Hermeus’s first of a kind Chimera engine switches from supersonic to hypersonic
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF So far noone has cracked the ability to switch an engine from supersonic to hypersonic. That’s now solved. Let the hypersonic era commence! Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, ...
Jetopera’s bladeless eVTOL aircraft targets 0.8 Mach
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Bladeless VTOL aircraft make a lot more sense than prop based ones, but getting the technology right is very hard. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my...
Rolls Royce successfully runs a converted aircraft engine on Hydrogen
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If you want to decarbonise air travel then you need new, or modified engines, that can run on new fuels like Hydrogen. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch...
China’s hybrid supersonic weapon flies like a missile and swims like a torpedo
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF China is developing technology that goes beyond the bleeding edge and most of their latest weapons are hybrid mixtures of forms and formats which should put their enemies on alert. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential...
Open fan engine prototype helps Airbus cut 20 percent of aircraft emissions
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Airbus is exploring the technologies of the past and future to help it create zero emissions aircraft and this latest engine prototype helps save 20% of emissions. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, subscribe to the podcast, future proof yourself with courses...
Airbus uses the giant A380 to test its first prototype Hydrogen jet engines
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Hydrogen fuel is seen as the aviation industries only route to true zero emissions flight, and Airbus are leading the way. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, subscribe to the podcast, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential...
This new silent drone flies using ionic propulsion and nothing but ionised air
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If you think planes need fuel to fly then ionic propulsion will make you think again … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A while...
Worlds first oblique detention engine could unlock Mach 17 aircraft
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF In the future everything is fast, really really fast … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. The future seems full of planes, trains, and even submarines, that can travel at supersonic or...
First of a kind satellite attempts to maintain low earth orbit without any propellant
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Satellites need fuel to maintain their orbits, and when that runs out they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Fuel-less satellites could theoretically stay in orbit forever. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my...
Revolutionary rocket that eats itself for fuel gets UK government funding
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF The cost of buying, storing, and using rocket fuel makes up a significant percentage of the cost of launching rockets, this could change the economics of the whole industry making space access even cheaper. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof...
DARPA selects Gryphon to build world’s first ever nuclear rocket engine
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s combustion engine rockets are cheap-ish but not that efficient so the race is on to develop new and better power systems. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from our XPotential Academy, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. A little while...
Prototype zero emission jet engine generates thrust using nothing but air and electricity
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Aircraft today burn huge amounts of fossil fuels that pollute the world, this latest breakthrough would make them zero emissions. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from our XPotential Academy, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Today’s planes fly by burning...
A US startup just built a giant centrifuge to fling rockets into space
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Companies are trying to lower the cost of accessing space, and flinging rockets into space could make space travel ridiculously cheap. Interested in the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. All manner of companies are experimenting with all manner of ways to...
A DNA motor to power future nanomachines just set a world speed record
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to do things at the nanoscale, such as create molecular assemblers, means we need to be able to move things at the nanoscale. Interested in the Exponential Future? Connect, download a free E-Book, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Today we’re building lots of nanoscale...
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...
Revolutionary air breathing rocket engine gets green light for tests
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Rockets are traditionally fuelled using LOX which is expensive, toxic, and prone to blowing up, but now the world’s first air breathing rocket engine is ready for tests. Interested in the future and want to experience even more?! eXplore More. The world of supersonic and...
Pentagon demands satellites that can dodge incoming fire like an NBA all star
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Once satellites are in orbit they stay there, in the same position until they run out of fuel, then they fall back to Earth, but as the militarisation of space hots up satellites need to be able to move. In the event of a...
Plasma jet engines get ready for real world trials
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Plasma engines are the stuff of science fiction, and now it looks like they’re ready to come out of the labs and push new limits. Imagine a jet engine that could propel an aircraft faster than a traditional engine and take it all the...
NASA’s possible-impossible plasma engine roars into life
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF It’s inevitable that humanity will one day become an interstellar species and engines like these might be the ones to get us there, wherever “there” is. Franklin Chang-Díaz bounds up a handful of stairs and looks through a porthole cut into the side of...
Leaked NASA documents show impossible EmDrive might work
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Scientists have demonstrated that an impossible space drive that doesn’t need fuel and that defies physics might actually work, if true then it opens up new possibilities for space exploration. An experimental propulsion system that seems to violate the laws of physics may actually...
