NASA has developed a battery-powered drone having 10 engines that can take off and land like a helicopter. Researchers have even successfully tested the plane that can efficiently fly like an aircraft.

In many test flights, the Greased Lightning or GL-10 prototype has successfully transitioned from hover to wing-borne flight.

Bill Fredericks, aerospace engineer at NASA's Langley Research Centre in Hampton, Virginia, said, "It could be used for small package delivery or vertical takeoff and landing, long endurance surveillance for agriculture, mapping and other applications".

Fredericks affirmed that a scaled- up version would be much larger than what is currently being tested. Currently, the GL-10 is in the design and testing phase.

The research team shared that their main idea was to come up with a 6.1 meters wingspan aircraft powered by hybrid diesel/electric engines. But later, they started with smaller versions for testing. In total, they developed 12 prototypes starting from 2.3 kg foam models and then 11. 3 kg highly modified fiberglass hobby airplane kits and leading to the 24.9 kg, high quality, carbon fibre GH-10.

The GH-10 has a 3.05 meters wingspan and there are eight electric motors on the wings. There are two electric motors on the tail and they weigh a maximum of 28.1 kg at take off. Fredericks was of the view that till now, they have successfully completed five flights.

After achieving success in this stage, they are now working on their second goal, which is to prove that is concept is four times more aerodynamically efficient in cruise than a helicopter. One of the other advantages of the GL-10 is its vertical takeoff and its landing ability.