SOLAR IMPULSE 2, the plane powered only by the sun, has dominated the electric aircraft news cycle recently, starting its 5-month, 20,000-mile journey around the world this month. But they’re not the only folks trying to build alternative, environmentally friendly ways to fly.
NASA’s in the game, too, and is working on an experimental wing that could finally eliminate the massive advantage exploding jet fuel has over batteries when it comes to keeping planes in the sky. The key to this new design? It has 18 propellers, powered by lithium iron phosphate batteries, mounted on a 31-foot wide carbon composite wing.
It’s called the Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology project (LEAPTech), and while it’s not ready for flight yet, the team is going to test the experimental wing by mounting it to a truck and driving it across a dried up lake bed at Edwards Air Force base in California at 70 mph later this year.
More details here.
