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NASA Unveils How We’ll Get to Mars and Explore Deep Space.

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An illustration of the missions leading up to a manned mission to Mars. NASA.

NASA’s been in a slump lately. The International Space Station (ISS) is going to be retired somewhere in 2024-2028. It doesn’t even have a rocket right now to send anything up there, anyway. Not after retiring the space shuttle. The agency has been concentrating for six years on developing its new Space Launch System (SLS), to run missions to other parts of our solar system. You can argue that the SLS will be worth the wait. These will be the most powerful, heavy rockets NASA’s ever built.

Of course, there is a planned mission to land humans on Mars by 2033. But that’s far off, and the details have been fuzzy. That’s why space heads stood up and took notice recently, when NASA’s chief of human spaceflight, Bill Gerstenmaier, gave a presentation. Gerstenmaier revealed to the agency’s advisory council tentative plans for a lunar space station.

As part of its NextSTEP program, NASA has employed six companies to help it design the next generation of stations and vehicles. Boeing just announced its contribution—the Deep Space Gateway lunar station. Now NASA’s vision is starting to become clearer.

At the agency’s presentation, Gerstenmaier outlined plans to build and launch the station, which will allow Deep Space Transport (DST) craft to dock, aiding them in longer range missions, including to Mars. NASA’s press release called the station a place that “offers a true deep space environment,” for humans to get acclimated.

Deep Space Gateway will allow for more lunar missions as well, including robotic ones. The advantage is, if something goes wrong, crew members can try and make it back home again, a luxury not afforded to those headed for Mars.

Boeing Deep Space Gateway. Boeing.

Though there aren’t any hard dates yet, NASA plans to stagger missions, sending off one each year. It wants to work out how to coordinate the SLS, Orion, and the International Space Station (ISS), to support missions farther afield. Later on, they plan to set up a permanent installation in cislunar orbit (or near the moon).

The lunar station will be much smaller than the ISS, consisting of a power bus, a small habitat for the crew, a docking station, airlock, one research module, and one logistics one. For propulsion, they plan to use high power electric engines, a technology NASA itself has developed. This way, the station can position itself in one of a number of different orbits around the moon.

NASA is currently creating SLS and Orion spacecraft for the first two missions. Exploration Mission 1 (EM–1) should take place sometime next year. This will be a crewless journey. On other fronts, propulsion and habitation for the lunar station are in development. On board the ISS, life support systems and “related technologies,” are being tested.

From 2023 to 2026, NASA plans to send up pieces of and assemble the gateway. These missions will include four astronauts and should last between eight and 21 days. By the end of the 2020s, a one year mission will commence, to test systems required to travel to Mars, and elsewhere.

They’ll run experiments in the vicinity of the moon, in order to “build confidence that long-duration, distant human missions can be safely conducted with independence from Earth.” That’s according to a statement on NASA’s website. Not only is the agency starting to build up infrastructure, they foresee challenges both technical and human. This space station will help develop strategies to overcome them.

How well can humans live in deep space? That isn’t really something that’s ever been tested. Astronauts and later colonists will need to endure long journeys aboard a Deep Space Transport (DST) craft, also being developed by Boeing. Somewhere around 2029, NASA plans to send astronauts aboard one of these, for a total of 300-400 days, somewhere near our moon.

Boeing Deep Space Transit (DST) Vehicle. Boeing.  

The long-term goal is reusable craft that can ferry people to places such as Mars, return to the gateway, refuel, get serviced, and go back out again. SpaceX recently proved it possible to reuse rockets, in yet another successful landing, this time including a redeployment. Reusability will soon become the mainstay of space exploration, which brings the cost down exponentially.

This isn’t only a US mission. Besides private companies, other countries can lend a hand. Partners may offer hardware or “supplemental resources.” We’ve just dipped our toes in outer space’s vast waters, as a species, and had a few jaunts into the shallow end. Spreading out and really exploring the solar system is a feat beyond anything humanity has ever done.

These efforts could ultimately open up space to commercial ventures. And the time is nigh. The world will soon be running out of the precious minerals needed for consumer electronics. Space if full of them. In fact, it’s been predicted that asteroid mining will bear the world’s first trillionaire.

Source:http://bigthink.com

Boeing just unveiled its slick new ‘Starliner’ spacesuit

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For the new generation of NASA astronauts.

NASA isn’t thrilled about having to pay Russia billions of dollars to launch US astronauts on Russian rockets inside of Russian spacesuits. But that’s the current spaceflight pickle the space agency finds itself in; there’s really no other option unless you’re China.

However, two aerospace companies – SpaceX and Boeing – are working hard to fulfil contracts for NASA to build and launch astronauts to low-Earth orbit as soon as 2018 (a delay of about three years). SpaceX is working on its Dragon spacecraft while Boeing is developing and testing its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft.

To that end, on Wednesday, Boeing for the first time publicly unveiled a crucial new piece of its Starliner system: a spacesuit to protect the next generation of astronauts as they launch toward the International Space Station, and eventually more exotic destinations like an asteroid, or even Mars.

Behind the new suit is former astronaut Chris Ferguson, director of Boeing’s Starliner Crew and Mission Systems program, and lead designer Shane Jacobs.

“Astronauts had formerly had these relatively bulky, heavy suits with thick neck rings. And we learned throughout the years that maybe we didn’t need that,” Ferguson said in a Boeing promotional video.

“We’ve simplified the suit. It’s lightweight.”

Typical space shuttle suits weighed about 33 lbs (15 kilograms), while Boeing’s new suit weighs about 12 lbs (5.4 kilograms) – roughly a few Macbook laptops’ worth of mass.

The suit, according to Boeing, is also much cooler than typical spacesuits. Below the shoulder material, for example, is a mesh that allows passive airflow to the suit.

 “You can pretty much lay there without any external cooling. It’s that comfortable,” Ferguson said.

The suit also features a helmet that comes on and off with a large zipper, and smaller and less bulky gloves (which, yes, are made with material that allows them to interact with touchscreens).

Here are some of the first public views of Boeing’s new spacesuit.

This is the new CST-100 Starliner spacesuit that was designed and built by Boeing:

this-is-the-new-cst-100-starliner-spacesuit-that-was-designed-and-built-by-boeingBoeing

Here’s former astronaut Chris Ferguson, one of its designers, wearing the device. The gloves are compatible with touch screens.

heres-former-astronaut-chris-ferguson-one-of-its-designers-wearing-the-device-the-gloves-are-compatible-with-touch-screensBoeing

The helmet is attached with a thick, air-tight zipper – no heavy or bulky neck ring required. NASA astronaut Eric Boe is the guy in the suit.

the-helmet-is-attached-with-a-thick-air-tight-zipper--no-heavy-or-bulky-neck-ring-required-nasa-astronaut-eric-boe-is-the-guy-in-the-suitNASA Kennedy/Flickr

NASA astronaut Suni Williams wears the usual ‘Snoopy cap’ communications systems, which go under the Starliner’s helmet:

nasa-astronaut-suni-williams-wears-the-usual-snoopy-cap-communications-systems-which-go-under-the-starliners-helmetNASA Kennedy/Flickr

Here’s the helmet fully zipped up. (That’s Ferguson again.)

heres-the-helmet-fully-zipped-up-thats-ferguson-againBoeing

Boe is being strapped into a prototype of the CST-100 Starliner space capsule:

boe-is-being-strapped-into-a-prototype-of-the-cst-100-starliner-space-capsuleBoeing

A Boeing worker works with Boe during a test:

a-boeing-worker-works-with-boe-during-a-testNASA Kennedy/Flickr

The CST-100 Starliner spacecraft will eventually carry up to seven astronauts:

the-cst-100-starliner-spacecraft-will-eventually-carry-up-to-seven-astronautsNASA Kennedy/Flickr

Boe shows off the rest of the suit, including the booties:

boe-shows-off-the-rest-of-the-suit-including-the-booties-1NASA Kennedy/Flickr

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

This Hyperloop firm has yet to attempt a test run – but it’s already working on the app

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Its rival, Hyperloop One, may have stolen a march in testing, but Hyperloop Transportation Technologies’ preparations for high-speed travel include advanced consumer software.

hyperloop.jpg
A depiction of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies’ supersonic travel system.

In a 2013 proposal, Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk outlined a Hyperloop transport system that would cut the journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco to 35 minutes.

Transport pods would carry passengers or vehicles through low-pressure tubes at speeds of up to 760mph, or 1,220kph, with Musk envisaging “air bearings” to keep the pods suspended at high speeds, and deployable wheels for low speeds.

Private companies are now working on bringing the Hyperloop concept to market, and Musk started an ongoing Hyperloop design competition last year.

But Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, one of two private companies working to bring the Hyperloop concept to reality, has also decided to allocate resources to developing consumer travel software, even though it has yet to execute a successful testrun of its Hyperloop system.

Elon Musk's Hyperloop: Here's the Dutch team with designs on supersonic train concept

Engineers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands are taking tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Hyperloop travel idea very seriously.

The Hyperloop Passenger App, the working title of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies’ software platform, will form the backbone of a suite of travel applications in a forthcoming Hyperloop Marketplace.

This marketplace will comprise a collection of local and international travel-service applications, such as on-demand car services and airline companies, which will be packaged in Docker containers.

“What we’re building is the infrastructure, where you’ll be able to say, ‘I want to go here’. And then it’s connected to the vault of providers,” Hyperloop Transportation Technologies CEO Dirk Ahlborn told an audience at last month’s Amsterdam Next Web Conference Europe.

He says passengers will be able to easily install and deploy these Dockerized apps, which contain all the code needed to run themselves regardless of the operating environment, into the main passenger app.

There is no release date yet for the Hyperloop Passenger App, but the company says when it does launch, in-app advertising will provide it and the marketplace’s participants with a revenue stream.

While other travel applications exist, such as Hipmunk and Kayak, the Hyperloop Marketplace app will be a high-bandwidth computing application that will be able to receive and process millions of events per second, according to Ahlborn. He sees it as a way to enhance the entire consumer travel experience.

Despite its ambitions to reinvent the consumer travel service industry, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies appears to be making slower progress on its Hyperloop design than its main competitor, Hyperloop One.

While Hyperloop Transportation Technologies plans to build a full-scale Hyperloop test track in California’s Quay Valley, with construction starting later this year, Hyperloop One already held a public testrun of its Hyperloop system in Nevada in May.

Nevertheless, Ahlborn insists his company is not on the losing team. He founded Hyperloop Transportation Technologies in 2014 when around 100 early contributors completed a Hyperloop feasibility study, each working a minimum of 10 hours per week in exchange for stock options. Today, more than 520 people and 40 companies contribute to Ahlborn’s company.

Russia taps Hyperloop for domestic transport

A proposed project to bring Musk’s Hyperloop to Russia would cost between $12 and $13 billion.

“Those are not just guys working in a checkroom. They’re people working at Apple, NASA, SpaceX, Boeing, dedicating their time to making this happen,” he says.

Still, Ahlborn seems equally focused on the Hyperloop Marketplace. On July 6, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies will host an international hackathon, called the Digital Innovation Challenge, at Bratislava International Airport in Slovakia. The main purpose of the hackathon is to deliver new applications to the Hyperloop Marketplace.

The hackathon’s organizer, Austria-based software company Catalysts, is developing the platform for the Hyperloop Marketplace, which is based on proprietary technology that can process about one million events per second in near real time, using only 700W of power.

By attracting companies like Catalysts to the Hyperloop Marketplace, Ahlborn hopes to nurture a pool of technological knowledge that is better than the sum of its parts.

“We don’t really believe that we’re the best. We believe that if we create an ecosystem, this ecosystem will actually innovate,” Ahlborn says.

Boeing just patented a system to get electricity from the roar of a jet engine

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Because why not?

When you hear of scientific innovations at airports, they’re usually trying to offset the environmental cost of such a necessary and long-haul mode of transportation. Airports and air travel are traditionally loud, expensive, and not too kind on the world we live in, but Boeing’s latest idea, according to a recently filed patent, wants to give something back: it floats the idea of harvesting energy from the sound of planes taking off.

As you can see from the patent itself, the idea is founded on a series of “acoustic wave collectors” mounted along the sides of the runway, much like runway lights; as the succession of aeroplanes take off, these collectors turn the sound waves into usable energy. Such a system could be used to light up a runway, for example, or to power the security scanners in a nearby terminal.

“It is well recognised that airports are generate a great deal of noise during aircraft take-offs and landings,” writes inventor and Boeing engineer Chin Toh. “This acoustic energy is left to dissipate and represents a lost energy resource. Heretofore, there has been no way to recycle the acoustic energy generated by aircraft during take-offs and landings. Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system to harvest the free acoustic energies available at airport runways for electricity generation.”

Here’s how it works: the sound waves coming into the acoustic collectors are directed to an acoustic converter assembly. The vibrating element inside moves in response to the roar of the jets, drawing air into the housing underneath and then forcing it outwards – this outward flow is put to work powering a turbine and electricity is produced at the other end.

What we don’t know is just how efficient or powerful such a system would be. As Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan from Gizmodo points out, the energy that can be harvested from sound waves represents only a fraction of the potential of solar power. Even noise that sounds deafening to us doesn’t have that much inherent energy inside it, which is why scientists have tended to focus on other sources of renewable energy up to this point.

That’s not to say that acoustic sound collection doesn’t have potential though, particularly when that sound causes vibrations in the surrounding environment. “It’s perfectly conceivable to absorb [those vibrations] and glean useable energy,” writes David Cohen-Tanugi, vice president of the MIT Energy Club. “You’re not going to power a city with it, but you can power small devices.”

As with any patent, this only represents part of Boeing’s thinking and future planning – the idea might never become practically viable or might change in scope and design along the way – but if there is a way to utilise the energy coming from the sound of your aeroplane taking off, Boeing’s engineers are doing their best to find it.

​Droning on forever? Boeing patents UAV that could fly indefinitely, recharge in mid-air — RT News

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Still from YouTube video/PatentYogi

As drone technology continues to advance, Boeing has raised the bar even higher. The aerospace giant has received a patent for a UAV that could fly forever – recharging in mid-air via a tether attached to the ground.

The patent – filed in March 2013 and approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office last week – could revolutionize unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as we know them, foregoing the need to refuel or recharge on land.

According to the patent, the electrically-powered drone would have a retractable tether cable that would connect to a power source. When the drone was fully charged, it would automatically fly off to continue its task, and another UAV could then take its place at the charging station.

The drone could be connected to a number of sources, including land- and sea-based power supplies. It could even be connected to moving vehicles, allowing the drone to fly while charging.

The concept could be extremely beneficial for drone delivery services, or for those which need to stay airborne for an extended time due to long-term experiments, monitoring or travel, GeekWire reported. It could also completely do away with landing gear, which can be heavy and burdensome for drones.

 

Boeing has so far given no indication on whether it actually plans to build the drones.

An increasing number of companies are currently testing drones, indicating that widespread usage could be just around the corner.

As was reported last week, NASA and Verizon are investing in new technology that would use already existing cell phone towers to monitor civilian and commercial drones.

In April, Amazon was granted the authority totest delivery drones in the US. The e-commerce giant hopes to revolutionize delivery services with the technology. That same month, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the testing of UAVs by three insurance giants: AIG, State Farm and USAA.

The FAA has already come under fire for its alleged lack of privacy protections in its initial set of drone regulations. In April, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a suit against the agency, asking a federal appeals court to review its decision.

At present, the FAA prohibits commercial drone operators from flying drones beyond their line of sight, and restricts their use to daylight hours. Drones must weight a maximum of 55 pounds, stay below 500 feet in the air, and fly less than 100 miles per hour. A drone operator must also pass an aeronautics test.

Boeing 787s Can Lose Control While Flying Due To Software Bug

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A warning has been issued by the FAA regarding the software glitch in the system of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner — This glitch can abruptly shut-off all electrical power of the plane during mid-air causing the flyers to lose control of the flight.

Federal Aviation Administration/FAA revealed that the internal electrical supply system of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner has a software glitch. This can potentially cause pilots to lose control of the flight in mid-air. FAA officials stated:

“WE ARE ISSUING THIS AD [AIRWORTHINESS DIRECTIVE] TO PREVENT LOSS OF ALL AC ELECTRICAL POWER, WHICH COULD RESULT IN LOSS OF CONTROL OF THE AEROPLANE.”

The glitch was identified during laboratory tests involving the aircraft’s electrical generators’ dipping into a fail safe mode after passage of every 248 days/eight months.

After supplying continuous power for as many days, all four main generator control units of the plane will fail simultaneously. If this happens while the flight is in mid-air, taking-off or landing, it can result into a disaster.

BOEING SHUTS ITS PLANES DOWN AS PART OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE

Boeing thankfully has come up with a temporary solution for periodically halting the power systems.

According to the manufacturer’s records, all the jets in the fleet have been routinely tested for power-off and turning back on operations therefore, no imminent danger of plane losing power should be expected. Boeing, nonetheless, is working to fix the bug.

Helicopters or Airplanes.

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In the wake of the unsuccessful Iran hostage-rescue attempt in 1980, when three of eight helicopters failed and crippled the mission, military planners came to a realization: The U.S. fleet was in desperate need of an aircraft that could combine the speed and range of a jet with the vertical lift of a helicopter. In response, they designed the tilt-rotor V-22 Osprey. The V-22 can carry two dozen troops 1,000 nautical miles at speeds around 250 miles an hour. It is one of the most versatile craft in the U.S. Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) fleet, which includes helicopters and jump jets. It is also the youngest: The V-22 represents the last major addition to the VTOL arsenal in more than 20 years.

As modern warfare evolves to include more lightning-fast, covert strikes similar to the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound, VTOL is once again a priority for U.S. military planners. Two programs launched this year could improve the speed, range, and hover efficiency of VTOL aircraft: In March, the Army launched a program that officially began accepting designs for technology that could be used in next-generation rotorcraft. Sikorsky and Boeing filed a joint proposal based on Sikorsky’s X2 rotor and propeller system; Bell Helicopter, the co-developer of the V-22, submitted an updated tilt-rotor; and European aerospace giant EADS put forth a design likely based on Eurocopter’s experimental X3. And in February, DARPA announced a $130 million VTOL X-Plane program that asks aerospace engineers to propose entirely new approaches to VTOL—a fixed wing, a rotary wing, or maybe something in between.

With top speeds of more than 250 mph, improved VTOL aircraft could increase military reach, shorten travel time for combat troops, and deliver personnel and cargo virtually anywhere, regardless of terrain. While the precise designs will remain secret for a while—both the Army and DARPA programs plan to fly demonstrations by 2017—they will likely draw from three existing technologies, as illustrated on the next page. After 24 years without significant innovation, VTOL is flying high once more.

F-16 jet takes off with empty cockpit

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Boeing has revealed that it has retrofitted retired fighter jets to turn them into drones.

It said that one of the Lockheed Martin F-16 made a first flight with an empty cockpit last week.

Two US Air Force pilots controlled the plane from the ground as it flew from a Florida base to the Gulf of Mexico.

Boeing suggested that the innovation could ultimately be used to help train pilots, providing an adversary they could practise firing on.

The jet – which had previously sat mothballed at an Arizona site for 15 years – flew at an altitude of 40,000ft (12.2km) and a speed of Mach 1.47 (1,119mph/1,800km/h).

It carried out a series of manoeuvres including a barrel roll and a “split S” – a move in which the aircraft turns upside down before making a half loop so that it flies the right-way-up in the opposite direction. This can be used in combat to evade missile lock-ons.

Boeing said the unmanned F16 was followed by two chase planes to ensure it stayed in sight, and also contained equipment that would have allowed it to self-destruct if necessary.

The firm added that the flight attained 7Gs of acceleration but was capable of carrying out manoeuvres at 9Gs – something that might cause physical problems for a pilot.

“It flew great, everything worked great, [it] made a beautiful landing – probably one of the best landings I’ve ever seen,” said Paul Cejas, the project’s chief engineer.

Lt Col Ryan Inman, Commander of the US Air Force’s 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, also had praise for how the test had gone.

QF-16 jet
The jet flew over the Gulf of Mexico on the test carried out on 19 September

“It was a little different to see it without anyone in it, but it was a great flight all the way around,” he said.

Boeing said that it had a total of six modified F-16s, which have been renamed QF-16s, and that the US military now planned to use some of them in live fire tests.

However, a spokesman for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots warned of the temptation to use them in warfare.

“I’m very concerned these could be used to target people on the ground,” said Prof Noel Sharkey.

“I’m particularly worried about the high speed at which they can travel because they might not be able to distinguish their targets very clearly.

“There is every reason to believe that these so-called ‘targets’ could become a test bed for drone warfare, moving us closer and closer to automated killing.”

Boeing uses potatoes instead of people to test wi-fi.

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_64896854_potatoUS planemaker Boeing used an unusual substitute for passengers to test its in-flight wi-fi system – potatoes.

Passenger seats on a decommissioned plane were loaded with huge sacks of the tubers for several days as signal strengths were checked.

The company’s researchers say that potatoes “interact” with electronic signals in a similar way to humans.

The technique also took advantage of the fact that spuds – unlike humans – never get bored.

Boeing’s engineers did a number of tests to ensure that passengers would get the strongest possible wi-fi signal while in the air, all while meeting safety standards that protect against interference with an aircraft’s electrical systems.

Wireless signals fluctuate randomly in the enclosed space of an aeroplane cabin as people move about.

This means that signal distribution is uneven throughout the cabin, with weaker and stronger connectivity in different seats.

“You want your laptop to work anywhere it’s located on your seat, [but] there can be significant signal changes just due to the location of the laptop,” said Boeing engineer Dennis Lewis.

To test the signal distribution, the firm turned to spuds instead of human test subjects, filling the seats with 20,000lbs (9,000kg) of potatoes in sacks.

According to Boeing, potatoes’ “interactions” with electronic signals mimic those of a human body, making them “the perfect stand-in for people who would otherwise have had to sit motionless for days while the data was gathered”.

The UK Potato Council said many people underestimated the humble potato’s alternative uses.

“[The examples are] in paper and ink manufacturing, potato starch is used in clothing to strengthen the fibres so they don’t break during weaving, and for sweetening – glucose can be extracted from potato starch,” said the council’s spokeswoman.

“For beauty and sores – potatoes have calming, decongestant and astringent properties and raw potatoes can calm tired eyes, potato as alcohol, and potatoes can produce electricity.”

Frederic Rosseneu of the European Potato Trade Association Europatat said the organisation was “looking forward to other experiments in which spuds can help to make our lives more convenient”.

Source:BBC

 

 

Airbus details Smarter Skies vision for planes in 2050.

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Aeroplanes that take-off and prepare to land at much sharper angles than they do at present are among Airbus‘ latest industry forecasts.

The European jet-maker made the predictions in its Smarter Skies vision for air travel in 2050.

The firm said the moves could minimise noise, reduce fuel emissions and potentially shorten flight times.

It added that shorter runways could be used, helping reduce the amount of space airports need.

That marks a contrast with the firm’s recent launch of the A380 “sumperjumbo” which – along with Boeing‘s older 747 design – stretches minimum runway length requirements in the opposite direction.

Airbus suggested a propelled platform with its own set of wheels placed beneath the aeroplane’s fuselage could help boost its acceleration before detaching just before take-off.

It said this would make a steeper climb possible, and in turn allow jets to reach cruise altitude in less time.

At the other end of the journey it suggested planes could glide towards airports using a steeper approach than is common at present as an alternative to the use of engine thrust and air brakes.

It said this could slow aircraft at an earlier stage, making shorter landing distances possible.

“As space becomes a premium and mega-cities become a reality, this approach could… minimise land use, as shorter runways could be utilised,” it added.

One analyst agreed that environmental pressures were likely to lead to change, but questioned whether Airbus’ vision would prove true.

Airbus suggests that flying in formation could cut air drag and thus boost fuel efficiency

“Shorter runways would certainly require some more radical – and likely expensive – technological developments,” said John Strickland, from JLS Consultancy.

“We have new larger aircraft like the Airbus A80 and smaller like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. They offer longer range but that in itself tends to reduce opportunities for shorter take offs.

“I’d tend to be a bit sceptical of whether we will actually see this development as envisioned.”

Other suggestions made in the Smarter Skies document included:

  • The use of software to select routes that make the best use of weather conditions to cut fuel use.
  • Planes flying in formation to take advantage of reduced drag making them more energy efficient.
  • The use of biofuels, solar power and hydrogen as alternative sources of power.

 

  • Source: BBC.