Ascendance Atea eVTOL To Take Flight In 2025 Relative newcomer to the eVTOL space Ascendance Flight Technologies has been quietly working behind the scenes on their new craft. It is still early days but the company believes that it will fly its first full-scale prototype sometime this year. Lots of ground tests have been conducted so far with an 'iron bird' and technology demonstrators. The next task is to be able to scale up the industrialization to match the next swathes of the program needed to take it toward certification.
Ascendance Flight Technologies is a French company and they have recently extended the partnership they have with Capgemini Engineering to help the company move from just small technology demonstrators to the commercialization of full-scale aircraft. By-the-way, the Atea is going to be a hybrid-electric aircraft. The first aircraft powered by Sterna, for passenger transport, medical and cargo. Cutting carbon emissions by up to 80% it is a possible attractive alternative to helicopters.
“After a successful first phase to support their innovative product development roadmap, we are now pivoting from technology demonstrations to industrialization,” Capgemini CEO William Rozé said in a statement. “Together, with Ascendance’s hybrid modular propulsion system and Capgemini’s end-to-end capabilities in critical engineering disciplines, digital and business transformation, we are ready to accelerate and soon deploy decarbonized solutions at scale for the aviation industry.”
The range is anticipated to be 400 km and travel with a pilot and 4 passengers onboard. Atea is also expected to have a 400 kg payload. The company had its founding in about 2018 and has since then built 7 subscale demonstrators. Sterna is the propulsion system that is powering the aircraft and Ascendance expects to sell the Sterna propulsion system separately as well. For more information: Ascendance Flight Technologies 3 avenue Bernard Maris Bâtiment Zéphyr 31400 Toulouse France www.ascendance-ft.com ***
