NASA takes you into the sky with its Puffin

William Atkins
Thursday, 21 January 2010 22:05

Science - Space

The U.S. aeronautics and space agency NASA has just announced the design of its Puffin aircraft, a hover-capable, electrically-powered, vertical takeoff and landing propeller aircraft that may one day make personal air travel as easy as: three, two, one, blastoff.


The Puffin is designed to be able to carry one person at speeds of 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour) for a distance up to eighty kilometers (fifty miles) and an altitude of about 9,150 meters (30,000 feet, or about 5.7 miles).

However, the Puffin can attain speeds of up to 480 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour) for brief bursts of time.

Its electric motor, powered by rechargeable batteries, is up to 95% efficient, much more efficient that internal combustion engines and much more environmentally friendly.

The aircraft has dimensions of 3.7 meters (12 feet) in length and a wingspan of 4.1 meters (13.5 feet).

It is electrically propelled with the use of 56 kilograms (about 123 pounds of weight on Earth’s surface) of rechargeable lithium phosphate batteries.

The Puffin is made from carbon-fiber composites, so only has a mass of 135 kilograms (about 297 pounds of weight on Earth’s surface), not including its 56 kilograms of batteries.

During flight, the pilot lays horizontally in the vehicle similar to a glider.

However, while taking off and landing the pilot assumes the vertical position while the craft vertically takes off and lands—what is called VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing)—as its tail splits into four parts in order to act as a landing gear.

Flaps on the wings act to stabilize the craft as it rises on launch and descends during landing.

See the YouTube animated video of the Puffin aircraft, take off, fly, and land, on page two of this iTWire article.

Page two continues.