Skydio gave the keynote to the 2021 HotChips Conference. They have raised $340 million and are the first US Unicorn drone company. Consumer drones are still mostly a hobby because drones are difficult to fly. World changing capability gets unlocked with easy automated drones. Brian WangBrian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular …
The U.S. military launched air strikes targeting three operational and weapons storage facilities — two in Syria and one in Iraq. The US said that drone strikes were being launched from these locations at US interests in Iraq. The US used F-15 and F-16 jets for the airstrikes. There were five drone attacks over the …
Parachute assaults have been the exception, rather than the rule but paratroopers are still useful. Airborne troops are the first “boots on the ground” in any crisis. This could be major combat or humanitarian relief. A brigade of paratroopers can deploy into anywhere in the world in as little as 18 hours as part of …
Today is May the Fourth be with you day. Star Wars is usually considered a Space Opera Fantasy and not a source of accurate predictions of the future. However, there is a significant probability that day to day life could have many similarities to the worlds of Star Wars. I, Brian Wang, actually believe that …
The Perseverance Mars rover has the Ingenuity Mars helicopter drone. This solar-powered helicopter drone has a mass of 1.8 kg (4.0 lb). Ingenuity has had its third flight. It is expected to fly up to five times during its 30-day test campaign scheduled early in the rover’s mission. It will fly at altitudes ranging from …
eHang, Volocopter and Archer Aviation are each billion-dollar or multi-billion valuation companies that are racing to establish the commercial VTOL air taxi industry in the 2021-2024 timeframes. Flying super-sized drone taxis are using electric engines and should become lower cost than helicopters. Multiple engines should be safer as one or two engines could fail and …
Aviation demand is driven by economic activity, and a growing U.S. and world economy is the basis for aviation to grow over the long run. The 2020 FAA forecast calls for U.S. carrier domestic passenger growth over the next 20 years to average 2.0 percent per year. System traffic in revenue passenger miles (RPMs) is …
Zhenda Xie at Nanjing University has created cheap quantum encrypted communication between drones. Above – Quantum network and physical realization with mobile drone-based nodes. (a) A practical quantum network consists of multinode structure and should provide access for users at any time. (b) If link distance is over the Rayleigh length limit, the beam aperture …
In November, DARPA X-61A Gremlins Air Vehicle (GAV) flew for more than two hours, successfully validating all autonomous formation flying positions and safety features. Nine attempts were made at mechanical engagement of the GAVs to the docking bullet extended from a C-130 aircraft, but relative movement was more dynamic than expected and each GAV ultimately, …
The US Army is making new drones to replace the RQ-7B Shadow which will give brigade commanders’ primary day/night, reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition system. Commanders will see and understand the battlespace and gain situational awareness on the battlefield. They will takeoff like helicopters and will not need a runway. The new drones will be …
Phosphine Gas is in the atmosphere of Venus at 20 parts per billion and no non-biological path to explain the Phosphine. There are no currently known abiotic production routes in Venus’s atmosphere, clouds, surface and subsurface, or from lightning, volcanic or meteoritic delivery. It is either unknown photochemistry or geochemistry or there is some kind …