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posted by martyb on Sunday May 10 2015, @03:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the next-up:-a-very-long-and-lightweight-extension-cord dept.

NASA has tested the Greased Lightning GL-10, a 10-motor drone which can take off vertically like a helicopter and fly efficiently like an airplane. They also envision a scaled-up version which could carry 1-4 people:

The GL-10 is currently in the design and testing phase. The initial thought was to develop a 20-foot wingspan (6.1 meters) aircraft powered by hybrid diesel/electric engines, but the team started with smaller versions for testing, built by rapid prototyping.

"We built 12 prototypes, starting with simple five-pound (2.3 kilograms) foam models and then 25-pound (11.3 kilograms), highly modified fiberglass hobby airplane kits all leading up to the 55-pound (24.9 kilograms), high quality, carbon fiber GL-10 built in our model shop by expert technicians, " said aerospace engineer David North.

"Each prototype helped us answer technical questions while keeping costs down. We did lose some of the early prototypes to 'hard landings' as we learned how to configure the flight control system. But we discovered something from each loss and were able to keep moving forward."

During a recent spring day the engineers took the GL-10 to test its wings at a military base about two hours away from NASA Langley. The remotely piloted plane has a 10-foot wingspan (3.05 meters), eight electric motors on the wings, two electric motors on the tail and weighs a maximum of 62 pounds (28.1 kilograms) at take off.

"During the flight tests we successfully transitioned from hover to wing-borne flight like a conventional airplane then back to hover again. So far we have done this on five flights," said Fredericks. "We were ecstatic. Now we're working on our second goal — to demonstrate that this concept is four times more aerodynamically efficient in cruise than a helicopter."

Here is a 4m45s video of a test flight.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 10 2015, @06:34PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 10 2015, @06:34PM (#181130) Journal

    I don't know. Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] has this:

    The aircraft is designed to complete several vertical take-off and landings during its mission with a loiter endurance of 24 hours in the forward flight mode.

    Also the full scale version is planned to be an electric-diesel hybrid.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @08:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @08:02PM (#181148)

    For me, the Wikipedia page is more useful than the one in the summary.

    -- gewg_

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Sunday May 10 2015, @08:09PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Sunday May 10 2015, @08:09PM (#181149) Journal

      Just make sure to get the units right, gewg_2

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @04:48AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 11 2015, @04:48AM (#181362)

        For those who think thy know English and Arithmetic better than I do (to include whoever mod'd you up):
        Pulp Fiction quote goes here [soylentnews.org]

        -- gewg_