Crop-Dusting Drone: the Roswell Flight Test Crew at Xponential 2021 [VIDEO]

Our friends from the Roswell Flight Test Crew were on the floor at AUVSI’s Xponential 2021 – and in the episode featured below, they interview Sasha Mela at Venture Aerospace about the company’s design for a 500-pound crop-dusting drone.

“Founded by NASA scientists, powered by brilliant young  engineers, Venture Aerospace has developed new engines, new materials and new aircraft designs. The IP creates new ways of building all sorts of products, from generators and heavy lift drones to paddle boards and ultra light powered autogyros,” says Venture.  At their booth in the Xponential 2021 expo hall, company representatives showed off some of their newest innovations – including the “Fury.”

A crop dusting drone has major advantages over manned aircraft.  As regulations evolve to allow more applications in precision agriculture, the market for aircraft designed to provide longer flight endurance combined with precision and payload options is set to grow exponentially.

This new design from Venture could fill a market need.  Capable of carrying a 500-pound payload, this giant is built of a light, bullet-resistant foam.  While the prototype seend here is powered by batteries carried on an external rover in order to test the drone’s aerodynamic properties, “the finished design will incorporate a fuel-agnostic diesel engine,” says Patrick of Roswell Flight Test Crew.

This prototype has a 16-foot wingspan and features a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) design.