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Equipping autonomous aircraft to rapidly tackle wildfires
CategoriesSustainable News

Equipping autonomous aircraft to rapidly tackle wildfires

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: As the world continues to break global temperature records and conditions get drier, wildfires are increasing in frequency, severity, and duration. In 2023 alone, there have been almost 50,000 fires, burning 2.57 million acres of vegetation. Wildfires wreak havoc on communities, environments, and the economy, and one company is working to suppress catastrophic fires through automation.

Rain is the only autonomous technology developed to rapidly suppress wildfires during the first ten minutes of ignition, helping fire agencies more quickly, safely, and effectively contain them before they grow out of control. Its founders, Max and Ephraim, have personal experience with wildfires, having lived in the interior of British Columbia when the Okanagan Mountain Park Firestorm in 2003 caused the largest mass evacuations since WWII.

The company adapts existing military and civil autonomous aircraft with the intelligence to perceive, understand, and suppress wildfires. This technology then enables these aircraft to be prepositioned in remote locations where the risk of fire is high, resulting in increased response times.

The Rain Wildfire Mission Autonomy System uses software that integrates with aircraft autonomy systems and includes components for wildfire mission management, fire perception, path planning, suppression strategy, and suppressant targeting. The system also has infrared and visual spectrum cameras, inertial navigation, GPS and other sensors, and automated suppressant deployment equipment.

Rain plans to collaborate with Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company, to demonstrate how an uncrewed BLACK HAWK helicopter with Rain’s Wildfire Mission Autonomy System could respond rapidly to suppress incipient wildfires.

As we witness more wildfires by the year, Springwise has spotted many ways to manage and mitigate its devastation. A Berlin-based startup created a sensor that uses AI to detect ultra-early wildfires, while Mitiga is using physics and AI to assess risk in real-time up to 100 years into the future.

Written By: Anam Alam

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A vertical take-off and landing aircraft that is 40 per cent cheaper to run than a helicopter 
CategoriesSustainable News

A vertical take-off and landing aircraft that is 40 per cent cheaper to run than a helicopter 

By Zarkon Group,

Spotted: For city-to-city travel, going by air is notoriously bad for our planet. Planes pump an array of greenhouse gases high up in the atmosphere, producing potent warming effects. Thankfully, UK startup ARC Aerosystems is set to be a player in mitigating the aviation sector’s emissions with its new, uniquely designed passenger aircraft. The ARC Linx P9 has been called the “world’s most advanced nine-seater aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capability.” 

The revolutionary aircraft provides the flexibility of a helicopter with the performance of a fixed-wing utility aircraft, cutting costs by using a more simplistic drivetrain than a chopper. Moreover, this single-rotor aircraft is low-carbon, too, as it has been crafted to run on sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), or even, in the future, hydrogen. 

Of the innovation, ARC’s CEO Seyed Mohseni said, “it’s a very exciting design concept that is the ultimate solution for the market, that is affordable, safe and practical, whilst providing the right answer to the current environmental concerns.” 

While the new ARC Linx P9 is not yet commercially available, the company claims it could be airborne as soon as 2028.  

Springwise has previously spotted other advancements set to make the aviation sector more sustainable, including a flight powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel, and a zero-emission electric plane.

Written By: Georgia King

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Rolls-Royce and EasyJet test hydrogen-powered aircraft engine
CategoriesSustainable News

Rolls-Royce and EasyJet test hydrogen-powered aircraft engine

By Zarkon Group,

British airline EasyJet and engineering company Rolls-Royce have run a commercial aircraft engine on hydrogen in what they claim is a “world first”, potentially paving the way for the decarbonisation of plane travel.

The companies trialled the engine in a ground test at the UK Defence Ministry’s Boscombe Down aircraft testing site using renewably-made green hydrogen and a converted Rolls-Royce AE 2100 – a regional aircraft engine.

The engine is considered an early concept demonstrator, so the technology is still in its infancy. But both Rolls-Royce and EasyJet say they are committed to proving that hydrogen can be a safe and efficient zero-carbon fuel for civil aviation.

Photo of a man in hi-vis shining a light into the parts of a large aircraft engine
Rolls-Royce has converted one of its aircraft engines to run on hydrogen

“The success of this hydrogen test is an exciting milestone,” said Rolls-Royce chief technology officer Grazia Vittadini.

“We are committed to continuing to support this ground-breaking research because hydrogen offers great possibilities for a range of aircraft,” added EasyJet CEO Johan Lundgren. “That will be a huge step forward in meeting the challenge of net zero by 2050.”

The test, which the companies claim was a “world first”, used green hydrogen supplied by the European Marine Energy Centre and created with the help of wind and tidal power in Scotland’s Orkney Islands.

This renewable electricity was used to power an electrolyser, which separates hydrogen from water in a process called electrolysis.

Photo of a woman in hi-vis adjusting parts on a large aircraft engine
It was produced in partnership with EasyJet

To maximise the amount of hydrogen that fits into a tank, the gas is compressed to a pressure of 200 bar – equivalent to around 200 times the atmospheric pressure on Earth.

Rolls-Royce’s AE 2100-A engine was converted to combust this hydrogen instead of conventional fossil fuel-derived kerosene.

Rolls-Royce and EasyJet now plan to analyse the test data to improve their understanding of how to handle and operate hydrogen as an aviation fuel.

The partners are also planning future tests, starting with further ground tests before they move on to carrying out test flights.

They also plan to bring in a jet engine, the Rolls-Royce Pearl 15. This is more powerful than the AE 2100-A, which is generally used for smaller turboprop planes.

As signatories of the United Nations’ Race to Zero campaign, both Rolls-Royce and EasyJet are committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 in an effort to keep global warming below the crucial threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Photo of men standing behind a large engine on a testing site
The engine was tested at a military facility in the UK

Coming up with an alternative aviation fuel is a huge challenge for airlines, which currently contribute about 2.5 per cent of global CO2 emissions.

Green hydrogen is seen as a possible solution because it is made using renewable resources – green energy and water – and theoretically could see planes emit only water when used as a fuel.

There are several potential ways to use hydrogen in an engine, including as a liquid rather than a gas and as a fuel cell rather than through combustion.

However, critics have doubts whether jet planes will ever have the capacity to carry as much hydrogen as is needed to make their long journeys, and it is likely that aircraft would need to be quite heavily redesigned.

Several small hydrogen-powered aircraft have already flown, including those from aircraft developer ZeroAvia. Among the large airlines, Airbus is also pursuing the use of hydrogen, and in 2020 revealed three concepts for future aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen.

Rolls-Royce Holdings is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines after General Motors and revealed its net-zero strategy in 2021. The company is separate to Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, which is wholly owned by the BMW Group.

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