{"id":14097,"date":"2021-06-26T23:42:22","date_gmt":"2021-06-27T06:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=14097"},"modified":"2021-06-26T23:42:22","modified_gmt":"2021-06-27T06:42:22","slug":"archer-debuts-meet-its-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/archer-debuts-meet-its-maker\/","title":{"rendered":"Archer Debuts – Meet Its Maker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Immersive Introduction<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Amidst stage smoke and Hollywood-style dazzling lights, Archer Aviation<\/a> \u201cflew\u201d its Maker into public view two weeks ago.\u00a0 On an immersive cinema platform in a hangar in Hawthorne, California, Maker emerged amid all the pounding two drummers could produce.\u00a0 It seemed to hover above the varied scenery over which it appeared and the on-stage and on-screen special effects were special indeed.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rihmgQEXxNo<\/p>\n

The cynosure of the hoopla, however, was strangely static, even though its guiding lights were highly animated.\u00a0 Co-founders and Co-CEOs Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein performed flawlessly in promoting their creation, adding to the professionalism of the event.\u00a0 Since the event was inside, and the crowd was allowed to come on stage under the rotor blades, it was probably prudent to have the motors raised and inactive.<\/p>\n

Less static in this Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) rendering, the Maker displays the flow around its 12 rotors in vertical flight.\u00a0 Since battery tests are underway, perhaps soon we will see Maker taking flight.\u00a0 Then we can make genuine comparisons with Joby’s machine and Beta’s Alia.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/sustainableskies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/726ee190-2ef0-40fd-adb6-40a7a0aa3d44_CFD_Desk_v071.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

The craft carries 74 kilowatt-hours of Meru battery energy, about equal to an early Tesla S.\u00a0 Its 12 motors can generate a maximum of 672 kilowatts (900.8 horsepower), or about 56 kW (75 hp.) each.\u00a0 The amount of battery energy would be used up in about six minutes, though, at full power.\u00a0 This would indicate a flight path that would rise quickly and transition to forward motion and aerodynamics for the quick mission.\u00a0 We will need better batteries – and soon.<\/p>\n

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Archer’s Maker fuselage with systems. GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite System – an all-encompassing set of NAV systems that include GPS.\u00a0 Red stacked boxes represent battery system<\/p><\/div>\n

Competition and Litigation are Heating Up<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Is it just me, or are a great many of the growing crop of eVTOLs looking somewhat similar, like the front-runners in a beauty pageant?\u00a0 It’s often hard to see subtle differences between designs, some of which may be hidden in software or firmware.\u00a0 Those similarities, though, have led to a lawsuit from Wisk against Archer.\u00a0 eVTOL News reports<\/a>, “On April 6 of this year, Wisk Aero filed a lawsuit against Archer, alleging theft of intellectual property and trade secrets, stating that three outgoing Wisk employees downloaded significant amounts of data from its servers prior to resigning and leaving the company for Archer; Wisk noted, in particular, the similarity of its as-yet unbuilt design filed in a January 2020 patent application and the Archer design ”<\/p>\n