Category Archives: Science and Technology

Sci-Tech: Lilium Jet electric VTOL vehicle makes first demo flights

The German startup company Lilium has now flown the first full-scale prototype of their electric-powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft called the Lilium Jet:

They explain what they mean by electric jet as follows:

The electric jet engines work like turbofan jet engines in a regular passenger jet. They suck in air, compress it and push it out the back. However, the compressor fan in the front is not turned by a gas turbine, but by a high performance electric motor. Therefore, they run much quieter and completely emission-free.

The vehicle will have a range of 300 km (186 miles) at 300km/hour. The goal is to fly in 2019 “the first fully functional jet”, which can carry up to five passengers. The key target market is dial-up taxi service by early 2020s.

The current design of the production vehicle looks like this:

Announcement about the prototype test flights:

Lilium celebrates successful flight tests and introduces 5-seater VTOL jet

We have incredibly exciting news to share. The Lilium Jet successfully completed its maiden test flight series in the skies above Bavaria. The 2-seater Eagle prototype executed a range of complex maneuvers, including its signature mid-air transition from hover mode to wing-borne forward flight.

Seeing the Lilium Jet take to the sky and performing sophisticated maneuvers with apparent ease is testament to the skill and perseverance of our amazing team. We have solved some of the toughest engineering challenges in aviation to get to this point. The successful test flight programme shows that our ground-breaking technical design works exactly as we envisioned. We can now turn our focus to designing a 5-seater production aircraft.

We are now developing a larger, 5-seater version of our Lilium Jet, designed for on-demand air taxi and ridesharing services. A typical journey with the Lilium Jet will be at least 5x faster than by car, with even greater efficiencies in busy cities. So a flight from Manhattan to New York’s JFK Airport will take around 5 minutes, compared to the 55 minutes it would take you by car.

Please make sure you read more about Lilium’s mission and technology.

As well as making great progress in the air, we’ve also updated our Lilium brand. Enjoy our new website, we hope you like it!

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A couple of articles about Lilium:

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Sci-tech: Volocopter 2X – Two person VTOL multicopter going into production

It appears the first multi-copter-style VTOL vehicle to come to market will be the Volocopter from e-volo of Germany:

World premiere of the Volocopter series model 2X
The flying taxi is just about to be launched onto the market

Friedrichshafen, Germany in April 2017. The German start-up e-volo is celebrating the world premiere of the first series model of a passenger multicopter on April 5 – 8, 2017 at Europe’s largest general aviation trade fair AERO in Friedrichshafen. After six years of development e-volo is presenting the Volocopter 2X, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft powered purely by electricity and capable of carrying 2 passengers.

In addition to the failure tolerance due to the Volocopter’s redundancy concept and its ability to fly emission-free, the low-noise operation marks another important advantage over other VTOL aircraft.

The 2X is the consequent evolution of the VC200 prototype towards everyday use. Its battery replacement system allows for a quick swap and makes it ready for operation within a few minutes. The 2X also leaves a very attractive optic impression. The sporty design includes a delicate rotor plane and a cockpit that comfortably seats 2 adults. Glazed doors and upholstered leather seats are some of the optional extras that will also be offered.

The Volocopter 2X has been developed for approval as an ultralight aircraft and should receive “Multicopter” type certification that shall be created under the new German UL category in 2018. Anyone with a Sport Pilot License (SPL) for multicopter will be able to fly the Volocopter 2X, which is quite simple and extremely safe thanks to its automatic height and position control.

With granting of the type certificate, series production of the 2X is set to start for the German air sports market. Until then, several pre-series models shall be used for test flights and demonstrations.

The Volocopter 2X has not only been designed as a sport aircraft but also as a demonstrator for future urban mobility systems. By 2018, the first Volocopter 2X models with special permit are set to be used as flying taxis in pilot projects. The technology also allows for remote controlled and even autonomous flights. For the first flying taxi pilot projects, e-volo assumes the Volocopter 2X will still be pilot-controlled due to the currently applicable regulations. Initially, remote-controlled or autonomous taxi flights can be carried out unmanned as necessary.

For the future, e-volo is striving to obtain a commercial registration for the Volocopter, which allows for transportation of passengers as commercial taxi flights. The development of a 4-seater Volocopter with international approval (EASA/FAA) is one of the next planned steps in the development of e-volo.

Development history of the Volocopters 

April 2017 

e-volo celebrates world premiere of the first series model of a passenger multicopter. The 2X is the consequent evolution of the VC200 prototype towards everyday use. Its battery replacement system makes it ready for operation again in only a few minutes. The sporty design includes a delicate rotor plane and a cockpit that comfortably seats 2 adults.

March 2016 

On March 30th, 2016, the premiere of manned flights with the world’s first certified Multicopter, e-volo’s Volocopter VC200, marks a step forward in urban mobility.

The Volocopter VC200 received the ‘permit-to-fly’ as an ultralight aircraft from German aviation authorities in February 2016. In the context of the commenced test program, e-volo has started to conduct manned flights.

November 2013 

The unmanned maiden flight of the VC200 as well as the first test flights are successfully completed in the dm-arena in Karlsruhe. Following several indoor-flights of several minutes’ duration with a number of gentle starts and landings, all the expectations upon the Volocopter are exceeded.

January 2013 

The innovative concept of the electric VTOL aircraft was able to so convince the German Federal Ministry of Transport that it resolves upon a trialing scheme spanning a period of several years for the creation of a new aviation category for the Volocopter.

The DULV (The German Ultralight Association) is commissioned with drafting a manufacturing specification, operating regulations and the training scheme for the future pilots in cooperation with e-volo.

October 2011 

Manned first flight with an electric multicopter writes aviation history.

The Volocopter inventors succeed in performing the world’s first manned flight with an electric multicopter. The flight with the VC1 lasts precisely 90 seconds. The global media response overwhelms the team of inventors but already provides an indication of the economic potential of the Volocopter. Inquiries and application ideas from all round the world reaffirm the e-volo team in its undertaking to develop an aircraft that is eligible for approval.

Technical description of the Volocopter 

The Volocopter is made of fiber composite material in light-weight design. In addition to cruise flights, it can also take-off and land vertically as well as hover in the air. The Volocopter runs on an all-electric propulsion system. The electric motors of its 18 rotors are powered by 9 independent batteries. The Volocopter achieves a system-wide high degree of reliability by redundancy. This principle is used in all system components that are essential for safe flight operations. The necessary thrust required to provide buoyancy is achieved through several independently driven rotors, each with two fixed blades. Unlike a helicopter, the blade angle on the Volocopter cannot be adjusted. The amount of thrust produced depends solely on the rotation speed of the different rotors.

Appropriate combination of the torques around the vertical axis (yaw), which are produced by the speed differences of the different rotors, and perpendicular to it (roll and pitch), as well as alterations in the total thrust produced by all the rotors enable the Volocopter to maneuver in all three rotational degrees of freedom (pitch, roll, and yaw), whereas the fixed setup of the rotors allows for translational movement (vertical, “up/down”). In combination with the position angle, the Volocopter is able to make flight movements in all six rotational and translational degrees of freedom as well as indirect horizontal movements (“forwards/backwards” and “rightwards/leftwards”).

In the Volocopter with its 18 rotors that have a fixed blade angle, its multi-redundant flight control system ensures precise altitude control and positioning stability. It is actually even much more stable than conventional aircraft. The Volocopter adheres to the pilot’s input and compensates for external effects independently. This makes flying it much easier, and the pilot can control the Volocopter safely, even in adverse environmental conditions.

The flight control system comprises of several completely independent units. Each flight control unit contains a complete set of positioning sensors that consist of pressure gauges, gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers for all three spatial axes. Each individual flight control unit is able to completely control the Volocopter. The Volocopter is operated with one hand using a joystick. The pilot intuitively controls all flight axes through rotational movements of the joystick’s axes. Climb and descent commands are given through an altitude control thumb button. In order to land, the pilot only needs to press and hold the button down until the Volocopter is on the ground. Once it nears the ground, the control system automatically slows down the Volocopter to ensure a gentle landing.

Design specifications

 

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Sci-Tech: Origami-inspired robot + Vertical farming + Terrafugia update

** Origami-inspired Robot Can Hitch a Ride with a Rover – A NASA JPL team has developed an adaptable little robot whose design was inspired by origami:

Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robots, or PUFFER, is a small, origami-inspired robotic technology under development to provide a low-volume, low-cost mission enhancement for accessing new science from extreme terrains that are of high interest to future NASA missions. A “pop-up” robot that folds into a small, smartphone-sized weight and volume, PUFFER’s compact design means numerous robots can be packed into a larger “parent” craft at a low payload cost, then deployed on a planet’s surface individually to increase surface mobility.

** “This Farm of the Future Uses No Soil and 95% Less Water” – Vertical farms

As urban populations continue to rise, innovators are looking beyond traditional farming as a way to feed everyone while having less impact on our land and water resources. Vertical farming is one solution that’s been implemented around the world. Vertical farms produce crops in stacked layers, often in controlled environments such as those built by  AeroFarms in Newark, New Jersey.

AeroFarms grows a variety of leafy salad greens using a process called “aeroponics,” which relies on air and mist. AeroFarms’ crops are grown entirely indoors using a reusable cloth medium made from recycled plastics. In the absence of sun exposure, the company uses LED lights that expose plants to only certain types of spectrum. AeroFarms claims it uses 95% less water than a traditional farm thanks to its specially designed root misting system. And it is now building out a new 70,000 square foot facility in a former steel mill. Once completed, it’s expected to grow 2 million pounds of greens per year, making it the largest indoor vertical farm in the world.

Combine this with fusion power and there will be endless abundance of fresh food.

** FAA Approves Flight Testing of Terrafugia’s Flying Car – They make a step forward but it’s still a long ways before Terrafugia‘s vertical takeoff and landing TF-X goes on the market:

The Transition®, on the other hand, is expected to go on sale in 2019. Here is their long term flying car strategy: Making Flying Cars Practical: The Terrafugia Master Plan

Sci-Tech: Boston Dynamic’s “Handle” robot uses two legs with wheels for max mobility

More video from Boston Dynamics of their amazing two-wheeled bi-ped robot: Boston Dynamics’ New Rolling, Leaping Robot Is an Evolutionary Marvel | WIRED (See also this earlier posting.)

Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ ​feet vertically. ​It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ​​​Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles​ found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex. Wheels are efficient on flat surfaces while legs can go almost anywhere: by combining wheels and legs Handle can have the best of both worlds.