The Guardian (UK) reports that in late September “the first fixed-wing passenger electric passenger aircraft took off from Grant County international airport in the US state of Washington.” The nine-seater charter plane – known as Alice – “soared to 1,000 metres (3,500 feet) for eight minutes.” Less than two months later “Northern Territory Air Services, a scheduled airline and charter operator, put in an order to bring 20 of the aircraft to Australia with plans to fly passengers from Darwin to Uluru and Mount Isa.” It’s a small sign “that the winds may be changing for zero-emissions aviation in Australia, one of the most flight-dependent countries in the world.” Until recently there was “no industry body making the case for change and even the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which operates the largest air fleet in the country and has traditionally been a hotbed of innovation, has no plans to acquire or develop electric aircraft.” Yet away from the spotlight, “a small crop of startups and aviation companies have been working on electric flight.”
Full Story (The Guardian)
Tag: Set to Fly
SLS Set to Fly Soon
TIME reported that NASA engineers are confident they can fix the Space Launch System’s loose collet issue in time for the launch windows in late August and early September. The mission “involves the SLS flying an Orion crew vehicle first into Earth orbit and then on a long looping trajectory that will see it fly around the moon at altitudes ranging from just 100 km (62 mi.) to 70,000 km (43,000 mi.). The Orion capsule will then return to Earth, slamming into the atmosphere at about 32,000 km/hr (20,000 mph) and sustaining temperatures of up to 2,700ºC (nearly 5,000ºF) on its heat shield, before splashing down in the Pacific off the San Diego coast.”
Full Story (TIME)