September 6, 2021 - No. 69 In This Issue : Florida Tech becomes first U.S. university to own, fly an electric plane : Joby and NASA conduct flight tests for eVTOL noise analysis : Meet The British Aviation Innovators Taxiing For Zero-Emission Flight : Gentex Expands Cabin Monitoring Capabilities With the Acquisition of Guardian Optical Technologies : Swoop Aero and Iris Automation Partner to Develop BVLOS System : 3 steps towards making aviation and marine fuel cleaner : Net-zero flight put on the COP26 runway by Cambridge University accelerator : Italy probing drone firm sale to China : Emirates' airport innovations facilitate safe resumption of travel and further enhance customer experience : This New Reusable Rocket Ship Can Fly From Earth to Space Several Times a Day : 'Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space,' a docuseries on SpaceX's 1st all-civilian spaceflight, launches on Netflix Florida Tech becomes first U.S. university to own, fly an electric plane MELBOURNE, Fla. — Florida Tech is making aviation history in the U.S. The Melbourne-based university is the first college in the country to both own and fly an electric plane. They are now tasked with data for the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane, a two-seater Velis Electro, was certified in Europe, but pilot Dr. Isaac Silver, a Florida Tech alumnus and former associate dean, is the first to fly it in the U.S. “Ten years ago, when we were talking about this, I thought, 'oh that’s cool, but I’ll never thought I’d be a part of it.' So, it’s funny how things develop,” Silver said. Acquiring the plane came in part from the Emily Buehler Perpetual Trust, which donated $3.7 million to the university. That also paved the way to establishing the Emily Buehler Center for Aviation Training and Research. Silver helped secure the $85,000 contract with the FAA to provide them with the first 50 flight hours on the plane. So far, they’ve logged nearly two hours of flight time with the aircraft and are starting to learn more about its functionality, like the battery life. “What we have found is that the plane seems to do better, like most electric vehicles, with these batteries, you want to store it at a rest state of charge,” Silver said. “And if we only leave it charged, like now it’s at about 64%, we’ll store it like this and then we’ll charge it up closer to our next flight. Hopefully, that will help the batteries last longer.” Dr. Brian Kish, the current chair of Florida Tech’s Flight Test Engineering Program, helps oversee this testing regimen. He served for 20 years in the Air Force and logged 1,300 as a flight test engineer in 49 aircraft. Kish said it’s still remarkable how much quieter this plane is compared to a normal one. “I think everyone is getting used to just how quiet it is during the taxiing. It’s just a different experience,” Kish said. “We’re used to hearing engines roar and here we have this quiet just sound of the fan and the propeller movement.” The plane is powered by two batteries: one that sits in the nose of the aircraft, just behind the propeller and another that’s behind the pilot’s seat. “The airplane can run off of either battery or both,” Kish said. “So, if one goes down or loses charge or overheats, you just shut all of that battery down and you can safely fly with the other battery.” With a full charge, Kish said that according to the airplane manufacturer, Slovenia-based Pipistrel, a pilot can get 50 minutes of flight with 10 minutes of reserve. Silver said adding additional batteries would be helpful moving forward. “It needs slightly larger batteries and slightly more weight-carrying capacity, but the airplane is capable of that,” Silver said. "So really, just adding some additional batteries to this airplane would probably bring it somewhere close to where it would need to be for the U.S. market to be a functional airplane.” It’s been a learning curve not only for the Florida Tech folks directly involved with this process, but the flight control tower as well. “One of the things that we had to warn the control tower about before we went out for the first flight was that when we came to stop on the taxiway, that the engine was going to stop,” Silver said. “That’s very unusual. So normally, if you saw that, that would be an abnormal situation for the air traffic controller.” These tests are also inspiring some of the aviation students, like fourth-year Elise Medhus, a student who traveled from the Netherlands to study in the U.S. She said getting to work with green technology, like the electric plane, was very enticing. “It’s definitely an opportunity I wouldn’t get anywhere else. The electric aircraft industry is really young. So, we’re really trying to get out there and get aircraft certified,” Medhus said. “So, to be able to be a part of learning about the Velis Electro is a really important part for me to go in the direction that I want to go in for my career.” Students aren’t flying in this aircraft yet, but will soon. Silver said he’s excited to see where the aviation industry is with electric aircraft and knows there are great things on the horizon. “What’s really neat about this is we’re going to see electric flight. It’s coming, it’s going to be mainstream, the technology is developing and we’re kind of getting the first glimpse right now with this airplane of what that mainstream technology is going to look like,” Silver said. https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2021/09/05/florida-tech-tests-electric-plane Joby and NASA conduct flight tests for eVTOL noise analysis Joby and NASA have started flight tests to analyze the noise footprint of Joby’s eVTOL aircraft. The test flights are the first time an eVTOL aircraft has been flown as part of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign. The 14-day flight test campaign which started last week is being conducted at Joby’s Electric Flight Base near Big Sur, California. As part of the tests, NASA and Joby are partnering on a study of the acoustic signature of the all-electric Joby aircraft, which the company intends to operate as part of a commercial passenger service beginning in 2024. NASA engineers will deploy their Mobile Acoustics Facility and more than 50 pressure ground-plate microphones in a grid array that allows for multi-directional measurement of the Joby aircraft’s sound emissions. Using this data, NASA and Joby will generate noise hemispheres for the aircraft that capture the intensity and the character of the sound emitted in comparison to helicopters, drones, and other aircraft. These readings, in combination with the noise profile of urban communities, can be used to verify how proposed aircraft operations will blend into the existing background noise. Joby has released several videos showcasing the quiet nature of the company’s aircraft during take-off, hover, and overhead flight. NASA’s AAM National Campaign is designed to promote public confidence in emerging aviation markets, such as passenger air taxis, through flight testing in realistic scenarios and data analysis that will inform the development of regulatory standards for emerging aviation platforms. “We are proud to continue our relationship with Joby by gathering highly valuable aircraft safety and noise data that will contribute towards an aviation future that includes Advanced Air Mobility operations,” said Davis Hackenberg, NASA AAM mission integration manager. “Data from industry leaders like Joby is critical for NASA’s research activities and future standardization of emerging aircraft configurations.” “NASA has been a critical catalyst in the transition to electric aviation, and we’re proud to have partnered with them on multiple groundbreaking projects since our first collaboration in 2012,” said JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO at Joby. “It’s incredibly exciting to be the first eVTOL company to fly as part of the AAM National Campaign, leading the way toward a more sustainable future. “From day one, we prioritized building an aircraft that not only has an extremely low noise profile, but blends seamlessly into the natural environment. We have always believed that a minimal acoustic footprint is key to making aviation a convenient part of everyday movement without compromising quality of life, and we’re excited to fly with NASA, our long-time partners in electric flight, to demonstrate the acoustic profile of our aircraft.” Joby’s and NASA have worked together on electric flight for almost a decade on a range of aircraft projects that have explored electric propulsion. These have included a long-endurance eVTOL demonstrator called Lotus, the Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) project, and the design of the X-57 Maxwell experimental aircraft now undergoing systems integration testing. Joby’s aircraft has a maximum range of 150 miles (240km) , which was recently demonstrated during flight testing, and a top speed of 200mph (320km/h), is designed to carry four passengers and a pilot with zero operating emissions. The company has conducted more than 1,000 flight tests and first flew a full-scale prototypes in 2017. Joby Aviation aims to certify its eVTOL during 2023. The aircraft is powered by six propellers that tilt to enable vertical takeoff and efficient cruise flight. The number of blades, blade radius, tip speeds, and disk loading of the aircraft were all selected to minimize the acoustic footprint and improve the character of the noise produced. The propellers can also individually adjust their tilt, rotational speed, and blade pitch, helping to avoid the blade vortex interactions that cause the “wop wop” sound we associate with traditional helicopters. Once testing is complete, a team of acoustic experts from NASA and Joby will work together to analyze the data before sharing their findings later in the year. https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/drones-air-taxis/joby-and-nasa-conduct-flight-tests-for-evtol-noise-analysis.html Meet The British Aviation Innovators Taxiing For Zero-Emission Flight For many climate change campaigners, aviation is a touchstone issue. It is not just that aviation already accounts for 2.5% of carbon dioxide emissions, or even that this figure could increase 10-fold by 2050 on some projections. Also, most people around the world do not fly: aviation, and its impact on the climate, is the preserve of a small minority of relatively wealthy people – around 20% of the global population. Will the 20% have to fly less frequently in the future? Probably. But emerging aviation technologies also provide some potential solutions. If we can build zero-emission planes – not just cleaner craft – the aviation industry of the future may not be so damaging to the planet. Enter Cranfield Aerospace Solutions (CAeS), a British company racing to be the first in the world to develop a zero-emissions plane for commercial use. CAeS’s big idea is a new form of propulsion, utilising hydrogen fuel cells – which release no carbon into the earth’s atmosphere – to fast-track the implementation of green technology and revolutionise air travel. CAeS has committed to this technology, CEO Paul Hutton explains, because its extensive research into other solutions, including the battery-powered planes that many developers are focused on, concluded they would not be technologically or commercially viable in the near future. “Hydrogen fuel cells are the only technical solution at the aircraft level that will give us emission-free flight,” he says. Hutton’s emphatic verdict on competing technologies reflects CAeS’s expertise and experience. While the aviation sector is attracting entrepreneurs and start-ups that believe they can solve the climate change problem through untested technologies, CAeS has actually been designing and building planes for 30 years. That track record is vital, says Hutton, as are the approvals it already holds with the industry’s regulators. “The market is awash with green aircraft propositions, but most of the start-ups will fail, because they don’t understand the regulation and they don’t have the approvals,” he warns. “The OEMs, meanwhile, will get there in the end, but they’ll do so very slowly because they also have to focus on their current product,” he says of the original equipment manufacturers already building conventional planes. In the middle of these two groups sits CAeS, with both its regulatory approvals and the agility that the giants of the sector lack. “We are going to build the first ever emission-free plane operating commercial flights,” Hutton promises. This isn’t just talk. CAeS is beginning to close in on that goal, via Project Fresson, which it launched in 2019 under chief strategy officer Jenny Kavanagh. Initially, the project is focusing on smaller planes – sub-regional craft, as they’re known in the industry, with between nine and 19 seats and typically operating on short-hop routes. To that end, it is working with manufacturer Britten-Norman to develop a new generation of green Islander planes that operate on routes around Scotland’s islands. The timetable for Project Fresson looks exciting. Two years into the programme, the company already has an aircraft sitting in the hangar and expects to be making demonstration flights during the first quarter of 2023. “Then we have to productise the proposition and secure the regulatory certifications,” says Kavanagh. By 2025, CAeS hopes to see nine-seat Islander planes propelled by its hyrdrogen fuel cell systems in operation on some of those routes. Step two, slated for 2027, is to get to the same point with 19-seater craft. Three years later, CAeS expects to have a new plane in operation, designed specifically around its new propulsion system (rather than fitting the system to the current generation of Islander craft). And by 2035, the company has similar ambitions for a plane operating at a regional level, with up to 90 seats. CAeS CEO Paul Hutton expects zero-emission commercial flights to begin in 2025 Oz Koca “The key is to be commercially viable early on,” says Kavanagh. “We’re not an aviation operator, so we have spent a lot of time talking to operators to understand what they really need.” One early lesson was that operators in this market are highly focused on utilisation – they need planes turned round quickly so they can complete several round trips during the day. That is one reason why the battery approach is tricky – swapping used batteries for fresh ones or recharging takes too much time. Another learning has been that airport operators could be part of the commercial solution. Kavanagh envisages airports developing new services around fuel provision, supplying the hydrogen that planes will need. “The is a potential business opportunity here – as well as supplying hydrogen for planes, other vehicles in the community, including buses and trucks, will need supplying.” Crucially, CAeS keeps coming back to the importance of building a bottom-line case for its technologies. The environmental imperative is impossible to deny, of course, but without a viable economic model for zero-emission aircraft, the industry simply won’t get them off the ground. Right now, the aviation industry is expecting to sink huge capital investments into converting to greener craft, but Hutton believes executives may be in for a welcome surprise. The operating costs on CAeS’s planes will be substantially lower, he argues, potentially saving as much as £135,000 per plane per year according to its modelling. “Aircraft operators typically pay for planes through leasing arrangements over a number of year and they may be able to finance the cost of those plans from their operating cost reductions,” Hutton explains. There are still unknowns to navigate. One reason why CAeS thinks commercial flights remain four years away is that the pace of regulation in the aviation sector is very slow – understandably so given the importance of passenger safety. There is always scope for setbacks as approvals are sought. Technical problems are a possibility too, as with any new project development work. Nevertheless, CAeS is hugely optimistic about the future – and not just for the smaller craft it is developing. Larger zero-emission planes offering long-haul travel are also feasible, says Kavanagh. “This is an industry that put a man on the moon in less than 30 years, so there is no reason why we can’t develop Trans-Atlantic planes powered by hydrogen in that timescale.” https://todayuknews.com/entrepreneurs/meet-the-british-aviation-innovators-taxiing-for-zero-emission-flight/ Gentex Expands Cabin Monitoring Capabilities With the Acquisition of Guardian Optical Technologies ZEELAND, Mich., Sept. 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) today announced the acquisition of Guardian Optical Technologies, an Israeli startup that pioneered a unique, multi-modal sensor technology designed to provide a comprehensive suite of driver- and cabin-monitoring solutions for the automotive industry. Gentex is a long-time supplier of electro-optical products for the global automotive, aerospace and fire protection industries. It’s best known for supplying nearly every major automaker with connected-car technologies and advanced electronic features that optimize driver vision and enhance driving safety. The core of Guardian’s technology is an infrared-sensitive, high-resolution camera that combines machine vision, depth perception, and micro-vibration detection. This proprietary sensor configuration allows the system to not only monitor the driver, but also the entire vehicle cabin and all its objects and occupants, assessing their behavior, gestures, and activities. The system continuously scans, tracks and determines the physical location of every vehicle occupant and object, even without a direct line of sight, by combining two-dimensional video image recognition with 3D depth mapping and optical motion analysis. It’s capable of detecting the slightest of movements, including heartbeats. “Guardian utilizes artificial intelligence and computer vision algorithms to create comprehensive, in-cabin sensing functionality for today’s vehicles and the autonomous age,” said Gentex Chief Technology Officer Neil Boehm. “With a single sensor module, we can monitor driver alertness, fine-tune airbag deployment, track passenger behavior -- even detect the presence of a child sleeping in a car seat in the rear of the vehicle.” The Guardian acquisition further bolsters Gentex’s cabin monitoring expertise. For decades, the company has integrated displays, cameras, and various ADAS features into its smart rearview mirrors. Because the interior mirror area has an ideal view of the driver and the entire vehicle cabin, it’s a logical location for the integration of the in-cabin monitoring camera. “A mirror-borne, in-cabin monitoring system would allow automakers to offer an attractively packaged, scalable, cross-car-line feature in a high-performance location that simplifies regulatory compliance,” explained Boehm. “We’re currently working on multiple proof-of-concept designs for mirror- and overhead-console-integrated driver monitoring solutions.” In January, Gentex announced the acquisition of Vaporsens, a Utah-based startup that pioneered a new nanofiber sensing technology capable of detecting a wide variety of chemicals, including explosives, drugs, VOCs, toxic industrial chemicals, amines, and more. This digital olfaction technology could be used to monitor in-vehicle air quality in passenger vehicles, and expanded to identify explosives, biohazards and other pollutants for self-driving cars. “Our goal is to provide automakers with holistic cabin monitoring solutions, from simple driver monitoring through complete cabin monitoring and machine olfaction,” continued Boehm. “We’re engineering a comprehensive and scalable platform based on robust sensor fusion techniques that will allow us to provide features for today’s vehicles, transitionary vehicles, and completely autonomous mobility solutions.” Founded in 2015 and based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Guardian Optical Technologies is dedicated to enabling “passenger aware” cars with cutting-edge, optical sensor technology that makes vehicles safer and more convenient. Founded in 1974, Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) is a supplier of automatic-dimming rearview mirrors and electronics to the automotive industry, dimmable aircraft windows for aviation markets, and fire protection products to the fire protection market. Visit the company website at www.gentex.com. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/09/06/2291739/0/en/Gentex-Expands-Cabin-Monitoring-Capabilities-With-the-Acquisition-of-Guardian-Optical-Technologies.html Swoop Aero and Iris Automation Partner to Develop BVLOS System A new partnership between Swoop Aero and Iris Automation will use both companies’ technology to create a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone navigation system, according to a Sept. 2 press release. Swoop Aero will incorporate Iris Automation’s detect and avoid technology, Casia, onto their aircraft, according to the release. This will include Swoop Aero’s new aircraft, Kite, which the company says is its most advanced aircraft certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). “Swoop Aero is a great example of how commercial drone services are evolving, meeting numerous critical use cases around the world,” Jon Damush, CEO of Iris Automation, said in a statement. “We are seeing the leading players in the space make investments in safety, and Swoop is one of the firms leading the charge to ensure the safe and efficient integration of uncrewed aircraft into existing national airspaces around the world. Demand for these use cases is highest in regions with stringent air safety standards and avoiding mid-air collisions is the most important aspect of reducing air-risk. An innovator like Swoop Aero is doing the right things to safely introduce aerial services to deliver essential supplies to previously inaccessible areas and we are excited to partner with them on this mission.” With Casia, Swoop Aero will be able to obtain more complex approvals and certifications for BVLOS flight, according to the release. The company will use the system in two current projects with EBOS Healthcare in Australia and New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) airspace integration trial program. “With two leading drone innovators coming together we can drive the safe integration of autonomous aircraft into even more critical areas,” Eric Peck, CEO and co-founder of Swoop Aero, said in a statement. “A DAA solution is the last great challenge preventing complex operational approvals and certification in countries like Australia and the United States. This partnership showcases the innovation inherent in our platform, and our commitment to safety.” Iris Automation’s Casia has been used by the FAA and Transport Canada. The company has also recently partnered with UAV Navigation. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2021/09/06/swoop-aero-iris-automation-partner-develop-bvlos-system/ 3 steps towards making aviation and marine fuel cleaner On the current trajectory, sustainable fuels will only supply a small percentage of aviation and shipping needs. • Favourable government policies are needed to increase production and adoption of sustainable fuels in both sectors. • Stronger and more streamlined regulatory frameworks should also be put in place. Six years after COP21 and with recent lockdowns across many parts of the world putting brakes on anthropogenic activities, efforts towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions to secure the future of the planet have moved beyond country-level actions based on their National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to two key sectors: aviation and shipping. These were excluded from the original ambit of the COP21 mandates because of their international nature. In both sectors, the imperative is carbon fuel replacement, either by non-carbon or lower-carbon alternatives; if neither of those are attainable immediately at desired levels of performance, scale and cost, then at least by local-carbon alternatives that minimize the emissions of moving large volumes of fuels from the point of production to the point of use. Overlaying effective sustainability criteria on emerging and future fuels, and minimizing additional capital outlays by leveraging existing infrastructure, are equally important. In 2019, the International Civil Aviation Organization reported that commercial production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) reached an average of 6.45 million litres per year (2016-2018), and estimated that up to 6.5 million metric tons (8 billion litres) per year of SAF production capacity may be available by 2032. Comparing these numbers with the wider global aviation fuel market, estimated at 215 million tons in 2020 and projected to reach about 400 million tons by 2026, we see that even a decade from now the penetration of SAF will still be in single digit percentages if things continue at the current pace. There is thus an urgent need to accelerate SAF adoption, as well as production. Similarly, with the implementation of IMO 2020 standards for marine fuels – which pushed down the sulphur content of heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel) for ships to less than a seventh of the norm previously – there are positive steps towards climate mitigation in this sector. However, low-sulphur marine fuels are not necessarily low-carbon fuels; in fact, the deep desulphurization required in petroleum refineries to deliver IMO-compliant fuel marginally increases the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of shipping in the short term. The international and country-level responses to three key underlying issues will primarily determine the future pace of SAF and SMF (sustainable marine fuels) adoption: 1. Economics The sheer economies of scale of existing petroleum refineries and crude oil global trade as compared to biorefineries and bio-feedstock global trade put emerging fuels at an disadvantage from both capital efficiency and input-cost standpoints. To level this playing field, non-crude renewable carbon feedstocks need policy support. That will enable robust, abundant supply chains and bring down the costs of SAF and SMF in the medium term. 2. Defining sustainable fuel Unambiguous, widely accepted definitions of sustainability are equally important. One can argue that fossil-based aviation and marine fuels themselves have varying levels of real life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, depending on which crude oils are used, exactly how these are processed and over how many miles the raw materials and products of these supply chains are moved, and by what means of transport. There is merit in exploring ways to reduce these elements of net emissions, too, as fossil fuels will remain the majority component of aviation and marine fuels for the foreseeable future. 3. Regulation Agile national yet globally collaborative regulatory frameworks are the final, critical component. Convergence towards a common understanding of sustainability parameters and the cost of carbon emissions is long overdue. An excellent recent development in this direction is CORSIA Eligible Fuels (CEF)’s categorization, which lays out clearly the boundary conditions for alternate aviation fuels that can participate in the aviation carbon marketplace. Waste-based feedstocks – such as waste plastics or industrially emitted gases like carbon monoxide – that might not be renewable but can be recycled to reduce the need for greater fossil fuel extraction and processing must be brought into the pool of acceptable alternate fuels. The holy grail would be if the two most abundant greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, can be harnessed without spending more carbon-based energy in processing them on a life-cycle basis than the total amount of GHG utilized. Non-carbon sustainable-energy solutions like hydrogen and solar must also continue to have investment potential for these sectors. One particularly long lead time component in bring sustainable transportable fuels to market is the certification and qualification process, which necessarily involves original equipment manufacturers, engine manufacturers, fuel producers, standardization bodies and regulatory agencies within the framework of policy enablement in all countries that may produce, store or use the fuel. By way of illustration, eight different pathways of alternate aviation fuels (not necessary all equally sustainable) have taken a decade to be approved for aircraft use in the widely adopted ASTM D7566 standard. Fuel from these pathways may be blended for commercial use with fossil jet fuel at levels ranging from 10-50%, depending on the pathway chosen. This itself adds a supply chain complexity of testing the individual components, blending them when found compliant with specifications, and then testing the blend again before an aircraft can take the hybrid fuel into its engines. However, additional impetus and incentives should be accorded to SAF pathways that can be used directly, without the need for blending with fossil fuels. Also, with large volumes of data now available over the past 10 years on fuel composition from these multiple production routes versus performance and safety data generated in real time, there is a strong case for data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) deployment to cut short the time to approvals without compromising operability or safety. With evolving data-analytical capabilities, real-time, transparent assessment of technology and supply-chain alternatives with regard to sustainability criteria should become standard practice not only for individual fuel producers and users from an ESG investor standpoint, but they should also enable policy-level prioritization of the best options in each global region. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/3-steps-towards-making-aviation-and-marine-fuel-cleaner/ Net-zero flight put on the COP26 runway by Cambridge University accelerator The international group of experts in aerospace, economics, policy, and climate science are building an interactive evidence-based simulator to explore scenarios for achieving the goal. The AIA will officially launch at COP26 in November. It was conceived in 2020 at a roundtable hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales and attended by senior industry leaders, government and academia. The Prince of Wales has flagged up the urgency of the need for net-zero aviation. In September 2020, in his opening address to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Turbo Expo conference, he said: “While many are calling for net zero flight by 2050, I would like to challenge you all to think about halving that time frame to 2035.” “The Aviation Impact Accelerator will play a vital role in highlighting the action required to achieve net zero aviation,” said John Holland-Kaye, CEO of Heathrow Airport. “The first priority is accelerated use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Government can act to unlock SAF through a mandate stimulating supply, plus incentives to drive demand. The prize is a new British growth industry and UK leadership in the race to net zero.” The AIA is led by the Whittle Laboratory and the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). “Achieving an aviation sector with no climate impact is one of society’s biggest challenges,” said Professor Rob Miller, director of the Whittle Laboratory and co-lead of the project. “Solving it will require a complex combination of technology, business, human behaviour and policy. We have assembled a world-class team of academics and industry experts to take on this challenge.” The AIA team also includes the Air Transportation Systems Lab at University College London, and the Melbourne Energy Institute at the University of Melbourne. The AIA is in partnership with The Prince of Wales’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, The World Economic Forum, Cambridge Zero, MathWorks and SATAVIA, and is supported by industry advisors Rolls-Royce, Boeing, BP, Heathrow and Siemens Energy. Users will be able to simulate future scenarios to 2050 and calculate resource requirements such as renewable electricity and land use, climate impact – CO2 and non-CO2 – and cost of flying. Options include the type of energy used, such as hydrogen, batteries and a range of sustainable aviation fuels, the type of aircraft and aircraft technologies, the way aircraft are operated, and the value judgments made by the public and government. The simulator will take a whole system approach – from the source of the electricity to the methods of fuel production and transport – to the passenger journey. “We must urgently address aviation’s environmental impact as part of systemic decarbonisation of the economy,” said CISL director Claire Shine. Aviation is one of the most carbon intense forms of transport and particularly hard to decarbonise. Before the Covid-19 pandemic aviation was responsible for 2-3 per cent of global annual CO2 emissions (~8 per cent of UK emissions) and was one of the fastest-growing sectors in terms of CO2 emissions. In addition, the non-CO2 effects of flying are thought to have an even more significant effect on the climate, though the magnitude of the effect is less certain. Although severely disrupted by COVID-19 it is predicted that aviation demand will increase back to the 2019 levels by 2023/24 and continue to grow. https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/business/net-zero-flight-put-on-the-cop26-runway-by-cambridge-univers-9214821/ Italy probing drone firm sale to China The Italian government has opened an inquiry into the sale of a company making high-tech military drones to Chinese state-owned investors three years ago, a source close to the matter said on Friday. Rome wants to verify whether the sale of a 75 percent holding in Alpi Aviation Srl, based in northern Italy, had to be notified to the government under the so-called “golden power” regulation, the source said, asking not to be named. Lawyers for Alpi Aviation said the company had complied with all rules in the sale. Rome has special vetting powers to block unwanted bids from non-EU suitors in industries deemed of strategic importance like defense, energy and telecoms. This latest development showed how easy it is for changes in corporate ownership to go under the radar at a time when pressure is rising in the US and Europe to monitor potential risks to national security from Chinese investors. The government might impose penalties or, in the most serious case, invalidate the sale, the source said. On Thursday, Italian finance authorities said that six people were under investigation in a case for allegedly breaching rules on the sale of military material as well as “golden powers.” The authorities, which did not name the company involved, said that a 75 percent stake had been bought through an offshore company by “two important Chinese state-owned companies.” The acquisition of the stake, bought at a significantly inflated price, was carried out “exclusively to acquire technological and manufacturing know-how” that would be transferred to China with a reshoring of the business in the high-tech hub of Wuxi near Shanghai, they said. “This was clearly just a predatory investment in technology ... and this type of investment in this sector is forbidden,” said Stefano Commentucci, a local tax authority head. A second source close to the matter, who confirmed that the company was Alpi Aviation, said that the two Chinese companies involved were China Corporate United Investment Holding Co (中國聯合投資控股) and CRRC Capital Holding Co (中車資本控股). These companies are in turn controlled by the Wuxi Liyuan Economic Development Zone Management Committee and the Chinese State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the source said. Calls made to these entities went unanswered outside of business hours. Lawyers for Alpi Aviation said that the sale of the stake had been transparent and was in line with the real value of the company. “Alpi Aviation, which firmly denies the company breached ‘golden power’ rules and laws on the transfer of strategic or technological information out of the country, reserves the right to safeguard its reputation,” said two of the firm’s lawyers, Bruno Malattia and Antonio Malattia. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2021/09/06/2003763860 Emirates' airport innovations facilitate safe resumption of travel and further enhance customer experience Dubai – What a difference a year makes. Over the summer travel months of July and August, Emirates handled nearly 1.2 million customers at its hub, compared to 402,000 customers during the same period in 2020, highlighting the safe and smooth resumption of international travel to and through Dubai. In fact, in 2020, Emirates was the largest international airline carrying over 15.8 million passengers, according to IATA’s latest World Air Transport Statistics 2021. Since Dubai re-opened to international visitors, Emirates has gradually restored its network and flight schedules from just a handful of cities in July 2020 to over 120 destinations today, with more flights to be layered onto over 20 Emirates routes by October. Always aiming to provide the best possible travel experience, particularly during a turbulent time for international travel, Emirates has continued to deliver innovative new customer services, ensure the health and safety of its customers and employees, and provide the most updated travel information for customers across the world. These investments over the past 12 months have enabled Emirates to facilitate the resumption of travel, while enhancing customer experience. Accelerated digital innovations – Biometrics, self-service check-in kiosks In 2019, Emirates began testing and implementing biometric technology at various customer journey touchpoints at the airport. In the past year, the airline fast-tracked its biometric technology roll-out and today, Emirates has over 30 biometric cameras in active operation at its Dubai airport hub, including at check-in counters, at the entrances of its First and Business Class lounges, and select boarding gates. Since implementation, over 58,000 customers have used this convenient, contactless and secure verification option to access the Emirates Lounge, and more than 380,000 customers have used biometric gates to board their flight. Emirates has seen an upward trend in customers opting to use its biometric channels since the pandemic, and it plans to expand the number of boarding gates equipped with biometric scanners. The airline has also worked closely with Dubai airport stakeholders including the immigration team (GDRFA) to re-activate Smart Gates that enable eligible travellers to cruise through passport control on arrival and departure in a matter of seconds, using new contactless technology. Enabling customers to check-in, receive their boarding pass, choose seats on board, and drop off their bags, Emirates’ new self-service check-in and bag drop kiosks have seen increasing usage since its introduction in September 2020. In July and August alone, over 568,000 customers used this convenient service which enabled them to skip queuing at the counter, breeze through the airport and proceed directly to immigration. Following the positive reception from customers, Emirates will introduce 6 additional self-service check-in and bag drop kiosks in its First and Business Class terminal area this month. In the past year, Emirates also introduced new technology to make it easier for customers to report delayed or damaged bags on emirates.com, reducing paperwork and stress, improving transparency, and enabling Emirates to serve customers better in terms of checking, tracing and resolving baggage related queries. Latest travel requirements – COVID-19 travel information hub, IATA Travel Pass, integration with UAE Health Authorities In an environment where travel requirements change daily at country, region or airport level, Emirates has pulled out all stops to provide the latest information to its customers. Tapping on its global network and teams on the ground to collect and verify the latest entry requirements for each destination, Emirates’ COVID-19 information hub, updated at least once daily, has become one of the top authoritative sources of information for travellers. Emirates has also been a forerunner in adopting digital verification solutions for travel, from adopting the IATA Travel Pass to partnering with the UAE health authorities to enable seamless digital checks for COVID-19 travel documentation. These projects deliver multiple benefits from better customer experiences to the reduced use of paper, and improved efficiency and reliability in travel document checks. Emirates was one of the first airlines to sign up for IATA’s Travel Pass in April and today offers this convenience to customers fly between Dubai and 10 cities, with plans to expand the service across its network as IATA continues to expand and secure service providers in more markets. By October, the airline would have extended the implementation of IATA Travel Pass for customers at all of its destinations. Health and safety Throughout the past year, Emirates had worked closely with the authorities and its aviation partners to ensure the health and safety of all travellers and employees at the airport, even as health protocols continually evolved across the world. Even before the World Health Organisation officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Emirates had already implemented enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocols at all its customer touchpoints at the airport and onboard. At the airport, Emirates also installed protective shields at all check-in counters and implemented physical distancing in all areas. All its bio-safety protocols are continually reviewed and updated in line with the latest medical guidance. Emirates has also tapped on its partnership with the UAE’s Aviation X-lab innovation incubator programme to pilot robot cleaning trials in its signature lounges at Dubai airport. These robots use special technology to eliminate most viruses and ensure a healthier environment. In addition to being one of the first airlines to roll-out PPEs (personal protection equipment) for its frontline employees back in February 2020, when COVID-19 vaccines became available Emirates implemented a company-wide campaign to encourage employees to protect themselves and others in an effort that resulted in over 95% of all employees being fully vaccinated. https://www.zawya.com/mena/en/press-releases/story/Emirates_airport_innovations_facilitate_safe_resumption_of_travel_and_further_enhance_customer_experience-ZAWYA20210906095020/ This New Reusable Rocket Ship Can Fly From Earth to Space Several Times a Day Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richard Branson have already reached the edge of space in their respective spaceships. But could they do it multiple times a day? Stefan Powell can. Or at least it looks like he’ll soon be able to. Powell is the CEO of the Dutch-New Zealand company Dawn Aerospace, which last month conducted five successful flights of its Mk-II Aurora, which is on track to reach low-space orbit in 2022. The test flights—to 3,400 feet—allowed the company to assess the airframe and avionics on the a 16-foot long, 165-pound mighty might. The company is also developing a rocket engine, which will go into the Mk-II early next year and allow it to take off from a conventional airstrip, reach low-space, land on the same strip, then do the whole thing again—several times in the same day if desired. Like Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin, space tourism could be part of Dawn Aerospace’s distant future. “Mk-II will also be used to capture atmospheric data for weather and climate modeling, and to conduct scientific research and technology demonstrations,” Powell told Robb Report, but it’s not the end game. “Mk-II serves as a technology demonstrator for our two-stage-to-orbit-vehicle, the Mk-III.” The larger craft will arrive a few years later, but it will be able to haul a 550-pound payload, allowing it to haul satellites, cargo and potentially astronauts into space. Like the Mk-II, it will be able to make several trips a day. The size and reusable nature will keep costs down and provide unprecedented access to space—and even an environmentally beneficial alternative. “Our industry is heavily reliant on vehicles that fly to space once, or that are partially refurbished over weeks or months,” Powell says. “Many launch companies are pursuing mass-manufacturing for lower and lower price points, rather than pursuing cost savings through reusability.” Powell points to the automotive world. “If you could only use your car once, or a handful of times, before disposing of it, it would hardly be considered sustainable or economical,” he says. “Our team’s view is that it’s no longer acceptable that launch hardware is discarded when the vast majority of its carbon footprint is in its production. Instead, we’re looking to apply the high reusability of aircraft to the space industry.” https://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/this-rocketrocket-fly-space-several-times-day-1234634140/ 'Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space,' a docuseries on SpaceX's 1st all-civilian spaceflight, launches on Netflix The private Inspiration4 astronauts set to fly on SpaceX's first all-civilian spaceflight this month are launching into the limelight today (Sept. 6) with a new Netflix documentary series. In the new Netflix docuseries "Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space," you can follow along with the four-person crew of the upcoming mission Inspiration4 as they prepare to launch to space in real time. The four-episode series co-produced with Time Studios has followed the crew throughout their journey and will show their real-time transformation from "regular" people into full-blown astronauts as they prepare to launch on a 3-day orbital journey Sept. 15. "I've said it really from the beginning, that the stars have always aligned with Inspiration4 every step of the way," crew commander Jared Isaacman, the billionaire Shift4 tech entrepreneur who chartered a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight for the mission, which he's used to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, told Space.com in an exclusive interview. "From the timing of even having this opportunity in the first place, to the crew selection process to this unbelievable crew that I'm fortunate enough to go fly to space with, it's all awesome." "I think we all lost track of the fact that there was a documentary made throughout all this," Isaacman said. "But we're so thankful that they did, because we have not had an opportunity to stop and pause, even for a second, over the last five months or so to just reflect on all these important milestones. So we're happy to be doing this for us. We're so happy they're doing it for everyone." "Because," he added, "that's what Inspiration4 is supposed to be about: inspiring people … and I think that will be explored in pretty decent detail throughout the documentary." Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, professor and space artist who will be flying as part of the crew as Inspiration4's pilot, told Space.com that she appreciates "knowing that Netflix has captured not only my story, but all of our space story, and in a really thoughtful way that can be shared with the entire world." Proctor and Isaacman will launch alongside St. Jude physician's assistant and childhood cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux and data engineer Chris Sembroski. "It's the most complex production plan that I've ever been a part of," series director Jason Hehir ("The Last Dance") told Space.com, adding that real-time documenting different crew members training at different times in different time zones, all-the-while working towards a launch to space, was quite a tall task. "This is a more ambitious production than anything I've ever been a part of, on several levels." But despite all of the challenges, Hehir's passion for capturing the Inspiration4 journey through training and, ultimately, to space and back, has only grown. While there have been flights with civilians on-board before, he added, and there have been fully-civilian crews that have reached suborbital space, this will be the first-ever all-civilian mission to go into orbit around Earth. "This is a true mission to space," Hehir said, adding that "ordinary people" will be "operating a spacecraft for three days as it orbits the Earth, higher than anyone has been since the Apollo missions … the ambition of this is inspiring." "And the characters are everyday people, but extraordinary in their own ways," he said. "It's been inspiring, and it's been really fun. And it's been a pleasure to grow close to them. These are now friends of mine and friends of our crews. So we're going to be excited and nervous and we'll be feeling a whole lot of emotions on launch day." And that crew of now-astronauts is certainly feeling the excitement, both about their impending journey and about sharing their stories with the world through this docuseries. "That whole idea of being able to bring as many people as possible on this journey with us in near real time. To me, that's exciting, because it gets me back to the days of what it would have been like for my parents, you know, being on Guam during the Apollo mission and people tuning in and watching in real time," Proctor, who was born in Guam as her father worked for NASA at the Guam Remote Ground Terminal during the Apollo program, added. "Getting that whole entire story together and being able to inspire the next generation. I really hope that what happens is that we inspire the world to come along with us on this journey," she said. "To me, it's about opening up access to space so that more can follow and have this experience, but also bring humanity forwards to the moon, Mars and beyond," Proctor said. "And then while we're doing that, you know, while we're solving for space, we're solving for Earth. And that's really the takeaway message in the end. And we hope that that's what resonates with not only the space community, but the world at large." https://www.space.com/spacex-inspiration4-private-spaceflight-netflix-documentary Curt Lewis