Popular Science is one of my favorite magazines, and I've been subscribing to it since 1968. They've given out their Best of What's New awards to the best innovative technologies of 2005. Here are their awards for aviation and space technologies.
The Airbus A380, which is the biggest airliner ever built, is the grand prize winner.
The enormous jet can fit 118 business- and first-class travelers, and as many as 437 passengers in coach to hold down fares; all-coach versions could hold up to 800 passengers. It's also half as loud as the smaller Boeing 747, and uses lightweight materials on an unprecedented scale, including using carbon-fiber composites, titanium, and aluminum and fiberglass laminates to replace steel throughout the airframe.
Personally I think the Boeing 787 or Dreamliner, is a superior plane and seems to be the winner according to world orders of both planes. The recent increase in gas prices helped this shift as the 787 is lighter and far more fuel efficient due to its carbon fiber technology. Unlike the Airbus which has already flown first 787 is slated to fly in 2007 with delivery one year later.
Other nominees included:
Deep ImpactA 23,000 mph impact reveals a comet's inner secrets
Meade RCX400A giant leap for Stargazers
Garmin GPSMap 396Live weather For private pilots
t/Space Crew Transfer Vehicle Smart shuttle backup
Sikorsky X2 Technology DemonstratorA radical rotor boosts helicopter speed to 288 mph
Mars Reconnaissance OrbiterThe best tool yet for finding water on the Red Planet
Experimental Satellite System 11 (XSS-11)One step closer to autonomous space rendezvous
Aerovironment Global ObserverThe first hydrogen-powered unmanned flight
Dassault Falcon 7XWorld's most efficient High-speed business jet
Swift Tracking the most powerful blasts in the universe
DayJet Real-Time Optimization EngineValet! Call me a plane