between plane and helicopter, ATEA wants to be a means of regional transport “of the near future”
Less CO2 and noise, vertical takeoff and landing … The Toulouse start-up, Ascendance Flight Technologies, unveiled the design of its hybrid aircraft model ATEA on Wednesday, December 1st.
Half helicopter, half plane. Ascendance Flight Technologies unveiled the design of its ATEA, its hybrid take-off and landing aircraft on Wednesday, December 1 vertical.
“ATEA is the aircraft of the near future”, to affirm in a press release the start-up, created in 2018 by four Airbus alumni and today based in Toulouse. The company one but very specific: “accelerate the transition to green aviation” (just that), while the aviation sector is the source of 6.8% of France’s CO2 emissions in 2019 according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
To decarbonize aviation, Ascendance Flight Technologies used for ATEA the “hybrid technology”, or the combination of a heat engine (which, for the time being, works with kerosene, but which is suitable for other fuels “clean”) and an electric motor (which recharges during the flight).
This engine system allows, according to the start-up, to reduce CO2 emissions by 80% compared to a helicopter or an aircraft of equivalent size (the wingspan of ATEA will be 13 m). At approximately, for one hour of flight at equivalent speed, ATEA would thus release “only” 72 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere, against 360 kg of CO2 for a 5/6 seater helicopter which would consume 120 L of kerosene per hour.
Noise pollution could also decrease by four.
The device has a capacity of five places, in number the pilot. Do not think of crossing the ocean on board: ATEA is designed for peri-urban and regional transport; whether for simple passenger transport, tourism, medical emergencies, logistics or even surveillance.
Its autonomy is 400 km and its maximum speed is 200 km / h.
ATEA will enter the test phase in 2023, will be presented in partnership with ADP (Aéroports de Paris) during the 2024 Olympic Games before going into production in 2025.