Impossible Aerospace wants to revolutionize drones, then planes

Drones change photography, but they also facilitate surveillance, monitoring of fields and crops, and inspecting infrastructure. The problem is that most drones, even those used in these commercial and industrial environments, face the same big problem: reduced battery life.

Californian start-up Impossible Aerospace claims to have found a solution. The company, which came out of the scene Monday announcing a $ 9.4 million fundraising, partly funded by Airbus Airbag, claims no advances in battery or promises a flashy concept of decoding of devices. Instead, the company says it has simply redesigned the way drones are designed and built – apparently with excellent results. Impossible says its first drone, which is about the size of a DJI Phantom, can last up to two hours of flying, far more than the 20 to 40-minute flight hours offered by most other consumer solutions or professional.

This is the kind of progress that could radically change the companies and industries that already rely on drones to get things done. And although emerging out of the shadows for the first time this week, the company's CEO, Spencer Gore, has already set itself a much larger goal: that of air travel.

The impossible solution to reduce the battery life – and, therefore, more flight time on a similarly sized case – is relatively simple: instead of using a separable battery pack tucked in all its structure. The battery is not only in the drone; it is basically the whole thing. This means that more battery cells can be used, but there is also less off-battery weight to compensate, resulting in longer flight times.

The idea of ​​this new design of drone construction was inspired by Gore's time at Tesla, where he worked for years on battery design for models such as Model X and Model 3 he says, is the way the company has designed its cars around their batteries. Tesla has helped popularize the so-called "skateboard" model for electric vehicles, where the car's complete battery is integrated into the vehicle floor and connected to the wheels and axles. Then the rest of the car is built on top. It's a popular choice now; Volkswagen, for example, plans to spend billions of dollars to develop its own similar platform for its future range of electric vehicles.

This has been a radical change in the way electric vehicles have been made before, says Gore. Other manufacturers "would start by taking a gas-powered car and pulling out the engine, pulling out the fuel tank and replacing it with batteries and [electric] engines, he says. "But you ended up with something that had a pretty small battery in the wrong place, [with] a lot of extra weight, and he would drive maybe for 80 miles on a load, at best. "

Image: Impossible Aerospace

When he realized that the same problem was raging in the drone industry, Gore saw an opportunity.

"We started by asking ourselves," If you are trying to fly this electric powertrain – this battery – as long as possible, how would we shape it? How could we build it? And how can we add the least material possible after that? "He said. "It took us in a completely different direction of design where what we have left is a more flying battery than a drone with a battery inside."

The final version of the Impossible Aerospace version is a quadricopter that looks like the others on the market, but its total flying time is four to six times as high as possible. His performance does not suffer either. US-1 is 42 miles at the hour and has a range of nearly 50 miles. The company sells the drone at $ 7,500 or with a thermal camera manufactured by Flir for $ 10,000. (According to the website of Imper Aerospace, the drone equipped with the camera can only be used for about an hour and ten minutes of flight time.) Gore says that he expects at that that the majority of clients come from the fields of private security, police, fire or search.

In addition to the obvious value of a dramatic increase in battery life, Gore is also pushing a parallel narrative to attract customers to the company's first drone, namely that Impossible Aerospace is a US drone company. With the Chinese DJI dominating the drone market, Gore says there is a local hunger for competition, particularly because of recent security concerns over the presence of Chinese technology companies in the United States.

"Whether we realize it or not, we have given air access to Chinese companies through millions of these drones to the entire national infrastructure," says the Department of Homeland Security. , referring to a 2017 note from Immigration and Customs Enforcement according to which the drones of DJI could transmit information to China. (DJI refuted the claims.)

Can not offer professionals a solution that, according to Gore, is not only designed and built in the United States, but it also does not use standard components. Only the cells of the battery are issued. Impossible does its own powertrain, its engines, and it even developed its own battery management system that Gore says is "automotive." (Vertical integration is another lesson Gore says he learned at Tesla.)

In the end, Gore says he wants to turn Impossible Aerospace into a company that makes large electric planes capable of carrying passengers.

"The US-1 is more than just a product. It's also a proof of concept for a new way of designing planes, "he says. According to him, Impéri Aerospace's little drone apart from the competition – its avant-garde design – will also give the company a bigger advantage, despite the overabundance of well-funded competitions that have unfolded in recent years. . flashy designs for electric planes.

In addition, according to Gore, most companies focused on electric aircraft think only of short-haul flights. "As far as I'm concerned, the world is fine if it does not happen," he says. "Impossible Aerospace's mission is to build the most powerful aircraft that can be built with electric propulsion. And our final is to become the aircraft manufacturer of the 21st century. "