An electric flying taxi has been tested. Free Technical Library News

NEWS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, NOVELTY IN ELECTRONICS
Free technical library / timeline

Electric flying taxi tested

21.04.2017

Startup Lilium from Munich announced the successful test flights over Germany of a prototype vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft Lilium Jet - a compact version of the future "flying taxi". VTOL has the capabilities of a helicopter in terms of take-off without a large runway, but after take-off it is able to achieve higher fixed-wing speeds - like an airplane.

The Bavarian company, whose investors include Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, said the prototype would create a five-seat vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that could be used as an urban air taxi and for commuting.

During flight testing, the two-seat prototype Lilium Jet performed a number of complex maneuvers, including the transition in the air from hover mode (like a drone) to horizontal flight "on wings".

The main advantage of the future "air taxi" Lilium is the use of only renewable electrical energy. Many VTOL technology developers choose to rely on hybrid propulsion to get around some of the design and performance issues that come with an electric propulsion. The flight range of the Lilium Jet on a single battery charge is 300 km, the maximum speed is 300 km/h.

Lilium was founded in 2015 by four graduates of the Technical University of Munich. In 2016, it managed to raise 10,6 million euros in investments from venture capital firm Atomico Partners, led by Zennström, and investment company e42.

<< Back: Penicillin causes behavioral changes 21.04.2017

>> Forward: Cafe with waiter drones 20.04.2017

Latest news of science and technology, new electronics:

The existence of an entropy rule for quantum entanglement has been proven 09.05.2024

Quantum mechanics continues to amaze us with its mysterious phenomena and unexpected discoveries. Recently, Bartosz Regula from the RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing and Ludovico Lamy from the University of Amsterdam presented a new discovery that concerns quantum entanglement and its relation to entropy. Quantum entanglement plays an important role in modern quantum information science and technology. However, the complexity of its structure makes understanding and managing it challenging. Regulus and Lamy's discovery shows that quantum entanglement follows an entropy rule similar to that for classical systems. This discovery opens new perspectives in the field of quantum information science and technology, deepening our understanding of quantum entanglement and its connection to thermodynamics. The results of the study indicate the possibility of reversibility of entanglement transformations, which could greatly simplify their use in various quantum technologies. Opening a new rule ... >>

Mini air conditioner Sony Reon Pocket 5 09.05.2024

Summer is a time for relaxation and travel, but often the heat can turn this time into an unbearable torment. Meet a new product from Sony - the Reon Pocket 5 mini-air conditioner, which promises to make summer more comfortable for its users. Sony has introduced a unique device - the Reon Pocket 5 mini-conditioner, which provides body cooling on hot days. With it, users can enjoy coolness anytime, anywhere by simply wearing it around their neck. This mini air conditioner is equipped with automatic adjustment of operating modes, as well as temperature and humidity sensors. Thanks to innovative technologies, Reon Pocket 5 adjusts its operation depending on the user's activity and environmental conditions. Users can easily adjust the temperature using a dedicated mobile app connected via Bluetooth. Additionally, specially designed T-shirts and shorts are available for convenience, to which a mini air conditioner can be attached. The device can oh ... >>

Energy from space for Starship 08.05.2024

Producing solar energy in space is becoming more feasible with the advent of new technologies and the development of space programs. The head of the startup Virtus Solis shared his vision of using SpaceX's Starship to create orbital power plants capable of powering the Earth. Startup Virtus Solis has unveiled an ambitious project to create orbital power plants using SpaceX's Starship. This idea could significantly change the field of solar energy production, making it more accessible and cheaper. The core of the startup's plan is to reduce the cost of launching satellites into space using Starship. This technological breakthrough is expected to make solar energy production in space more competitive with traditional energy sources. Virtual Solis plans to build large photovoltaic panels in orbit, using Starship to deliver the necessary equipment. However, one of the key challenges ... >>

New method for creating powerful batteries 08.05.2024

With the development of technology and the expanding use of electronics, the issue of creating efficient and safe energy sources is becoming increasingly urgent. Researchers at the University of Queensland have unveiled a new approach to creating high-power zinc-based batteries that could change the landscape of the energy industry. One of the main problems with traditional water-based rechargeable batteries was their low voltage, which limited their use in modern devices. But thanks to a new method developed by scientists, this drawback has been successfully overcome. As part of their research, scientists turned to a special organic compound - catechol. It turned out to be an important component that can improve battery stability and increase its efficiency. This approach has led to a significant increase in the voltage of zinc-ion batteries, making them more competitive. According to scientists, such batteries have several advantages. They have b ... >>

Alcohol content of warm beer 07.05.2024

Beer, as one of the most common alcoholic drinks, has its own unique taste, which can change depending on the temperature of consumption. A new study by an international team of scientists has found that beer temperature has a significant impact on the perception of alcoholic taste. The study, led by materials scientist Lei Jiang, found that at different temperatures, ethanol and water molecules form different types of clusters, which affects the perception of alcoholic taste. At low temperatures, more pyramid-like clusters form, which reduces the pungency of the "ethanol" taste and makes the drink taste less alcoholic. On the contrary, as the temperature increases, the clusters become more chain-like, resulting in a more pronounced alcoholic taste. This explains why the taste of some alcoholic drinks, such as baijiu, can change depending on temperature. The data obtained opens up new prospects for beverage manufacturers, ... >>

Random news from the Archive

Drops of quantum mechanics 03.01.2018

A team of physicists from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Barcelona, Spain, have created liquid droplets that are 100 million times smaller than ordinary water droplets and that obey the laws of strange quantum mechanics. The droplets were created at the nodes of an optical lattice-trap of laser beams, and even at such a microscopic scale, they showed all the basic properties of liquid droplets - retaining their shape and volume regardless of temperature. However, the droplets of this quantum liquid were much denser than any other liquid droplets that exist under normal conditions.

In order to create quantum liquid droplets, Spanish scientists cooled a gas consisting of potassium atoms to a temperature of -273,15 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the atoms formed a Bose-Einstein condensate, a state of matter in which all of its atoms are synchronized with each other at the quantum level, due to which the entire condensate behaves like one large atom, subject only to the laws of quantum physics.

When the researchers combined two independent condensates, they formed droplets of a quantum liquid. Scientists managed to do something similar before, the substance of these droplets was connected by the forces of electromagnetic interactions between molecules. In contrast, the droplets obtained by the Spanish scientists kept their shape due to the phenomenon of "quantum fluctuations".

Quantum fluctuations are a consequence of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, according to which quantum particles do not have strictly defined parameters. Their parameters such as energy level, position and orientation in space can only be described in terms of probability. And if we take these probabilities of the current position of quantum particles, velocities and directions of their movement, we can calculate the magnitude of their interactions, which manifests itself in the form of pressure. But the most interesting thing is that if we add up the force and the pressure vector of all quantum particles, then an unusual fact will be revealed, the particles attract each other to a greater extent than they repel each other. And it is precisely due to this attraction that they bind into droplets of a quantum liquid that can retain their shape.

Measurements carried out by scientists have shown that droplets of a quantum liquid made of potassium atoms are liquid to a greater extent than droplets of an ordinary superfluid liquid, liquid helium, for example. In terms of flow index and other basic parameters inherent in liquids, a quantum liquid outperforms any superfluid liquid by two to eight orders of magnitude, which opens up ample opportunities for physicists to conduct experiments using a quantum liquid.

However, quantum liquid droplets have some limits that limit their applications. For example, if the number of atoms in one droplet becomes more than a certain value, then the droplet collapses, and the quantum liquid turns into a gas, which tends to fill all the available space, like any other gaseous substance.

See full Archive of science and technology news, new electronics

All languages of this page

Home page | Library | Articles | Website map | Site Reviews