The world's largest commercial drone will fly for the first time in 2024: fused wings and body, hydrogen power and zero emissions

IT House reported on May 26 that "wing-body fusion" is a hot design direction for future aircraft in recent years, that is, "the wings are also part of the cabin", so it can provide more fuselage. space to carry more passengers and reduce the cost of commercial flights.

Recently, the Natilus company’s wing-body fusion “Kona” cargo aircraft prototype is being tested on a quarter-scale model in California.

According to officials, "Kona" is currently being built to full scale and is planned to become the world's largest commercial drone. It has a wingspan of 85 feet (26 meters) and is designed to operate on runways as short as 800 meters. When taking off, it can carry 3.8 tons of payload and have a range of 1,035 miles (1,667 kilometers) when using a fuel engine. It is expected to start flying in 2024.

▲ Picture source Natilus official website

Natilus claims that with its huge internal capacity and lift-generating fuselage shape, the aircraft can radically reduce the cost of short-distance cargo flights and carry 60% more cargo than conventional aircraft of the same size, thereby making every passenger Pound cargo costs and cargo emissions are reduced by about half.

As Zeroavia joins the "Kona" aircraft development program, the "Kona" aircraft will also add an additional zero-emission version. As part of the cooperation, Zeroavia will provide an aircraft called "ZA-600" (IT Note: Refers to the hydrogen-electric power system (the power system is 600 kilowatts).

For clean flight, aircraft using hydrogen power systems are lighter than current "purely electric" aircraft, but the hydrogen power system means they take up more space, so they are more suitable for this type of wing body Integrating aircraft with "larger utilization space".

Zeroavia has previously installed this power system on the side of a 19-seat Dornier 228 aircraft for testing. This is also the largest hydrogen-powered aircraft to take off for the first time. Zeroavia aims to be certified and provide clean commercial flight power by 2025.

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