Last week, a 1950s Cold War spy plane — the Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady — caused hundreds of planes across the US to be grounded for an hour, and delaying hundreds more that were already airborne. The U-2, which was just minding its own business at an altitude of 60,000 feet above southern California, triggered a software bug that caused the FAA’s air traffic control system to “overload” and shut down. The backup system also failed, presumably for similar reasons. The beautiful irony is that both the plane and the air traffic control software were created by Lockheed. How did an ancient plane that has been trawling the skies for almost 60 years cause such a catastrophic failure?
Solar Impulse 2 is scheduled to take off next year and fly around the world using only the sun as an energy source. A lot of advanced engineering went into this craft, but we’re still a long way from seeing this technology generally available.
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has confirmed that it is developing the SR-72 spy plane. The successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, which was capable of Mach 3.5, the SR-72 will be a hypersonic unmanned aircraft capable of Mach 6, or just over 4,500 mph. At hypersonic speeds, the SR-72 will be able to traverse any continent in around an hour — meaning the US military can strike or surveil any location on Earth in about an hour.
Stefan Klein, an engineer for the Slovak Republic, has been working on such machines for the last 20 years. His latest concept, the Aeromobile 2.5 has some impressive specs, and seems to have little trouble getting airborne. The question that comes to mind when watching footage of the prototype is — can it stay there?
DARPA is now beginning to narrow in on a design for the XS-1, an experimental spaceplane that would allow quick, relatively inexpensive access to orbital altitudes. DARPA foresees a “one day turnaround,” or daily launches for the unmanned orbital delivery drone — and why not? With no pilot and small financial footprint, why not make daily updates to your orbital assets?
Mankind has always wanted to fly but now, having achieved that, the goal it to be able to fly indefinitely. Learning from sources as disparate as sailboats and turkey vultures, we may one day be able to keep high-performance craft aloft for huge lengths of time without requiring mid-air refueling of clunky ground tethers.
Scientists at the DoE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have struck the battery mother lode: They’ve created an all-solid lithium-sulfur battery that is cheaper, less flammable, and has four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion batteries. Beyond the obvious gains from a four-fold increase in energy density, these sulfur-based batteries could play a key role in electric vehicles and airplanes, where the flammability of lithium-ion batteries is a serious concern.
Tired of waiting for others to build his dream machine for him, German engineer Fritz Unger has constructed and tested a prototype jet-powered wingsuit. Other pioneers like, jetman Yves Rossy, have long held media attention for their liberating prone-position manflights, but have no immediate plans to attempt take-off or landing from level ground. If powered wingsuits are ever going to get into the air for sustained flight, what kinds of design might they have?
NASA has successfully demonstrated a manufacturing technique that will allow the creation of large, commercial hybrid flying wing aircraft. These planes would use half the fuel of conventional, tubular jet airliners, and would provider a quieter ride for passengers on board.
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