Luman Aerospace – Luman Aerospace

Creating solar-powered atmospheric satellites

About

Background

As a spin-off from Delft University of Technology, we are developing unmanned aircraft for quasi-stationary atmospheric missions. Our aircraft concept is a flying wing in box configuration, equipped with a solar electric propulsion system. The structural design is derived from a research project, which has been running at the department of Structural Integrity and Composites, inside the TU Delft, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering.

Mission

The need for sustainable, CO2-emission free transportation is more urgent than ever. Replacing rocket launched satellites by emission free unmanned aircraft, is a leap towards this goal. We aim to replace conventional space satellites by solar-powered atmospheric unmanned aircrafts with zero greenhouse gas emissions and with drastically lowered resource consumption. The aircraft would not only greatly reduce manufacturing and launching costs, but also help our society to understand the importance of efficiency and sustainability in aviation: to create a greener future.

Market
The primary market for high-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) is earth observation, surveillance, atmospheric science and telecommunications. Our product is therefore mainly aimed at national authorities, research institutions and providers of telecommunications.

Solution
To perform better at a greatly reduced cost – both financially and environmentally – compared to coventional satellites

20 km altitude

30 days flight time

5 kg payload

± 50° latitude

200 days per year

team

co-founder

Julian Kupski

Julian holds a MSc in Mechanical Engineering where he focussed on lightweight structural design and composite manufacturing.
He is a Ph.D.-researcher in laminate design of composite bonded joints.

co-founder

Julius Jördens

Julius has a BSc in Aerospace Engineering, focussing on our business development. Julius also has a strong background in composite manufacturing, particularly in automated tape layup for satellite structures

Co-founder

Yuqian Tu

Yuqian has a MSc in Solid Mechanics. She is a Ph.D.-researcher at TU Delft, on aerospace structures. Her background is on numerical simulation and buckling analysis of thin-walled grid-stiffened fuselage panels.

Field testing & assembly

Stefan Juffermans

Stefan is a master student of TU Delft Aerospace Engineering,
he is our expert on the electric drivetrain assembly and on field testing.

Administration & project management

Yue Mao

Yue has a MSc in Urbanism from TU Delft, with a bachelor degree in Architecture. She has international experience in multidisciplinary research projects in the Netherlands, Germany, Nordic Arctic, China and Japan.

Manufacturing techniques

Max Garber

Max is a master student in Aerospace Engineering, specializing in manufacturing and assembly of composite spacecraft systems.

Are you a talented and interested engineer with a background in Aerospace, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering?

Contact us so we can discover your talent!

advisors

CAD-design & materials

Lander Callens

Lander is a master student of TU Delft Aerospace Engineering, with focus on novel aerospace materials and CAD-design.

flight dynamics

Matej Karasek

Matěj holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences. He has 10 years of experience in development and research of flapping wing aerial vehicles at TU Delft and at Université Libre de Bruxelles.