payloads on behalf of the NRO, NASA, Air Force, and Space Force.

Delta IV comes in three configurations: Medium+, with either two or four solid rocket motors, and Heavy. Each vehicle consists of a common booster core, upper stage, and payload fairing.

Delta IV Heavy features three common booster core tanks, which power a RS-68A engine system built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. RS-68A is the largest hydrogen-burning engine in existence, according to ULA. The engines burn cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, each delivering about 700,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.

Atop the booster is a Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS), or upper stage, which is also fueled by cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It is powered by a single RL10C-2-1 engine, also produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne, that produces nearly 25,000 pounds of thrust. The DCSS avionics system provides guidance and flight control for the booster.

Encapsulating the spacecraft is a payload fairing: a three-piece shell designed to shield cargo from the launch and ascent. The payload fairing can be installed off pad, improving safety and minimizing the use of launch facilities.

The History

Incredibly, the Delta family of systems has been in use since 1960. Initiated by NASA in the late 1950s, the program is derived from the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was later modified into a space launch vehicle.

The inaugural Delta launch in 1960 was unsuccessful. But it paved the way for Delta rockets to launch the world’s first Telstar and Intelsat communications satellites, birthing the phrase, “Live, via satellite!” The launch vehicles also carried NASA’s Pioneer and Explorer scientific spacecraft and delivered the first weather observatory, the Tiros and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), to space, revolutionizing weather forecasting.

Over the years, ULA updated Delta rockets to make them larger, more advanced, and more durable. The company installed larger first stage tanks, strap-on solid rocket boosters, and advanced electronics and guidance systems, increased the rocket’s propellant capacity, upgraded the main engine, and developed upper stage and satellite payload systems.

The earliest Delta models stood about 90 feet tall, with a mass of 112,000 pounds. Today, Delta IV Heavy towers 235 feet high and weighs 1.6 million pounds at launch. Liftoff thrust, meanwhile, has skyrocketed from 150,000 pounds in 1960 to 2.1 million pounds.

Later Delta models would help usher in the GPS era by sending constellations of navigation satellites into orbit. Delta II launched four dozen satellites over two decades, and Delta IV launched seven.

Delta II—which made its final flight in 2018—completed eight NASA missions to Mars, including the delivery of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, over the course of 155 flights. It also flew missions to Mercury and visited asteroids, moons, and comets within the solar system.

Delta II has launched probes that “touched the sun,” uncovered exoplanets deep in the Milky Way, and scanned large swaths of the universe using infrared vision. In 2014, it launched the first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion capsule, which will ferry astronauts around the moon and back during the Artemis II mission in 2025.

By 2002, Boeing had developed Delta IV for the Space Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. That year, the rocket made its debut flight carrying a Eutelsat 33B, its only commercial payload to date. It delivered its first Air Force payload the following year. In 2007, ULA launched the first operational Delta IV Heavy, sending a Space Force Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite into orbit.

The Legacy

Fifteen flights later, Delta IV Heavy is set to become the final Delta rocket to be retired. In addition, ULA has 17 remaining launches for Atlas V, the country’s longest-serving active rocket. Atlas V is cheaper to launch than its counterpart, but it uses Russian-made rather than American-made engines.

Once Delta IV and Atlas V are off the manifest, ULA will transition all launches to Vulcan, which is less expensive than both predecessors. Like previous ULA launch systems, Vulcan is expendable. It was designed primarily for the National Security Space Launch program, as well as for commercial launches such as January’s mission. Customers include Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which placed an order for 38 launches.

ULA will need to compete with the likes of SpaceX, which in 2023 launched more satellites than any other company. SpaceX in 2010 debuted its reusable Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which undercut Delta IV’s price tag. Delta IV, Falcon 9, and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, introduced in 2018, are all under contract with the Pentagon to launch expensive military satellites in the coming years.

In addition, SpaceX has an agreement with the Space Force to take over the vacant Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, which hosted Delta IV launches until 2022. The company may further look to acquire room at Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral, where ULA will launch Friday barring any hiccups.

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The FAA has allowed a Texas drone company an exemption that will allow the commercial use of “drone swarms” in agriculture.

Hylio asked for the exemption to help it make drone aerial application economically viable. Under drone rules, a commercial drone has to have a remote pilot and spotter, but the exemption allows the same crew to run as many as three drones at once and spray almost as quickly as a tractor can.

Each drone carries 15 gallons of spray and the downwash from the eight rotors ensures good coverage. Proprietary software allows them to operate autonomously and fly a variety of patterns.

At about $80,000 each, the drones are much less expensive than the large tractors used in industrial farming operations, use a fraction of the energy and don’t compact the soil.

Of course, Hylio is already looking at other uses for the tripled-up drones. As individual aircraft, the drones have been used for everything from seeding wildfire areas to seeding pods with clams for aquatic farmers and are expected to bring similar efficiencies.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on AVweb.

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