The drone business is a growing industry backed by the very large, capital rich military budget.  And the scary part of all of this is that this is the beginning, preliminary stages.  In time – this technology will innovate, re-innovate, and merge with other new technologies.  In time – like most military technology … this will prove to be useful for the “Average Joe” in some capacity.  The military tends to work as a resource and development incubator for new technologies that ends up rolling the direction of the consumer market in some form or fashion.  The potential for this technology is great but the potential for abuse also gives me pause.

An Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado created this new aircraft and decided to make it a business.  You can read more about the GOJETT HERE:

“The UAV is intended to shape the next generation of flight experimentation… Its thrust capacity makes the aircraft capable of reaching Mach 1.4, which is slightly faster than the speed of sound. Starkey says that regardless of the speed reached by the UAV, the aircraft will break the world record for speed in its weight class.

Its compact airframe is about 5 feet wide and 6 feet long. The aircraft costs between $50,000 and $100,000 — a relatively small price tag in a field that can advance only through testing, which sometimes means equipment loss.

Starkey’s technology — three years in the making at CU-Boulder — is transitioning into a business venture through his weeks-old Starkey Aerospace Corp., called Starcor for short. The company was incubated by eSpace, which is a CU-affiliated nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurial space companies. Starkey’s UAV already has garnered interest from the U.S. Army, Navy, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA. The acclaimed Aviation Week publication also has highlighted Starkey’s UAV.

Starkey says technology transfer is important because it parlays university research into real-life applications that advance societies and contribute to local and global economies.”

In addition to the supersonic drone – researchers are working on drones that work together as swarms and drones that that are the size of insects.  Those aren’t ready for prime time but they’re working on them urgently.  Coming to a domestic scenario near you.  You can find more about that HERE.

Comments

comments