PC-Aero flys ELEKTRA ONE on its First Flight

PC-Aero flys ELEKTRA ONE on its First Flight for about 30 minutes using only 3 kWh of energy.

Contributed by: KurtWaldhuetter

Elektra One Has First Flightby Dean Sigler on 03/24/2011The brief press release and single photograph from PC-Aero says it all:

“ELEKTRA ONE from PC-Aero performed successfully its First Flight for about 30 minutes. Using only 3 kWh of energy.

Test pilot Jon Karkow guides PC-Aero’s Elektra One. PC Aero photo by Jean-Marie Urlacher/Info-Pilote

“The internal First Flight was performed by the well known testpilot Jon Karkow. He did the first check for the flight performance and characteristics of the electric aircraft and briefed the german testpilot Norbert Lorenzen for the next official First Flight.”

Although static tests were completed late last year, speculation that Germany’s tough certification laws held up test flights ran through some of the aviation press. The angle of the photograph makes it difficult to tell whether the center-line landing gear was retracted or not, but the low en...Read More

Sep

2010

NASA Selects Two Firms for Experimental Space Vehicle Test Flights

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRuSR) has awarded a total of approximately $475,000 to Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas and Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif. The awards will allow the two companies to perform test flights of their experimental vehicles near the edge of space.

Contributed by: aeroinnovate

Comments:

By: David E. Steitz , NASA
Aug. 30, 2010

RELEASE : 10-203

NASA Selects Two Firms for Experimental Space Vehicle Test Flights

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRuSR) has awarded a total of approximately $475,000 to Armadillo Aerospace of Rockwall, Texas and Masten Space Systems of Mojave, Calif. The awards will allow the two companies to perform test flights of their experimental vehicles near the edge of space.

The flights will demonstrate the capabilities of new vehicles to provide recoverable launch and testing of small payloads going to “near-space,” the region of Earth’s atmosphere between 65,000 and 350,000 feet. The CRuSR program fosters the development of commercial reusable transportation to near space. The overall goal of the program is regular, frequent and predictable access to near-space at a reasonable cost with easy recovery of intact payloads.

“These two awards are just the beginning of an innovative teaming relationship with industry to provide affordable access to the edge of space while evaluating the microgravity environment for future science and technology experiments,” said NASA Chief Technologist Bobb...Read More

Jul

2010

ORBITEC Earns Multiple NASA Opportunities for Propulsion and Life Support Space Technologies

The Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) has recently won two major support efforts with NASA in areas of propulsion and life support. ORBITEC led and primed a team of small businesses that won the opportunity to provide development support in propulsion systems (RTAPS) for the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Ohio.

Contributed by: aeroinnovate

Comments:

The Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC) has recently won two major support efforts with NASA in areas of propulsion and life support. ORBITEC led and primed a team of small businesses that won the opportunity to provide development support in propulsion systems (RTAPS) for the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland Ohio. ORBITEC’s entire team Briefed NASA with the vast capabilities it can bring to the space propulsion technology needs of NASA. A series of priority development needs will be presented to be sourced to ORBITEC’s team and 4 other large company teams over the next 5 years totaling $50M. ORBITEC has integrated a talented and experienced team of small businesses, universities, and a smaller group of large businesses, located in 12 states.

ORBITEC also just won, as part of the Wyle Laboratories team, another development support contract with NASA Johnson Space in Houston Texas called Crew, Robotics, Avionics, and Vehicle Equipment (CRAVE). ORBITEC’s primary role is to provide solutions in the area of life support systems and crew related technologies including it interactive 3D information systems capabilities. Wyle is one of three companies receiving an award which, cumulatively, is expecte...Read More

Jul

2010

AeroInnovate Takes Flight Again, July 27

Aviation entrepreneurs and potential investors have a new place to be during one day of their visit to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA’s) annual AirVenture in Oshkosh, and it’s called AeroInnovate. AeroInnovate 2010 takes place on the second day of AirVenture on July 27, 2010 in EAA’s AirVenture Museum.

Contributed by: aeroinnovate

Comments:

Aviation entrepreneurs and potential investors have a new place to be during one day of their visit to the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA’s) annual AirVenture in Oshkosh, and it’s called AeroInnovate. AeroInnovate 2010 takes place on the second day of AirVenture on July 27, 2010 in EAA’s AirVenture Museum.

AirVenture, attended by 550,000 aerospace enthusiasts last year provided a perfect backdrop to the inaugural AeroInnovate 2009 attracting a highly select group of investors, industry leaders and entrepreneurs to network and learn. “AeroInnovate was created specifically for entrepreneurs and investors in the aviation and aerospace community,” AeroInnovate co-director Meridith Jaeger said. “We want it to be a platform for upcoming technologies and what’s going on in aviation and aerospace technology and we wa...Read More

PC-Aero flys ELEKTRA ONE on its First Flight