Battery powered plane gets a test flight, Elektra One. A pilot tests out a prototype battery-powered plane. "Today we have news of an all-electric airplane the Elektra One. The Elektra One is a single seater aircraft that weighs just 440lbs and relies entirely on a series of batteries for its power. The news comes from an article at Wired that reports of the plane's recent test flights in Augsburg, Germany. The airplane is designed to be energy efficient and quiet. Its propeller spins at 1,400 RPM which reduces the noise of the aircraft. PC-Aero say they are aiming to get at least 3 hours flight out of the design which translate to more than 250 miles range. When purchasing the Elektra One it will include a charging system and hangar for the €100,000 asking price. The company responsible for the aircraft also plan on making solar charging hangars available capable of providing 300 hours of flight time using renewable energy." Specifications - number of seats: 1 - maximum weight: 300 kg - wingspan: 8,6 m - wing surface : 6,4 m2 - maximum engine power: 16 KW - empty weight (without batteries): 100 kg - max. batteries: 100 kg - payload: 100 kg - max. range: over 400 km - max. endurance: over 3 hours - modern composite glass-/carbon-structure - advanced aerodynamic design - best propeller efficiency (90%) - light batteries - highly efficient electric drive - integration of new certification procedures Quieter, Greener Flight: The Elektra One plane by PC-Aero is competing to win NASA's CAFE Green Flight Challenge (there's a 1.6 million dollars prize). The goal is to create an aircraft that can "fly 200 miles in less than two hours using the energy equivalent of less than 1 gallon of gasoline per occupant. Team aircraft include those propelled by gasoline, bio-diesel, hydrogen, and electricity." The Elektra One is 100% powered by electricity, and it recently had a successful maiden flight in Germany. See also: http://cafefoundation.org/v2/gfc_main.php http://cafefoundation.org/v2/gfc_2011_teams.php
(PhysOrg.com) -- Just when it seemed that microchips couldn
(PhysOrg.com) -- The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) campus in Oak Ridge Tennessee will soon play host once again to the fastest computer in the world (barring any new sudden announcements by the Chinese). The computer, dubbed "Titan" has been commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, and is expected to achieve 20,000 trillion calculations (20 petaflops) per second.
Scientists in Germany have created new software that rapidly learns what researchers are looking for and automatically performs complex microscopy experiments.
NASA has begun testing a new multi-capability microscope on the International Space Station. It will help scientists study the effects of the space environment on physics and biology aboard the orbiting laboratory. The microscope is isolated from vibrations on the station, allowing it to obtain clear, high-resolution images. Using high-resolution magnification, scientists can examine microorganisms and individual cells of plants and animals, including humans.
There have been gloves and shavers for one-off use for a long time. In future, there will also be disposable endoscopes for minimally invasive operations on the human body. A new microcamera is what makes it possible. It is as large as a grain of salt, supplies razor-sharp pictures and can be manufactured very inexpensively.
Researchers have developed a new switching device that can route quantum bits at very high speeds along a shared network of fiber-optic cable without losing the
Researchers at Cornell University have developed an evolutionary computing algorithm called Eureqa that allows the laws of nature to be extracted from data at
Engineers at Ohio State University have invented a single lens that enables microscopic objects to be seen from nine different angles at once to create a 3D
(PhysOrg.com) -- Any fan of Star Trek knows about the joys of the holodeck. The idea of a 3D, 360-degree immersive digital environment, projected on demand, is an enticing one that has thus far been confined to the silver screen, but technologies are emerging that just may make this possible. In 2008 Physorg reported on a 3D fog display on a room-sized scale, but it could not give a 360 degree experience. New developments in this area may make this possible at some point in the future.
(PhysOrg.com) -- As conventional accelerators like CERN
YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, NY - It's man vs. machine -- for real. IBM's celebrated supercomputer Watson will square off against Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings and
Physicists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have succeeded in manipulating atoms individually in a lattice of light and arranging them in
A team of designers from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design has created a device that can produce a large scale visualization of the fluctuating
