Dr. Richard Hann, director of the NTNU UAV Icing Lab, has been selected as one of the 2026 AIAA 30/30 recipients in the Aerospace Sciences category.
He is recognized for his work on UAV icing and, in particular, for helping establish UAV icing as an important research topic and operational challenge for the aerospace community.
Richard began working on UAV icing in 2016 as part of his PhD research. At the time, UAV icing was still a relatively niche topic. Since then, it has become a central theme throughout his research career and an important focus of the UAV Icing Lab.
Over the past ten years, the need for UAVs to operate safely and reliably in cold and adverse weather has grown considerably. This is particularly relevant for defense applications, where UAVs are increasingly used in challenging cold-weather environments and in the Arctic. At the same time, civilian drone services are moving from demonstrations and testing toward regular operations. Many of these systems are expected to operate safely throughout the year, including in snow, clouds, icing, low temperatures, and other harsh weather conditions.
During this time, UAV icing has developed from a small research niche into a much broader international research and engineering field. This progress has been driven by the work of many researchers, students, colleagues, and industry partners.
Richard would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this journey over the years, including his colleagues in the AIAA Atmospheric and Space Environments Technical Committee, as well as those who supported and nominated him for this recognition.
The UAV Icing Lab congratulates Richard on the recognition, as well as all other 2026 AIAA 30/30 recipients.
