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Lilium Unveils Five-Seater Air Taxi Prototype

posted by Fnord666 on Friday May 17 2019, @01:42AM   
from the where's-my-jet-pack? dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

TechCrunch:

It's not the first time a Lilium Jet — the company's all-electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) device — has taken to the sky but it is the first time the new five seater has taken off and landed, following extensive ground testing. Lilium published a video of a two-seater version's inaugural flight just over two years ago.

The new five-seater is a full-scale, full-weight prototype that is powered by 36 all-electric jet engines to allow it to take-off and land vertically, while achieving "remarkably efficient horizontal or cruise flight," says Lilium

Will the back seat of the air taxi be cleaner than the normal kind?

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Original Submission

• Re:Reaction engine (Score: 5, Informative) by janrinok on Friday May 17 2019, @02:45AM

  by janrinok (52) on Friday May 17 2019, @02:45AM (#844569) Journal

  the exhaust qualifies as a jet.

  I would suggest that is only true in the most basic analysis of moving air, it is certainly not what anybody in the business would describe as a jet. Ok, perhaps a marketing droid might.... but he should be calling it a ducted fan.

  From wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:

  A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet that generates thrust by jet propulsion. This broad definition includes airbreathing jet engines (turbojets, turbofans, ramjets, and pulse jets).[clarification needed] In general, jet engines are combustion engines.

  Common parlance applies the term jet engine only to various airbreathing jet engines. These typically feature a rotating air compressor powered by a turbine, with the leftover power providing thrust via a propelling nozzle – this process is known as the Brayton thermodynamic cycle. Jet aircraft use such engines for long-distance travel. Early jet aircraft used turbojet engines which were relatively inefficient for subsonic flight. Most modern subsonic jet aircraft use more complex high-bypass turbofan engines. They give higher speed and greater fuel efficiency than piston and propeller aeroengines over long distances. A few air-breathing engines made for high speed applications (ramjets and scramjets) use the ram effect of the vehicle's speed instead of a mechanical compressor.

  Parent

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