Aviation News

February 24, 2025

Top Headlines

One in Four Chance Per Year That Rocket Junk Will Enter Busy Airspace

Feb. 5, 2025 — There's a 26 per cent annual chance that space rocket junk will re-enter the atmosphere and pass through a busy flight area, according to a recent study. While the chance of debris hitting an aircraft is very low, the research highlights that the ...

AI-Driven Performance Prediction Model to Advance Space Electric Propulsion Technology?

Feb. 4, 2025 — A research team presents an AI assessor for Hall-effect ion thrusters, the engines of satellites and space ...

Engineers Help Multirobot Systems Stay in the Safety Zone

Feb. 3, 2025 — Engineers developed a training method for multiagent systems, such as large numbers of drones, that can guarantee their safe operation in crowded ...

Bat Wings Boost Hovering Efficiency

Jan. 30, 2025 — Researchers have designed flexible, bat-like wings that boost lift and improve flight performance. This innovation could lead to more efficient drones or energy-harvesting ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:08pm EST

Fully 3D-Printed Electrospray Engine

Feb. 14, 2025 — Researchers demonstrated the first fully 3D-printed, droplet-emitting electrospray engine. The low-cost device can be fabricated more quickly than traditional thrusters, potentially from on board a ...

Researchers Discover New Way to Store Hydrogen Using Lignin Jet Fuel

Jan. 27, 2025 — An international team of scientists has discovered a way to store and release volatile hydrogen using lignin-based jet fuel that could open new pathways for sustainable energy production. In a new ...

Team Makes Sustainable Aviation Fuel Additive from Recycled Polystyrene

Jan. 13, 2025 — A new study overcomes a key obstacle to switching commercial aircraft from their near-total reliance on fossil fuels to more sustainable aviation fuels. The study details a cost-effective method for ...

This Fast and Agile Robotic Insect Could Someday Aid in Mechanical Pollination

Jan. 15, 2025 — New insect-scale microrobots can fly more than 100 times longer than previous versions. The new bots, also significantly faster and more agile, could ...

Research May Boost Next-Generation Space Rockets

Jan. 3, 2025 — Hidden patterns in electric propulsion plasma beams could help ensure the success of long-term space ...

Wind Sensing by Biomimetic Flexible Flapping Wing With Strain Sensors

Dec. 26, 2024 — Bio-inspired wind sensing using strain sensors on flexible wings could revolutionize robotic flight control strategy. Researchers have developed a method to detect wind direction with 99% accuracy ...

Building Better Infrared Sensors

Jan. 2, 2025 — Researchers developed a type of infrared photodiode that is 35% more responsive at 1.55 m, the key wavelength for telecommunications, compared to other germanium-based ...

First Results from 2021 Rocket Launch Shed Light on Aurora's Birth

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientist have begun to reveal the particle-level processes that create the type of auroras that dance rapidly across the sky. The Kinetic-scale Energy and momentum Transport experiment -- KiNET-X -- ...

Researchers Demonstrate High Accuracy of Observation Device That Can Be Dropped Into Typhoon Without Parachute

Dec. 17, 2024 — Researchers have demonstrated the high accuracy of their newly developed typhoon observation device that can be dropped from an aircraft into the eye ...

Travelers Weigh in on Weight-Based Airfares for Eco-Friendly Skies

Dec. 17, 2024 — The holidays are in full swing and people are shopping, wrapping and packing to visit loved ones. Along with the extra fees for checked baggage and seat upgrades, some airlines are also considering ...

Bird-Inspired Drone Can Jump for Take-Off

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers have built a drone that can walk, hop, and jump into flight with the aid of birdlike legs, greatly expanding the range of potential environments accessible to unmanned aerial ...

Tapping Excess Heat from a Camp Stove for Charging Power

Nov. 20, 2024 — New research may make it possible to keep electronic devices powered with another piece of equipment you're likely to bring with you while exploring the great outdoors: camping stoves. The work ...

Researchers Are Making Jet Engines Fit for the Hydrogen Age

Nov. 8, 2024 — Hydrogen-powered planes are set to take wing around the world in the future. To make this possible, engineers have to develop the jet engines that will power them. Experiments by researchers are now ...

Fueling Greener Aviation With Hydrogen

Nov. 1, 2024 — Despite ongoing efforts to curb CO2 emissions with electric and hybrid vehicles, other forms of transportation remain significant contributors of greenhouse gases. To address this issue, old ...

Bird Wings Inspire New Approach to Flight Safety

Oct. 28, 2024 — Engineers found a way to help airplanes avoid stall with lightweight plastic flaps that flutter with pressure changes. The flaps mimick a class of feathers that are key to birds' most daring ...

Engineers Unveil AI Model for Predicting, Controlling Pandemic Spread

Oct. 24, 2024 — A team of engineers has published a study on how international air travel has influenced the spread of COVID-19, finding Western Europe, the Middle East and North America as leading regions in ...

Researchers Develop New Coatings to Boost Turbine Engine Efficiency

Oct. 23, 2024 — A multidisciplinary research group has formulated new protective coatings to allow turbine engines to run hotter -- with potential dividends for the environment and ...

NASA Reveals Prototype Telescope for Gravitational Wave Observatory

Oct. 22, 2024 — NASA has revealed the first look at a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational ...

Study Uncovers How Silkworm Moth's Odor Detection May Improve Robotics

Oct. 15, 2024 — Researchers explore how the domesticated flightless silkworm moth (Bombyx mori), a prominent insect model in olfactory research, uses wing flapping to manipulate airflow, enhancing their ability to ...

deepSPACE Design Tool Takes a Concept to a Multitude of Configurations

Oct. 2, 2024 — deepSPACE isn't a futuristic film, a new videogame or the next season of a classic TV series. In fact, the new design software developed by an aerospace engineer isn't about outer space at ...

Who Lives in the Treetops? DNA-Collecting Drone Provides Insights

Sep. 26, 2024 — Squinting into the treetops won't reveal the tiny organisms up there. But these creatures leave clues, in the form of DNA, on the leaves and branches. Now, researchers report that they have ...

New Continuous Reaction Process Can Help Turn Plant Waste Into Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Sep. 26, 2024 — Scientists successfully tested a new way to produce sustainable jet fuel from lignin-based agricultural waste. The team's research demonstrated a continuous process that directly converts lignin ...

Contrail Avoidance Is Less Likely to Damage Climate by Mistake Than Previously Thought, Study Finds

Sep. 16, 2024 — A new study allays fears that rerouting flights to avoid forming climate-warming contrails could result in inadvertently making climate warming ...

Study on Planet-Warming Contrails 'a Spanner in the Works' for Aviation Industry

Aug. 7, 2024 — Modern commercial aircraft flying at high altitudes create longer-lived planet-warming contrails than older aircraft, a new study has ...

Climate Change Will Bring More Turbulence to Flights in the Northern Hemisphere, Study Finds

July 25, 2024 — A type of invisible, unpredictable air turbulence is expected to occur more frequently in the Northern Hemisphere as the climate warms. Known as clear air turbulence, the phenomenon also increased in ...

Hydrogen Flight Looks Ready for Take-Off With New Advances

July 11, 2024 — The possibility of hydrogen-powered flight means greater opportunities for fossil-free travel, and the technological advances to make this happen are moving fast. New studies show that almost all air ...

Engine Wear Risk as Planes Swallow More Dust Waiting to Land

July 8, 2024 — Planes flying into one of the world's busiest airports are ingesting around 10kg of dust per 1,000 ...

Light-Controlled Artificial Maple Seeds Could Monitor the Environment Even in Hard-to-Reach Locations

June 27, 2024 — Researchers have developed a tiny robot replicating the aerial dance of falling maple seeds. In the future, this robot could be used for real-time environmental monitoring or delivery of small ...

Pushing an Information Engine to Its Limits

June 6, 2024 — The molecules that make up the matter around us are in constant motion. What if we could harness that energy and put it to use? Over 150 years ago Maxwell theorized that if molecules' motion ...

Best of Both Worlds: Innovative Positioning System Enhances Versatility and Accuracy of Drone-Viewpoint Mixed Reality Applications

June 5, 2024 — Researchers have developed an innovative positioning system that enhances the versatility and accuracy of drone-viewpoint mixed reality (MR) applications by aligning real and virtual world ...