9 Intriguing Engineering Feats for 2025

From high above us, satellites track devastating emissions of the greenhouse gases that will alter our climate. So far, their data has been private, shared only with companies or governments. MethaneSAT is changing that. Launched on 4 March 2024, it will pinpoint specific problem areas and track emissions of methane more broadly. Anyone will be able to access this data when the satellite is fully operational, in early 2025. Want a sneak peek? You can look right now at data from MethaneAIR, a research jet with the ability to gather about a quarter of the volume of data of MethaneSAT.

Cleaning Up Millions of Liters of Radioactive Waste

At the Hanford Site in eastern Washington, radioactive nuclear waste from the development of the first atomic bombs is currently leaking into soil and polluting the surrounding environment. Now a cleanup effort, decades in the making, is due to start trapping that waste by turning it into glass. This process, called vitrification, requires temperatures over 1,100 °C, about as hot as lava flowing from a volcano. Waste products are mixed with silica and other materials and heated in underground tanks to form molten glass, which is then poured into containment vessels to become solid glass. Currently, the Hanford Vit Plant is in the “cold commissioning” phase, where the facility is up and running but processing nonradioactive materials as a test. If all goes well, true cleanup will begin in 2025.

A Plane Anyone Can Fly

On average, it takes 55 hours of in-the-air flight time to get a private pilot license in the United States, and that’s not even counting the weeks of training on the ground. Airhart Aeronautics wants you to be ready to fly a plane in just one hour. Their new personal aircraft, the Airhart Sling, is designed to be user-friendly, safe, and as easy to learn as possible. Using a single stick, pilots simply point in the direction they want to go and the plane follows, even during takeoffs and landings. The Sling’s computer system translates these controls into commands to the engine and flight systems. The first test flight is planned for 2025, with orders shipping to customers in 2026. At an initial price of US $500,000, however, it might be a while before just anyone can fly.

The Future of Farming

Farmers in India are facing a financial crisis, magnified by debt, lengthy supply chains, and natural disasters. With small plots of about 20,000 square meters making up roughly 80 percent of India’s farms, it’s hard to find a solution that can reach every farmer. Enter Agri Stack. This database, designed by India’s Department of…