The two winning teams, ASCLERA and AETHER, at the DLR Design Challenge 2025 award ceremony
From left: Team ASCLERA from RWTH Aachen – Felix Loic, Ty Pruschke, Justus Trost, Jan Weisgerber, Joshua Hector and Timon Helmich; Team AETHER from FH Aachen – Johannes Götzen, Raman Law, Carlos Santiago Valladares Quintana, Süheyl Savran, Daniel Götz, Laurin and Piechotta; and Markus Fischer, jury member and DLR Divisional Board Member for Aeronautics.
AETHER is a versatile twin-engine turboprop rescue aircraft for transporting up to 19 patients. The cabin layout is highly flexible, featuring a modifiable design with quick-change rails and drop-pin seat rail adapters that allow for speedy reconfiguration to suit different mission requirements. A large rear door makes it possible to load patients quickly and efficiently, significantly reducing waiting times in emergency situations. Boasting a simple and reliable twin-engine propulsion system, AETHER flies on sustainable aviation fuel.
Image: 2/3, Credit:
FH Aachen/AETHER
DLR Design Challenge 2025: RWTH Aachen's ASCLERA
ASCLERA is a medical evacuation aircraft and air ambulance that can transport up to 15 patients over a distance of 2500 kilometres. Its design is based on a powerful twin-engine turboprop aircraft featuring modern landing flaps and flight control systems for smooth and safe operation, even on short, high-altitude runways. Its modular cabin can be quickly reconfigured, with an elliptical fuselage offering extra space. Double doors and a rail-based loading system allow for swift boarding and the flexible transportation of patients with different medical needs.
Image: 3/3, Credit:
RWTH Aachen/ASCLERA
The DLR Design Challenge 2025 called on students to develop concepts for a future rescue aircraft capable of providing rapid and safe medical care and evacuation.
Twelve students from two teams took part in the competition.
The teams from FA Aachen and RWTH Aachen University impressed the jury with their concepts 'AETHER' and 'ASCLERA' and shared first place.
Although helicopters and aeroplanes have long been used for medical evacuations (medevac), they are often limited in terms of their range, manoeuvrability and access to difficult environments. When it comes to remote regions, disaster-hit zones or densely populated metropolitan areas, advanced aircraft are needed to ensure emergency response teams can react quickly and flexibly. That is why the 2025 DLR Design Challenge took up this theme. The task was to design an efficient aircraft that enables medical care to be provided within the shortest possible time.
The aircraft should be able to transport up to 19 people and cover a range of predefined call-out scenarios, including providing medical care during flight and on the ground, taking off and landing on various surfaces, and performing a range of mission profiles. To solve their task, participants needed to strike a balance between medical transport solutions and optimum aircraft performance for various use cases. While doing so, they were to integrate advanced aviation technologies, intelligent medical systems and optimised rescue procedures into their designs.
"Current world affairs and extreme weather events have shown us how important it is to be able to provide quick and efficient help in difficult-to-access areas. The students who took part in this competition have shown dedication to the cause, providing remarkable insights into what a safe emergency evacuation could look like and how it could consequently save human lives. Everyone who took up the challenge in their teams are winners here. Together, they have demonstrated an incredible achievement," said Markus Fischer, DLR Divisional Board Member for Aeronautics.
The two winning teams presented their concepts at the 2025 German Aerospace Congress (DLRK) in Augsburg and at the 2025 EASN International Conference (European Aeronautics Science Network) in Madrid.
Aircraft design entries: an overview
First place (joint): 'AETHER' by FH Aachen
FH Aachen Team
From the left: Laurin Piechotta, Johannes Götzen, Daniel Götz, Santiago Valladares, Süheyl Savran and Raman Law.
Credit:
FH Aachen/AETHER
AETHER is a versatile, twin-engine turboprop rescue aircraft designed to transport up to 19 patients. The cabin segmentation is extremely flexible, featuring a modifiable design with quick-change rails and drop-pin seat rail adapters that allow for speedy reconfiguration to suit different mission requirements. A large rear door makes it possible to load injured individuals quickly and efficiently, considerably cutting down waiting times in emergency situations. Boasting a simple and reliable two-engine propulsion system, AETHER uses sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as its source of energy.
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First place (joint): 'ASCLERA' by RWTH Aachen University
RWTH Aachen Team
From the left: Jan Weisgerber, TY Pruschke, Timon Helmich, Justus Trost, Felix Loick and Joshua Hector.
Credit:
RWTH Aachen/ASCLERA
ASCLERA is a medical evacuation and air ambulance that can transport up to 15 patients over a distance of 2500 kilometres. Its design is based on a powerful two-engine turboprop aircraft featuring modern landing flaps and flight control systems for smooth and safe operation, even on short, high-altitude runways. The modular cabins can be quickly reconfigured, with an elliptical fuselage offering extra space. Double doors and a rail-based loading system enable swift boarding and the flexible transport of injured individuals with varying medical needs.
Your consent to the storage of data ('cookies') is required for the playback of this video on Quickchannel.com. You can view and change your current data storage settings at any time under privacy.
