Emission free flying a step closer after Chinese plasma jet breakthrough
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When it comes to the future of flight there are all kinds of new propulsion systems under development, and plasma jets show alot of promise. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Todays aircraft fly by consuming huge amounts...
Futurist in the press: Coronavirus and the future of air travel, Business Standard
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As Covid takes a wrecking ball through the global airline industry we take a look at what happens next and its impact on global travel. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Firstly, thank you to Sai at Business...
Featured Futurist: The Future of Air Travel 2050, Netflights
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The world of aviation and travel is changing, it’s getting faster, more autonomous, more entertaining, more personalised, and more sustainable for starters. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Firstly, thank you to Yolanda and the team at Netflights...
Commercial supersonic flights get nearer after NASA green lights X-59 build
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Commercial supersonic flights ended last century after Concorde was cancelled, but Lockheed and NASA wants to bring it back and they’ve created a new X-Plane to do it. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Concorde, the world’s first...
World’s first fully pilotless commercial aircraft takes off from France
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Everyone tells us aircraft can fly by themselves, now they really can, and this is just the first step of that transition. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. We’ve all heard and read about the arrival of autonomous...
Skies beckon as NASA takes delivery of it’s first all electric X-Plane
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Big improvements in the energy density of batteries mean that all electric aircraft are now becoming a possibility. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Anyone who’s anyone in the aviation industry, from Airbus and Boeing to Rolls Royce,...
Hypersonic flight a step closer after revolutionary British hypersonic engine aces tests
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of flight isn’t just supersonic, it’s hypersonic, and a new British hypersonic engine just aced its tests bringing it a step closer to commercial flight. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Hypersonic planes, like the stunning...
NASA’s revolutionary metamaterial “morphing” wing mimics birds wings
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Aircraft wings are subject to different conditions during flight, but until now rigid wings weren’t optimal for any of them. A team of researchers led by NASA and MIT in the US have come up with a radical new aeroplane wing design that is...
Autonomous planes, hypersonic jets and flying cars, Boeing unveils its future
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF One day aircraft will be fully autonomous, but getting there is a journey of many steps and this is one of them, and Boeing is placing its bets. Everything it seems these days is going autonomous, from cars, trains and trucks, to giant cargo ships...
Boeing unveil their stunning hypersonic space plane concept
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The future of transportation is fast, very fast, and companies are once again getting serious about building commercial hypersonic aircraft. It’s a vision of the future that could someday jet people from the Los Angeles to Tokyo in just three hours or cut the...
Lockheed Martin goes full throttle to develop NASA’s quiet supersonic jet
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Regulators don’t like noisy supersonic aircraft flying over land, so Lockheed and NASA have teamed up to create a quiet supersonic aircraft. One of the reasons why the iconic Concorde was mothballed was because it was too noisy when travelling at supersonic speeds, so...
The world’s first silent, engineless aircraft takes flight at MIT
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF This new type of engine, an ion engine, could one day be a useful propulsion system for drones and small aircraft but a lot of work remains to be done. Since the first airplane took flight over 100 years ago, virtually every aircraft in...
Emirates boss says future aircraft will be windowless
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Windows on airplanes add upto 50 percent to the weight of the aircraft, and reduce their structural integrity, so people want to get rid of them. Would you want to fly eight hours or more on an airplane with no windows? Absolutely you would I...
Record breaking solar powered aircraft stays aloft for 26 days straight
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The aviation industry is one of the world’s biggest polluters so companies around the world are trying to find new ways to power aircraft. Recently I talked about SolarStratos, a company that’s looking to produce “the world’s first commercial solar aircraft,” and a couple...
Featured Futurist, TV Interview: The Future of Aviation 2020 to 2070, APEX Insider
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The pace of change is accelerating, and new technologies are re-writing the narrative for many industries, including aviation. In the coming decades the aviation industry will, arguably, see more change than it has in the past century, whether it’s because of the introduction of...
A powerful battery breakthrough from MIT could usher in electric planes
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The airline industry is one of the world’s heaviest polluters and it’s getting worse as air travel increases, electric aircraft will reverse that trend. Over the past year or so I’ve been discussing the eventual emergence of fully electric aircraft and sky taxis, such...
BAE is developing a “wearable” cockpit for fighter jets
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Aircraft cockpits haven’t changed much in decades, and digitising them opens up a host of new opportunities. BAE Systems has announced that it’s looking to make the fighter jet cockpit of tomorrow a much simpler place for pilots by replacing conventional instruments and controls...
China tests its cutting edge hypersonic aircraft that “rides its own shockwaves”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF China, Russia and the US are engaged in a race to create the next generation of hypersonic weapons, and the race is accelerating. Over the past year China has announced it’s developed the world’s first quantum radar system, that neutralises US stealth, the first...
Rolls Royce is building cockroach like robots and snakes to fix airplane engines
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future we’ll see more maintenance jobs performed by robots of all sizes. Typically engineers want to get bugs out of their creations but that’s not the case for Rolls Royce, the engineering company who are building everything from autonomous cargo ships and...
Futurist in the press: Exclusive interview with Richard Branson, Metro newspaper
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Richard Branson is one of the most iconic entrepreneurs of all time but sometimes you’ve got to give the critics fuel in order to create the future. I have to admit I do sometimes have to sit back and pinch myself, after all, it...
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