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Aerospace Watchpoints For 2021

Graham Warwick December 18, 2020
China EHang commercial air taxi

Flying Taxis

Credit: EHang

China’s EHang could begin commercial air-taxi services as early as 2021, as trials by electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle-makers in pilot cities gather pace toward wider deployment of urban air mobility by 2023.

Astroscale ELSA-d demonstration mission

Orbital Cleanup

Credit: Astroscale

Amid growing alarm over the escalating risk of collisions as low-Earth-orbit megaconstellations proliferate, Astroscale’s ELSA-d capture demonstration in 2021 will be a first step toward a commercial debris-mitigation service.

Boeing Australia’s Airpower Teaming System unmanned aerial vehicle

Autonomous Adjunct

Credit: Boeing Australia

The “loyal wingman” concept of unmanned aircraft cooperating with manned combat platforms will be put to the test in 2021, with flights of Boeing Australia’s Airpower Teaming System and U.S. Air Force Skyborg prototypes.

DARPA hypersonic strike missile

Strike Supremacy

Credit: DARPA

With U.S. hypersonic strike-missile testing set to accelerate and potential rollouts of Chinese and Russian stealth bombers—and Northrop Grumman’s B-21—superpower struggles for technology supremacy will ramp up in 2021.

Norwegian long-haul aircraft

Long Haul

Credit: Norwegian

Air travel could begin returning to pre-COVID levels by the second half of 2021, but at differing rates. Low-cost airlines likely will recover more rapidly than legacy and long-haul low-cost carriers, as business and international flying lags leisure and domestic traffic.

SpaceX Starship Moon and Mars transporter spacecraft

Space Rides

Credit: SpaceX

From Virgin Galactic’s first paying-passenger suborbital flights to the first orbital launches of SpaceX’s Starship Moon and Mars transporter, commercial enterprise will continue to open up access to space throughout 2021.

Leonardo’s 275-kt. AW609 commercial rotorcraft

Speed Jump

Credit: Leonardo

After decades spent at 150 kt., commercial rotorcraft will see a jump in speed with likely certification of Leonardo’s 275-kt. AW609, the first civil tiltrotor and first flight of Airbus’ 220-kt. Racer compound helicopter demonstrator.

ZeroAvia fuel-cell testbed

Fly Zero

Credit: ZeroAvia

A 250-mi. demonstration flight by ZeroAvia’s fuel-cell testbed early in 2021 in Scotland will add impetus to interest in hydrogen propulsion as a route to zero-emissions aviation. A 19-seat regional aircraft is set to follow by 2023.

NASA Space Launch System core stage

Destination Moon

Credit: NASA

A successful static firing of the Space Launch System core stage by the end of 2020 would keep NASA on track for an uncrewed Orion capsule flight test in November 2021—but odds on a human return to the Moon in 2024 are lengthening.

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From loyal wingmen to hydrogen propulsion, here are some milestones expected in 2021.

Graham Warwick

Graham leads Aviation Week's coverage of technology, focusing on engineering and technology across the aerospace industry, with a special focus on identifying technologies of strategic importance to aviation, aerospace and defense.

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