DARPA’s VTOL Experimental Plane (VTOL X-Plane) program seeks to enable radical improvements in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flight through innovative cross-pollination between the fixed-wing and rotary-wing worlds.
Across the atmosphere of Earth, lightning flashes about 50 times per second. That’s 4.3 million times a day and roughly 1.5 billion times a year. Using a new instrument on the International Space Station (ISS), scientists are trying to observe and dissect at least a few of those lightning bolts every day. Image © Astronaut photograph ISS038-E-16781