Important Innovations Collection

The X Plane: X-57 Maxwell Source:  NASA Experimental High Performance Plane  NASA has developed a fully electric  plane, the X-57 Maxwell.  It has twelve small motors and two cruise motors, all on its wings. The aircraft is experimental  but it's performance is outstanding.  NASA has optimized it for high performance cruising.  X-57 is powered by two 400 pound lithium-ion battery packs in the plane's cabin.  The battery packs contain 23 kilowatt hours of power.  This is NASA's first piloted X-Plane in 20 years. Cost Saving, Green Electric Flying The X-57 is a research platform for NASA to develop and optimize e-flying technology.  NASA says  the X-57 provides a 500% increase in high speed cruising  efficiency.  The propulsion system saves $165 per hour compared to a combusion engine.  And, it cuts the hourly operating cost of  energy from 45% to 9%. Test Flight The X-5...

US Air Force's X-37B Spaceplane Successfully Lands After Record Orbit The US Air Force announced that its top secret, experimental spaceplane - the X-37B - just successfully landed at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in FL after a record flight. The spaceplane has been more than two years - 780 days - in orbital flight.  This is its longest test mission for a group of military technologies.  The X-37B is an experimental, test spaceship.  It was built by Boeing, is operated by the US Air Force and was launched into its latest mission aboard a SpaceX rocket. Clandestine Missions This is the spaceplane's 5th mission.  What the missions have entailed are for the most part a mystery.  They are top secret missions.  But we do know the purpose is to demonstrate new technologies, such as propulsion systems, avionics and spacecraft reentry systems for what the Air Force hopes will be a "reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform".  The vehicle will r...

DARPA's Experimental Satellite Now in Orbit Source:  Rocket Lab's Launch of DARPA Satellite New Zealand's Rocket Lab The Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency - DARPA - just launched an experimental satellite that it hopes will open new possibilities around radio communications. A New Zealand based startup Rocket Lab performed the successful launch, its first for DARPA. Experimental Satellite Testing The satellite is designed to test out a new type of "membrane reflective-array antenna".  The purpose is to improve communications in small spacecraft. Electron Rocket Lab is a new comer in the space launch business, starting in 2013.  Its rocket Electron lifted off from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula. The company is building an impressive portfolio. In November 2018, Rocket Lab put six customer satellites into orbit.  It then worked with NASA on a first of a kind mission called the Venture Class Launch Services program.  And now, its Elec...