Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Whisper Aero Ultraquiet Electric Aviation
Whisper Aero's amazing 55-lb. ISR drone has a single top-mounted 10-lb.-thrust electric ducted fan.
But Whisper’s ambitions go far beyond powering small drones, to encompass air taxis and transonic aircraft and even consumer and industrial applications from leaf blowers to compressors. “This is going to touch everything that wants to move air quietly and efficiently,” says co-founder and CEO Mark Moore.“We’ve flown a drone that weighed 55 lb. but for another customer we’re looking at vehicles in the tens of thousands of pounds, with propulsion systems in the thousands of pounds and able to exceed the current capability of other solutions like propellers and even turbofans,” says Chief Engineer Devon Jedamski. “We’ve already been paid by the government to see how this scales up and show that this can achieve up to transonic speeds for newer applications.”
Electric aviation is getting started with propellers and rotors because the speeds are modest and noise, efficiency and time-to-market are priorities. “Electric aircraft developers are in a race to get things flying and certified as quickly as possible. That’s great, but they are in the Model T era of electric flight,” says Moore, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of the Uber Elevate aerial ride-sharing initiative.
(Via aviationweek)
The earliest reference in science fiction to the idea of an electric airplane is the electric plane from Synthetic, a short story by Charles Cloukey published by Amazing Stories in 1930:
(Electric plane from 'Synthetic' by Charles Cloukey)A white electric plane approached at great speed, high above the course. It flipped over on one wing, turned, dove, and passed over the cabin-plane where the other members of our party had been watching the race through the binocular telescopes...
(Read more about the electric plane)
And I can't resist this earlier reference to a whisper quiet method of flight than "whisper mode" from Blue Thunder (1983):
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 4/23/2023)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")
MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.' - Nat Schachner, 1937.
Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.' - Paul Ernst, 1936.
US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.' - Iain Banks, 1987.
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...' - Jack Williamson, 1942.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC)
'And here they began to build...'
China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.'
MAI-Voice-2 Microsoft Text-To-Speech
'I made disks of my own voice to the number of five hundred very carefully chosen words.'
Tumblin' Tumbleweed Rovers To Eplore Mars
'His sensors out and working, and the whirring of the tape that sucked up sight and sound and shape and smell and form...'
Tentacled Robot Captures Space Debris
Preventing annoying space debris build-up.
Prufrock-MB2 Ready In Nashville
'It sounds to me as though you had invented a kind of metal earthworm.'
DIY Robotic Content Farming
'The chief wheeled to the master machine and pressed a button.'
Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
The Amazing Lightfoot Electric Scooter With Solar Assist
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
Fully Electric, Fully Automated Vegetable‑growing Agribots
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
Vero Robotic Dog With Vacuum Cleaner Feet
'Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted.'
AI Operates An Excavator
'So far as I could see, the thing was without a directing Martian at all.'
US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
Boy Makes Biomimetic Turtle Robot
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
