Tag: Aurora Flight Sciences

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Boeing’s passenger air vehicle makes debut

Passenger air vehicle
Boeing’s passenger air vehicle takes flight at a testing ground in Manassas, Va. (Boeing Photo)

Boeing says it has successfully completed the first test flight of a prototype for its autonomous passenger air vehicle, which could start carrying riders as early as next year.

The test was executed on Jan. 22 at an airport in Manassas, Va., near the headquarters of Aurora Flight Sciences, the Boeing subsidiary that’s been developing the electric-powered, vertical takeoff-and-landing aircraft, also known as an eVTOL craft. Boeing NeXt, the business unit that leads Boeing’s urban air mobility efforts, is in charge of the test program.

The uncrewed flight lasted less than a minute and involved a controlled takeoff, hover and landing. The maneuvers were designed to test the prototype’s autonomous functions and ground control systems. A test dummy was strapped inside the cockpit for the ride.

Boeing said future flights will test forward, wing-borne flight, as well as the transition phase between vertical flight and forward flight. That transition is considered the most challenging mode for high-speed eVTOL aircraft.

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Solar-powered Odysseus drone will fly high in 2019

Odysseus illustration
An artist’s conception shows the Odysseus aircraft in flight. (Aurora Flight Sciences Illustration)

Aurora Flight Sciences, a pioneer in experimental flying vehicles that became a Boeing subsidiary last year, says its solar-powered, high-altitude, long-endurance Odysseus drone will take on its first flight in the spring of 2019.

Odysseus has been years in the making, part of an effort that dates back to the Daedalus Project in the 1980s, before Aurora was founded. MIT’s human-powered Daedalus plane set records in 1988 with a 72-mile flight over the Aegean Sea from Crete to Santorini. One of the leaders of that project was John Langford, who went on to become Aurora’s president and CEO.

“Aurora was founded by the idea that technology and innovation can provide powerful solutions to tough problems that affect all of humankind,” Langford said today in a news release. “Odysseus was an idea born out of Daedalus that is now a real solution to advancing the important research around climate change and other atmospheric chemistry problems.”

Aviation Week reported that Odysseus’ first flight has been scheduled to take place in Puerto Rico on April 23, 2019, the anniversary of Daedalus’ Aegean flight. The first battery-powered test craft is currently undergoing ground testing, and two more solar-powered aircraft are in the works, according to Aviation Week.

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Boeing to open autonomous flight research center

Boeing in Kendall Square
An artist’s conception shows the Kendall Square building that will house the Boeing Aerospace and Autonomy Center in Cambridge, Mass. (Perkins + Will via PRNewsfoto / Boeing)

Boeing says it’ll be moving into a 100,000-square-foot research and lab space in Cambridge, Mass., that will focus on the design and development of autonomous aircraft.

Boeing’s Aerospace and Autonomy Center will house employees from Boeing and its recently acquired subsidiary, Aurora Flight Sciences, in a new 17-floor building in Cambridge. The agreement, announced today, makes Boeing the first major tenant of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kendall Square Initiative, which includes six sites slated for housing, retail, research and development, office space and academic facilities.

“Boeing is leading the development of new autonomous vehicles and future transportation systems that will bring flight closer to home,” Greg Hyslop, Boeing’s chief technology officer, said in a news release. “By investing in this new research facility, we are creating a hub where our engineers can collaborate with other Boeing engineers and research partners around the world and leverage the Cambridge innovation ecosystem.”

MIT said Boeing is expected to occupy the new space by the end of 2020. Employees from Aurora Flight Sciences’ existing R&D center in Kendall Square will move into the new center and operate it on Boeing’s behalf.

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Boeing to buy Aurora to boost autonomous flight

eVTOL aircraft
Aurora Flight Sciences’ electric-powered, autonomous eVTOL aircraft is being developed for Uber. (Aurora Flight Sciences Photo)

Boeing says it has struck a deal to acquire Aurora Flight Sciences, a leader in the field of autonomous flight, to beef up its own capabilities on that frontier.

Aurora has been working with Uber on a new type of electric-powered autonomous aircraft that takes off and lands vertically. The Virginia-based company has reportedly worked with Google as well on that company’s hush-hush Project Skybender, which is aimed at developing high-altitude drones for long-duration flights.

Boeing, meanwhile, has been raising its profile in autonomous flight. It already owns Insitu, a company headquartered in Bingen, Wash., that specializes in unmanned aerial systems for military and civil applications. And this year, Boeing executives said they were moving forward with tests that could ultimately lead to self-flying planes.

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