A Canadian Firm Is Making An Airplane Out Of Cannabis & They Say It's Stronger Than Steel
They’ve made plant-based burgers, they’ve made plant-based shampoos, they’ve even made plant-based clothing, but can you imagine a completely plant-based airplane, that requires no harmful fuels to fly? According to Canadian cannabis firm Hempearth, you don’t even need to imagine it, because they’re going to make it! The company claims to have designed the world’s first cannabis-airplane that is made from and powered by hemp, and hemp alone.
According to captainplanet, the groundbreaking aircraft will be created using almost only hemp. This includes the plane's wings, the walls and even the interior seat cushions! Hempearth claims that the structure will be as sturdy, if not more sturdy, than a traditional aircraft, as the non-psychoactive member of the cannabis family is known to be 10 times stronger than steel!
Now, before you start daydreaming of jetting off on a commercial flight to Europe on a hemp-based aircraft, the innovations are still in their early stages. The hemp-plane is set to be pretty small, with a wingspan of just 36 feet. This means that at the moment it can only hold one pilot and four passengers. That said, the fact that any type of aircraft can be created and fuelled by hemp alone is still potentially revolutionary!
One of the craziest things about this new aircraft is the fact that the plane will run on 100% hemp oil! According to captainplanet, hemp is much lighter than traditional aerospace materials, which means it takes a lot less fuel to reach high altitudes. Even better, hemp is sustainable, non-toxic and, compared to steel or carbon fibre, has almost no environmental impact.
Speaking about the plane’s potential as an environmentally-friendly way of travelling by air, Hempearth founder, Derek Kesek explained, “This is the kind of future we all want here on Earth.”
Alongside their cannabis-based plane, the company is also in the process of developing some groundbreaking hemp composites in Montreal, that would have the potential to replace all fiberglass in aviation, as well as in other industries!
Not just focused on aviation, Hempearth also offers some other unusual plant-based products. These include 100% hemp surfboards, paddleboards, oils, legal cannabis and a variety of organic, plant-based products.
When the cannabis-based plane is completed, it will head to The Wright Brother’s Memorial in Kitty Hawk North Carolina, the birthplace of aviation, where it will take its first ever flight.
The exact dates are yet to be released, but you can follow the Hempearth Twitter page for regular updates!
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