As Ascendance prepares to fly the first full-scale prototype of its hybrid-electric Atea eVTOL aircraft this year, it is already laying the groundwork for industrialization and scaled production. The French start-up announced on January 16 an extension of its partnership with Capgemini Engineering that will support the company’s transition from technology demonstrations to commercialization. 

Capgemini Engineering has been helping Ascendance with its product development roadmap since 2021 and has contributed its experience in various disciplines, including systems engineering, flight physics, aircraft controls, power systems, and batteries. Under the extended partnership, Capgemini will further contribute its business and industrialization know-how to help Ascendance scale its production capabilities. 

“After a successful first phase to support their innovative product development roadmap, we are now pivoting from technology demonstrations to industrialization,” Capgemini CEO William Rozé said in a statement. “Together, with Ascendance’s hybrid modular propulsion system and Capgemini’s end-to-end capabilities in critical engineering disciplines, digital and business transformation, we are ready to accelerate and soon deploy decarbonized solutions at scale for the aviation industry.”

Full-scale Prototype Production Underway

Ascendance has not yet revealed the full-scale Atea prototype that it intends to begin flight testing this year. Since its founding in 2018, the Toulouse-based company has built seven subscale demonstrators and conducted extensive flight tests with two of them. Those demonstrators haven’t flown for about two years now since the company shifted its focus to the full-size prototype. 

“We are in the production phase of our life-size flying prototype,” Ascendance co-founder and CEO Jean-Christophe Lambert told AIN. He said Ascendance has already set a target date for the first flight but is keeping it under wraps for now. The prototype is being assembled at Ascendance’s flight test facility near Toulouse, France.

When the Atea prototype makes its first flight, it will be controlled by an onboard test pilot. Ascendance has already contracted pilots to participate in the flight test campaign, and those pilots have been training regularly on the company’s Orama flight simulator, Lambert said. 

To prepare for the upcoming flight test campaign, Ascendance has been ground-testing the aircraft’s patented hybrid-electric propulsion system, called Sterna, on a full-scale test rig called an iron bird. “We’ve run more than 400 tests on it to derisk every system and interactions between all of them before our final ground tests on the aircraft and flight tests,” Lambert said.

In addition to selling the Atea aircraft, Ascendance intends to commercialize the Sterna propulsion system separately. The powertrain’s architecture is modular and scalable, so it can be tailored to work with just about any airplane or rotorcraft. Ascendance plans to offer Sterna for aircraft retrofits under supplemental type certificates. Meanwhile, it is also looking to potentially partner with airframers on new aircraft under development, such as other eVTOL air taxis or regional airplanes. 

Lambert told AIN that Ascendance now has 612 Atea aircraft in its order book. It has signed letters of intent with several prospective operators, including French helicopter operators HeliFirst and Jet Systems Helicoptères Services, Singapore-based Evfly and Yugo, Philjets Group in the Philippines, and Flyshare in California. 

Atea eVTOL Suppliers Selected

In August, Ascendance revealed a roster of new partners and suppliers for the Atea aircraft. It has selected DUC Hélices to supply the aircraft’s propellers and fan blades. Andar Electromechanical Systems is producing the primary actuation system, which dictates how the aircraft’s main flight control surfaces move. 

Crouzet will provide flight control sticks, and automation specialist S-Plane is equipping the aircraft with its X-Cube flight computer. Spherea, which specializes in testing and simulator solutions for the aerospace and defense industries, is contributing its U-Test simulation software and providing the integration bench for the avionics and flight control system. 

Meanwhile, data analytics specialist Estuaire is working with Ascendance to optimize Atea and Sterna for regional air mobility applications. Ascendance says Estuaire’s data-driven insights help “to identify the most relevant flight routes and refine the design specifications.”

The hybrid-electric Atea eVTOL aircraft seats four passengers plus one pilot. Ascendance is targeting a range of 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) and a cruise speed of 200 km/h (125 mph) for the aircraft, which has a payload capacity of about 450 kg (990 pounds). According to Ascendance, the Atea aircraft produces 75% less noise and 80% fewer carbon emissions compared with conventional helicopters.