December Meeting (Zoom) 12/08/21

Why Electric Aircraft are a Bigger Engineering Challenge than Electric Cars

Electric cars are becoming commonplace, but electric aircraft are a nascent technology. Aircraft and cars create lift and propulsion in fundamentally different ways. These differences mean that electric propulsion systems for aircraft will be optimized very differently from automotive propulsion systems. LaunchPoint Electric Propulsion Solutions is at the forefront of engineering electric and hybrid-electric propulsion for large drones and air taxis. We will discuss technologies that will enable hybrid and electric aircraft and how they are both similar and different to automotive technologies.

Mike Ricci, Chief Technical Officer, LaunchPoint Electric Propulsion Solutions is the driving force behind LaunchPoint's "Propulsion By Wire" electric aircraft propulsion system and has spent the last decade leading projects developing hybrid-electric propulsion technologies. He is actively engaged with the aerospace research community and is a regular contributor and speaker at electric aviation conferences and workshops. Ricci has extensive experience in power electronics, electromagnetic and mechanical systems, embedded software development, and control system design. Ricci holds an MS in Control Systems Engineering from UCSB and a BS in Engineering in Applied Sciences from Caltech.