LiquidPiston Rotary X-Engine Offers Compact UAV Power Aviation Week Military and other operators prefer using kerosene, rather than gasoline, across ground and air platforms, but lightweight, reliable heavy-fuel engines for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) have proved challenging to develop. LiquidPiston, a startup ...
This lightweight drone uses biomimetics technology to glide, soar and flutter with total aerial mastery. You control Bionic Bird from your smartphone, using the on-screen controls to send it through impressive maneuvers at up to 20 km per hour.
A series of test firings like this one in late August brought a group of engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, a big step closer to their goal of a 100-percent 3-D printed rocket engine, said Andrew Hanks, test lead for the additively manufactured demonstration engine project. The main combustion chamber, fuel turbopump, fuel injector, valves and other components used in the tests were of the team's new design, and all major engine components except the main combustion chamber were 3-D printed. (NASA/MSFC)
