AETHER: A FLYING PLATFORM TO STUDY REDUNDANT LONGITUDINAL CONTROL IN THREE-SURFACE CONFIGURATION.

Aether (Airplane in Three-Surface Configuration with Redundant Longitudinal Control) is a flying platform developed to study performance and control characteristics of a particular configuration, based on three lifting surfaces where both canard and tail are equipped with movable parts, offering redundant longitudinal control.

Aether is designed to be configurable as either a two-surface airplane or an equivalent three-surface one.

The two flying machines share the same wing, fuselage, vertical tail and electronic systems.

The first flight took place on February 27th, 2025, at Mach Aurora airfield, in the two-surface configuration.

With the completion of the "Aether - two-surface" flight experimentation, all necessary data for the preliminary aerodynamic characterization have been gathered.

We now look forward to advancing experimentation with the "Aether - three-surface".

The design and testing of the aircraft is being carried out by two master students, under the supervision of Professors Stefano Cacciola and Carlo Riboldi.