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Unmanned aircraft for polar science, such as the Meridian (shown during a test flight in Antarctica), are less expensive and safer to operate than ordinary airplanes.
Courtesy of University of Kansas Aerospace Engineering Flight Test Team

To study hard-to-reach places, scientists in Antarctica are relying on remote-controlled planes, including those from the hobby shop

A multinational, robotic [...]

The X-51 WaveRider is designed to fly longer hypersonically than all of its predecessors combined. Credit: Pratt & Whitney

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is gearing up for the first of four planned test flights of a hypersonic aircraft designed to operate for much longer durations and cover far greater distances than previous platforms of [...]

A novel acoustic system could enable small aircraft, which often go unnoticed by one another, avoid midair collisions

ACOUSTIC VECTOR SENSOR: AVS uses nanoscale materials to alert pilots to other aircraft within about 10 kilometers. The heart of AVS is a one-millimeter-wide, two-millimeter-long and 300-micrometer-thick anemometer (which measures wind speed) that is smaller than a match [...]

NASA continues to stay ahead of the government pack when it comes to public outreach. In addition to its many popular Twitter streams, iPhone apps and opportunities for citizens to participate in scientific programs, the agency is jumping into the e-book space.

For space geeks looking for a little e-reading this weekend, NASA recently added an e-book section [...]

NASA's UAVSAR airborne radar will create 3-D maps of earthquake faults over wide swaths of Haiti (red shaded area) and the Dominican Republic (yellow shaded area). (Credit: NASA)

ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2010) — In response to the disaster in Haiti on Jan. 12, NASA has added a series of science overflights of earthquake faults in Haiti [...]

Swiss scientist-adventurer and pilot Bertrand Piccard is pictured unveiling the 'Solar Impulse' airplane during a ceremony in June last year, in Duebendorf, near Zurich. 51-year-old Piccard plans to fly his 'Solar Impulse' around the world over 20 to 25 days, traveling at an average of 70 kilometres (43 miles) an hour.  (AFP/File/Fabrice Coffrini)

ABU DHABI (AFP) [...]

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2010) — Unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs deployed on landscape analysis missions carry optical measuring equipment that is required to operate free of chromatic aberration. Researchers have now designed an all-reflective zoom objective with deformable mirrors.

Novel zoom objective with deformable mirrors. (Credit: Image courtesy of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft)
An small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) circles above [...]

A California company hopes to sell a build-it-yourself kit by 2011

It is safe to bet that a flying motorcycle will never be a practical transportation option, but that has not stopped Samson Motorworks, a small engineering firm in northern California's Sierra Nevada foothills, from playing the long odds.

SWITCHBLADE
© SAMSON MOTORWORKS
The company is building a [...]

The rear fuselage of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy's 747SP is illuminated during telescope testing operations in preparation for aircraft and science checkout flights. The telescope cavity door is open with the lower flexible door partially extended. (Credit: NASA photo by Tom Tschida)

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2009) — A NASA jumbo jet that will help [...]

Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger aircraft has successfully completed its first test flight in the US.

The three-hour flight started from Everett, north of Seattle, and the plane landed at Boeing Field, just south of Seattle.
The 787 project had been delayed by two-and-a-half years following a series of hitches, including design problems.
Boeing has pegged its hopes [...]