Innovation takes off n° 31 June 2021 www.cleansky.eu Our common Contents vision for Editorial 3 green and Our common vision for green and competitive European aviation 4 competitive A vision of the future of civil aviation 5 European DLR shapes the transition towards Green Aviation 6 aviation When (small) size matters 7 ONERA: a major partner in aviation research 8 CIRA’s new technologies and approaches for greener aviation 9 FIDAMC: making the new age of aeronautics happen 10 Designing the future of aviation: Łukasiewicz – ILOT in the spotlight 11 Manufacturing and delivery of the central fuselage for 12 the RACER demonstrator Clean Sky underpins ARA’s R&T activity 13 Clean Aviation for a Competitive Green Recovery 12 in Europe: Innovative Ideas Take Flight Announcements 16 4 DLR shapes CIRA’s new the transition technologies and towards Green approaches for greener Aviation aviation 6 9 Designing the future Clean Aviation for a of aviation: Łukasiewicz Competitive Green – ILOT in the spotlight Recovery in Europe: Innovative Ideas Take Flight 11 14-15 2 Skyline 31 | June 2021 EDITORIAL Axel Krein Executive Director, Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking Research centres are the bridge between academia and industry or aviation, the road towards climate At Clean Sky’s Spring Event in April this year, perfectly with Clean Sky’s objectives. The Fneutrality is neither straight nor simple. Prof. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla of DLR outlined this use of composite materials will be extremely Disruptive, daring innovation in aviation is as a key benefit. ‘We combine our knowledge important in the sustainable aviation fleet of needed if we are to reach climate-neutrality from aerospace and from other sectors,’ she the future – and FIDAMC is helping to make by 2050. said. ‘This accelerates our research toward our their uptake a success! common goal of sustainable aviation.’ As Rosalinde van der Vlies, the Clean Planet The Łukasiewicz Research Network - Institute Director at the European Commission, points Research organisations not only take part in our of Aviation (Łukasiewicz – ILOT) is one of out in her article for this edition of Skyline, research projects, they also conduct important the oldest research facilities in Europe. The business as usual is no longer an option. A studies and evaluate Clean Sky’s progress. strategic research areas of the Institute are coherent, aligned approach between all aviation, space and unmanned technologies, segments of the aviation sector is needed to For example, DLR, the German Aerospace making them perfect partners for Clean reach our goals – and this is one of the core Centre, leads the evaluation of Clean Sky projects. beliefs of Clean Sky. This edition of Skyline Sky’s success as part of the Technology aims to highlight the achievements of research Evaluator framework. Under Clean Sky 2, two Together with ROMAERO SA, INCAS, the organisations within the Clean Sky ecosystem assessments will take place – the first has just Romanian National Institute for Aerospace on our journey towards sustainable flight. been completed, and concluded that Clean Research ‘Elie Carafoli’, form the Romanian Sky delivers in line with its objectives. You RoRCraft Consortium which is strongly So far, 113 research organisations from 21 can read about the results of the First Global involved in the RACER project. They recently countries have taken part in Clean Sky’s Assessment of Clean Sky here. reached an important milestone – the projects. Their role within our ecosystem is delivery of the central fuselage – and hosted vital – on top of initiating and developing Clean Sky research organisations recently a high-level event to mark the occasion their own new technical proposals, they act took part in a study on what the future in Romania. as incubators, taking ideas and concepts that of aviation would look like, organised by have been developed through academia EREA, the Association of European Research The Aircraft Research Association (ARA), and transforming them into technologies Establishments in Aeronautics. This interesting based in the UK, have worked closely with that have useful applications for industry and study designed four possible future aviation both Rolls-Royce and Airbus on various Clean subsequently, society. scenarios. “Scenarios make it possible to Sky projects. Currently, Clean Sky research visualise a future direction and to build a plan projects account for 10-15% of ARA’s annual Research centres often bridge the gap of actions,” says Ligeia Paletti of the Royal research programme, which shows how between academic concepts and real-world Netherlands Aerospace Centre. important the goals of sustainable aviation solutions – and that is why they are an integral have become! part of the Clean Sky Programme. They The Netherlands Aerospace Centre also are skilled at identifying the best routes for believes we should not underestimate the Our research organisation partners are a technology transfer, opening up conversations potential of drones when developing the critical part of Clean Sky’s success. They around the potential of academic concepts future air fleet. Take a look at the article on page are constantly working on the interface for industrial use and investigating the most 7 to discover why small can also be mighty! between academia and industry, making promising possibilities. them experts in transforming knowledge The French Aerospace Lab (ONERA) and into actionable results. They are a binding An additional value of research centres is the Italian Aerospace Centre (CIRA) are two force for connectivity and innovation, and that they bring expertise and knowledge research organisations that have a long history with the diverse range of expertise available from other sectors to the fore. A research with Clean Sky. From DRAGON to HIGH- through them, they regularly come up with centre might house experts in laminar TRIP (ONERA) to SAT-AM and T-WING (CIRA) groundbreaking new ideas, pushing the flow technologies, or thermoplastics, or 3D projects, their innovative work and out-of-the- boundaries in clean aviation technology. printing, which might be used in another box thinking has been an inspiration! Read context but can be applied to aviation more about their contributions to Clean Sky’s I hope you enjoy reading about our research challenges. The automobile sector, for success on pages 8 and 9. organisations within the pages of this edition example, often develops technologies of Skyline. We trust that they will help us which can be modified for use in aviation, and FIDAMC, with its focus on lightweight achieve our ambitious vision – climate- vice versa. and robust composite materials, fits in neutral aviation by 2050! Skyline 31 | June 2021 3 OUR COMMON VISION FOR GREEN AND COMPETITIVE EUROPEAN AVIATION Rosalinde van der Vlies Director, Clean Planet, DG Research and Innovation, European Commission Making the EU the world’s first climate-neutral continent roadmap, the ATAG 2050, the World Economic Forum Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition, by 2050 remains our objective and priority. the FCH-CS2 report on hydrogen-powered aviation, the upcoming EREA vision study and of course the focused SRIA, serve as an ear Skyline readers, development – and, of course, research and excellent basis for this new start. D innovation. There are many success stories we A year ago, nobody could have predicted can be proud of. For example, many EU-funded In our path to climate neutrality, more the scale of societal and economic challenges R&I projects (e.g. ATICA, ALFA-BIRD, DREAM, than ever we need to join forces and work inflicted by COVID-19. As vaccination is NEWAC, BIO4A) contributed to the success together across the value chains and exploit underway, we can all agree that European of the recent A350 test flight fuelled by 100% synergies between the EU and national R&I significantly contributed in accelerating SAF. Our efforts in aviation technologies are aviation programmes, as well as between the global response. This makes us proud complementing new pathways for renewable aeronautics, transport, space and defence. and gives us the strength to continue with sustainable aviation fuels with new pilot We all play a role to foster those links and even more determination. Earlier this month, and scale-up SAF projects aligned with the I see a particular role for the Association the European Commission’s President Ursula ReFuelEU aviation legislative process. Horizon of European Research Establishments in von der Leyen announced new research Europe, with a budget of €95.5 billion for the Aeronautics to foster links between EU efforts on mutations of the COVID-19 virus, next seven years - the biggest EU programme and national aviation programmes and in a bid to prepare the next generation for research and innovation ever - will invest bring together academia and industry, of vaccines; these initiatives will also have in enabling technologies (e.g. hydrogen, including SMEs. benefits for aviation and mobility. batteries, AI, HPC, ATM and manufacturing) that will allow aviation to take a transformative path. Beyond congratulating the Clean Sky team The EU’s long-term budget, coupled with for the excellent organisation and outcome NextGenerationEU, will be the largest Business as usual is no longer an option. We of the annual event, my final message is a stimulus package ever financed through the need to focus on high risk, breakthrough pledge towards a coherent, aligned and win- EU budget. A total of €1.8 trillion will help technologies in order to deliver on our win approach in all the aviation threads of rebuild a post-COVID-19 Europe. It will be European Green Deal objectives. We also Horizon Europe. Through all the instruments a greener, more digital and more resilient need this for the competitiveness of our available at EU level to support aviation Europe. Making the EU the world’s first European industry. The Strategic Research and research and innovation, in particular the climate-neutral continent by 2050 remains Innovation Agendas (SRIAs) for the European future Clean Aviation partnership, we should our objective and priority.