Company Moving Forward with Unmanned (and Jet Fuel-Powered) Cargo Planes

­The aviation industry is looking to save energy and slash costs, but they’re running into one key problem – almost nothing can match the efficiency and energy density of jet fuel. So they’re looking elsewhere – namely, the pilot’s seat.

Poseidon Aerospace recently received $11 million in seed funding ahead of the first test flight of its unmanned cargo plane. And unlike so many other recent “firsts” in the aviation sector, this one isn’t powered by electricity or the sun. Instead, it runs on old-fashioned fossil fuels (and removes humans from the controls).

And until we see some dramatic advancements in battery technology, efficiency “gains” like this (i.e., saving money on the pilot) could be the best the industry can hope for. Jet fuel has an exponentially higher energy density than current batteries – about 12,000 watt-hours per kilogram vs 250 to 330 Wh/kg for lithium-ion batteries.

So in order to accommodate a jetliner, a battery would be so heavy as to make flight nearly impossible (and definitely not with passengers aboard). On top of that, planes normally burn through jet fuel throughout the flight, shedding weight by the end, while electric planes retain their weight from start to finish. That’s why the battery-powered planes we do see are usually drone-sized.

As Poseidon Aerospace’s co-founder and CEO David Zagaynov points out, “It’s really hard to beat the energy density of fuels of anything carbon-related,” Zagaynov said. “Can I make a really good box with wings to move things for super cheap? If you do that, then abstracting the tech away, we’re left with unmanned cargo like planes that are able to operate on a much lower cost curve.”

Poseidon is aiming for far more viable efficiency gains, owing to a pilot’s relatively limited functional range (and high costs).

“Get rid of the cockpit; get rid of the life support systems,” he said. “You get to pull a ton of structured weight out, which then means that your ratio of payload to empty weight changes. Your engines can be much lighter, much more efficient, and so it’s like a virtuous cycle in the positive direction of just lighter, cheaper.”

Poseidon is hoping to make the first test flight of its unmanned cargo plane by the end of the year.