While the Jetsons lived in the far-off year 2062, one aspect of their futuristic world will become a reality next year: flying cars

We previously reported on the Transition, the two-seater drivable aircraft that the Massachusetts company Terrafugia has been developing over the past four years.

The Federal Aviation Administration recently approved the vehicle, and the company expects it to be available by the end of 2011.

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Tags: Aerospace, Aviation, Cars, Civil, Mechanical, Transportation

Catherine Mohr works on integrating new surgical technologies into robots such as the da Vinci.

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Tags: Aerospace, Biomedical, Mechanical, Robotics, Transportation

The first crossing by air over the English Channel was in 1785, when French inventor Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American physician John Jeffries crossed the body of water by a hydrogen gas balloon.

Now, another milestone may be reached, as the world’s first solar-powered blimp plans to attempt the same feat.

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Tags: Aerospace, Electrical, Transportation

A D-series supersonic jet from MIT (MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences)

In the next three decades, air traffic is predicted to double, which will require a lot of fuel and potentially increase harmful emissions.

To combat this, NASA challenged six different research groups to radically redesign the passenger aircraft in order to increase fuel efficiency, lower emissions, and allow planes to take off on shorter runways.

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Filed under: Aerospace, e-News, Materials, Transportation | Comments Off on Leaving on a Futuristic Jet Plane

Tags: Aerospace, Aviation, Green Transportation, Materials, Transportation

While a vacation and a hotel stay in outer space may sound exciting, you might not want to hop on that rocket ship just yet.

Commercial space flight, as well as the prospect of establishing a colony in space where humans can live and procreate, are being questioned by a recent study that reveals the heath hazards of living in space.

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Tags: Aerospace, Space, Space Tourism