Important Innovations

  Urban Air Taxis Becoming a Reality Source:  Vertical Aerospace Vertical Aerospace of  the UK UK flying taxi company Vertical Aerospace just announced that it has pre-orders for up to 1,000 of its zero emissions VA-X4 flying taxis from American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Avolon.  Also, Microsoft is providing the company with backing.  The pre-orders are worth $4 billion.  The electric flying taxi prototype is now in production with the first test flight slated for later this year. Tech Specs The e-VTOL takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter.  It can hit speeds of 202 mph and has a range of more than 100 miles.  VA-X4 is nearly silent during flight. It carries 4 passengers and a pilot. American Airlines has pre-ordered 250 vehicles with an option to purchase 100 more.  Dublin-based aircraft leasing company Avolon has preorders and options for 500 and Virgin Atlantic has a pre-order for 150 vehicles.  Pre-orders are conditional on certain milestones being reached, such of c

Space Tourist Gets Astronaut Wings Source:  Virgin Galactic:  Test Passenger Onboard this space flight gets astronaut wings  FAA Gives Virgin Galactic A Space Passenger Okay The FAA called this occasion as "the start of commercial human space flight is now a reality". Virgin Galactic's first test passenger for a journey to space received her commercial astronaut wings from the FAA, the US government's aviation regulatory agency.  That is a very big deal in the journey Virgin Galactic has taken to launch vacation tourists into space.  The woman flew in Virgin Galactic's rocket plane White Knight Two/Spaceship Two Passenger Craft to experience the space journey from a customer perspective. It was a big success. NASA Engineer The passenger is no novice.  Beth Moses is Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor and a former NASA engineer.  She's also now the first woman to fly to space on a commercial vehicle. What an accomplishment!  She was on t

Sir Richard Branson's High Speed Rails Source:  Brightline Accelerating and Expanding in US in 2019 Sir Richard Branson is filling a big gap in high speed rail travel in the US. The US is way behind China, Japan and Europe with their Maglevs and other high speed trains.  That's about to change.  Branson is rolling out high speed travel between Orlando and Tampa, Florida in 2019 and tackling LA to Vegas next. It's called Virgin Train USA and for details here's a great news link to my colleague and fellow journalist Ed Kane at  https://importantinnovationscollection.blogspot.com/2018/12/virgins-high-speed-rails.html