AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024 - 54

BRIEFING
TECHNOLOGY /
Gravity Jet Suit
HERE'S SOME OF WHAT WE SAW:
The husband-and-wife team of Taber
MacCallum and Jane Poynter updated
attendees on their plan to send passengers
to the edge of space in a plush capsule
elevated by a balloon the size of a
football stadium. Their company, Space
Perspective, launched a test balloon from
a ship near St. Petersburg, Florida, and
recovered the balloon and pressurized
capsule called Spaceship NeptuneExcelsior
in September, paving the way for
passenger flights to begin soon.
JetZero envisions future airline flights
to be considerably more comfortable and
efficient thanks to its blended wing body
aircraft in development. Tom O'Leary,
CEO and co-founder, said the design will
decrease fuel burn and emissions by 50 percent
compared to conventional airliners
while still using existing engines. A version
of the design will be adaptable to hydrogen
power when that becomes practical. In a
passenger configuration, O'Leary indicated
an airline could save $1 million a month in
fuel for an aircraft the size of a Boeing 787.
The JetZero design can carry 250 passengers
on transatlantic flights at Mach 0.80.
Hermeus is promising a dramatic
JetZero
New in mobility
Emerging technologies showcased at UP.Summit
BY THOMAS B. HAINES
MOBIL ITY TECH ENTREPRENEURS showcased their new projects and latest achievements
before an audience of potential investors at the annual invitation-only UP.Summit in
Bentonville, Arkansas. A tepid funding report from McKinsey & Company about the future
air mobility industry did little to quell the enthusiasm for all things new in mobility-
aviation and otherwise-at the event, conducted at Bentonville Municipal Airport/Louise
M. Thaden Field. Sometimes dubbed the Davos of mobility, UP.Summit, sponsored by the
investment group UP.Partners, included some 300 attendees for a day and a half of TED
Talk-style presentations and demonstrations of an array of emerging technologies.
Everything from reusable rockets and ramjets to self-driving bulldozers and Tesla
Cybertrucks was discussed and showcased. Tesla provided 21 of its stainless-steel electric
pickup trucks to shuttle attendees between hotels and the airport events.
54
AOPA PILOT / December 2024
increase in airline travel speed with
its proposed Mach 5 airliner. The
hypersonic aircraft is undergoing testing
now, according to A.J. Piplica, CEO and
co-founder of the company. Among the
products being developed is an uncrewed
hypersonic aircraft for the military.
Ultimately, the company will produce
Halcyon, a 125-seat hypersonic airliner
capable of flying from New York to London
in 90 minutes, Piplica said.
In the fast, but not-quite-so-speedy
department, Blake Scholl highlighted
Boom, the Colorado company developing a
supersonic transport aircraft. Its one-thirdscale
XB-1 aircraft first flew in March.
Additional flight tests were scheduled for
this fall. The full-scale airplane-called
Overture-with 64 business class seats, will
be capable of flying from San Francisco to
Honolulu in about two and a half hours,
and from Tokyo to Seattle in about four
and half hours. It will use conventional

AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2024