Aviation News

April 17, 2025

Top Headlines

Apr. 16, 2025 — A recently created RoboBee is now outfitted with its most reliable landing gear to date, inspired by one of nature's most graceful landers: the crane fly. The team has given their flying robot a set of long, jointed legs that help ease its ...

Holiday Flights Could Carry Fewer Passengers as World Warms

Apr. 16, 2025 — By the 2060s, some airports with shorter runways may need to reduce their maximum take-off weight by the equivalent of approximately 10 passengers per flight during summer ...

Hopping Gives This Tiny Robot a Leg Up

Apr. 9, 2025 — A hopping, insect-sized robot can jump over gaps or obstacles, traverse rough, slippery, or slanted surfaces, and perform aerial acrobatic maneuvers, while using a fraction of the energy required for flying ...

Household Electricity Three Times More Expensive Than Upcoming 'Eco-Friendly' Aviation E-Fuels, Study Reveals

Mar. 23, 2025 — Existing tax policies during the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources will lead to major energy injustices and skewed priorities, new research ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:06pm EDT

Rapid Response to Address Critical Aging Aircraft Issue

Mar. 18, 2025 — Scientists worked to ensure fleet safety after a large crack was unexpectedly found near the cockpit of a T-38 Talon. A new study describes how risk and damage tolerance analyses helped determine a ...

Nanoscale Tweaks Help Alloy Withstand High-Speed Impacts

Mar. 5, 2025 — Engineers devised a new method for designing metals and alloys that can withstand extreme impacts, which could lead to the development of automobiles, aircraft and armor that can better endure ...

Lunar Trailblazer Blasts Off to Map Water on the Moon

Feb. 25, 2025 — On Wednesday 26 February, a thermal imaging camera blasted off to the Moon as part of NASA's Lunar Trailblazer mission. This aims to map sources of water on the Moon to shed light on the lunar water ...

Student Refines 100-Year-Old Math Problem, Expanding Wind Energy Possibilities

Feb. 26, 2025 — An engineering student refined a century-old math problem into a simpler, more elegant form, making it easier to use and explore. Divya Tyagi's work ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 someday be used to pollinate fruits and ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 of a typhoon. This kind of device, called a ...

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 ...