AeroVironment Marks 50 Years of Achieving the Impossible
July 27 2020 - 9:26AM
Business Wire
In the 1970s, AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) founder Dr. Paul B.
MacCready, Jr. became the first to design and build an aircraft
that successfully achieved controlled human-powered flight, giving
birth to the company’s reputation of achieving the impossible in
aerospace engineering. Now, as the company begins its 50th year in
business, it’s preparing to break yet another barrier by enabling a
first-of-its-kind mission on Mars.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200727005463/en/
For more information on AeroVironment’s
50th anniversary campaign, visit www.avinc.com/50 (Graphic:
Business Wire)
AeroVironment began operations in 1971 as a small engineering
firm focused on applying aerodynamic principles to solve important
challenges facing the world. Since its founding, AeroVironment and
its innovators have done just that.
Following groundbreaking human-powered aircraft including the
Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross, AeroVironment proceeded to
reshape the battlefield as the leader in tactical unmanned aircraft
systems (UAS), including Raven®, Puma™, Wasp® and Quantix™ Recon,
and tactical missile systems with Switchblade® and Blackwing™.
AeroVironment also pioneered the concept of high-altitude
solar-powered UAS, setting world unmanned flight and
telecommunications records at the turn of the millennium with
Helios and Pathfinder Plus. Today, AeroVironment’s HAPSMobile Inc.
joint-venture with SoftBank Corp. has led to the next evolution in
stratospheric unmanned flight with the development of the Sunglider
solar-powered high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS), currently
undergoing testing at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
But AeroVironment isn’t stopping at the outermost regions of
Earth’s atmosphere. The company will further humanity’s exploration
of our solar system and its search for evidence of life beyond
Earth when NASA’s Perseverance Rover departs on its seven-month
journey to Mars this summer. Secured to the underbelly of
Perseverance is the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which will be the
first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet.
Ingenuity is the brainchild of Dr. Bob Balaram of NASA/JPL.
AeroVironment began working on the concept of a Mars helicopter
with Dr. Balaram in the 1990s and collaborated with NASA/JPL in the
development and testing of Ingenuity. The atmosphere of Mars is
very similar to that of the Earth’s stratosphere at 100,000 feet
above sea level. Applying their knowledge from past stratospheric
unmanned solar flight programs with Helios and Pathfinder Plus,
AeroVironment’s engineers designed and developed Ingenuity’s
airframe and major subsystems, including its rotor, rotor blades,
hub and control mechanism hardware, propulsion motors, landing
gears, power electronics and the thermal enclosure for JPL's
avionics, sensors and software systems.
“Throughout our history, customers have presented us with
challenges that seemed impossible, but instead of viewing these as
barriers, we choose to see them as opportunities at AeroVironment,”
said Wahid Nawabi, president and chief executive officer of
AeroVironment. “Whether it’s aerial robotics, flying robotic
hummingbirds, interplanetary drones, or ‘what’s coming next’ behind
the closed doors of our MacCready Works lab, AeroVironment will
continue to overcome ‘impossible’ challenges to support the success
of our customers.”
For more information on AeroVironment’s 50th anniversary
campaign and to view a timeline of AeroVironment’s innovations,
visit www.avinc.com/50.
About AeroVironment, Inc.
AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV) provides customers with more
actionable intelligence so they can proceed with certainty. Based
in California, AeroVironment is a global leader in unmanned
aircraft systems and tactical missile systems, and serves defense,
government, and commercial customers. For more information, visit
www.avinc.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements in this press release may constitute
"forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are made
on the basis of current expectations, forecasts and assumptions
that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited
to, economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors
outside of our control, that may cause our business, strategy or
actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied. Factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, our ability to perform under existing contracts and
obtain additional contracts; changes in the regulatory environment;
the activities of competitors; failure of the markets in which we
operate to grow; failure to expand into new markets; failure to
develop new products or integrate new technology with current
products; and general economic and business conditions in the
United States and elsewhere in the world. For a further list and
description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports we
file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We do not intend,
and undertake no obligation, to update any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
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View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200727005463/en/
AeroVironment, Inc. Makayla Thomas +1 (805) 520-8350
pr@avinc.com
Mark Boyer For AeroVironment, Inc. +1 (310) 229-5956
mark@boyersyndicate.com
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