August 23 - California, USA headquartered Aeros - developer of Aeroscraft, an innovate rigid air vehicle capable of transporting heavy cargoes - has seen its prototype aircraft Dragon Dream pass all Pentagon and NASA tests, set out under the Project Pelic
The tests and demonstrations were requested by the US Government to determine the readiness of the Aeroscraft, prior to entering the craft into serial production. Project Pelican was designed to address the challenges facing the USA's global reach capabilities.
Dragon Dream is a scaled-down version of the planned Aeroscraft that will be manufactured in the future. Aeros plans to develop 22 full-size Aeroscrafts in two weight bearing configurations, capable of lifting 66 tonnes and 260 tonnes respectively.
The vehicle's taxiing capability, load-bearing systems, air-bearing landing system, internal ballasting system, and low speed control systems were all tested successfully. Aeros added that the testing was completed one month ahead of schedule and within budget.
