Airbus A380 takes off on 100% aviation sustainable fuel

The aviation industry promotes the development of economy, trade and tourism, but the total greenhouse gas emissions of the air transport industry already account for 2% of the total emissions. Now, in order to reduce its carbon footprint, the French aerospace industry giant Airbus has used 100% biomass fuel for the first time in the Airbus jumbo A380 and flew smoothly.

This is the third time in a year that Airbus has tested sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), following the A350 and the single-aisle A319neo, this time with the A380 demonstrator ZEROe, and further tests of the hydrogen fuel system will follow.

Currently powered by a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine with 27 tonnes of aviation sustainable fuel made from cooking oil and waste fat, the demonstration machine was unveiled on March 28 A 3-hour test flight at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France on the 29th, and a second flight on the 29th, all the way to Nice Côte d’Azur Airport.

Airbus hopes to launch the world’s first zero-emissions plane in 2035. However, it also has other competitors. In 2012, another aerospace giant, Boeing of the United States, also used mixed biomass fuel in 787 passenger aircraft, and also established the first Pacific route powered by biomass fuel, which was launched in China in 2014. quality fuel production plants to ensure a stable supply.

Currently every Airbus aircraft is certified to mix up to 50% aviation sustainable fuel in the fuel, but Airbus aims to achieve 100% aviation sustainable fuel certification by the end of the decade. According to the Waypoint 2050 report co-authored by aviation experts, sustainable aviation fuels may reduce carbon emissions by 53% to 71% in the future.

One year after arriving on Mars, Wit completed its 21st flight with no wear and tear

NASA’s Witty micro-helicopter, which was originally intended to fly only 5 times on Mars, has now arrived on Mars for more than a year, and recently completed its 21st flight, and the parts are still in excellent condition.

In February 2021, NASA’s Ingenuity will land on Mars’ Jezero crater with the Perseverance rover on a technology demonstration mission. The density is only 1% of the atmospheric density at the sea level of the earth), and it can still rely on the high-speed rotation of the rotor (about 2,400 revolutions per minute) to complete the feat of controllable power flight on the surface of other planets.

According to the plan, Wisdom only needs to complete 5 flight drills with different distances, speeds, and altitudes. Since there is no previous flight experience, NASA engineers are prepared that Wisdom may “kill” in these flights. Thinking that the Wit is in very good condition, not only did it successfully complete 5 flights, but the team assessed that the Wit could even continue to fly, and NASA quickly approved the extension of the mission.

So nearly a year after its maiden flight at 3:34 a.m. EDT (12:33 p.m. Mars time) on April 19th, Wit has flown again and again, like a reconnaissance plane leading the way in front of Perseverance, cooperating to explore and land Point South and Southwest Regional Terrain.

On March 12, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tweeted that the rover had completed its 21st mission, flying 370 meters at a speed of 3.85 meters per second, with a stay in the air for 129.2 seconds.

At present, the total flight mileage of the helicopter is more than 4.6 kilometers. NASA hopes to send the Wit to the delta sedimentary terrain outside the impact crater in the next few weeks; NASA also pointed out that the Wit has not shown any signs of wear and tear after flying on Mars for nearly a year, and the helicopter itself has no signs of wear and tear. What consumable parts limit life, and there are currently no issues preventing Wit from continuing to explore Mars.