NASA planes that could transform air travel by the 2030s

CNN
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Snazzy new gear has been unveiled for two of NASA’s hottest aircraft projects. These future airplanes want to be the next generation of sustainable flying – and also look good when they do it.

First up is the X-66A, which NASA has been preparing alongside Boeing as part of its sustainable Flight Demonstration Project. The US aerospace giants want to build, test and fly an aircraft with an emissions-reducing corridor before the decade is over. The X-66A is the full-scale demonstrator in which they will do everything.

“It is our goal that NASA’s partnership with Boeing to produce and test a full-scale demonstrator will help lead to future commercial aircraft that are more fuel efficient, with benefits for the environment, the commercial aviation industry, and for passengers around the world,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement in January. “If we are successful, we can see these technologies in the planes that the public takes to the skies in the 2030s.”

The design NASA and Boeing are working on could reduce fuel consumption and emissions by up to 30% compared to today’s most efficient aircraft, according to the agency.

It is called the Transonic wing concept with wings, which rests on elongated and thin wings stabilized by diagonal poles connecting the wings to the aircraft. The Shape of the design creates less traction, which means burning less fuel.

The new example was unveiled at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh and features a white body with a tail with blue, orange and red stripes.

“This is an experimental aircraft,” said Bob Pearce, NASA’S associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, in January.  “This is not a commercial development of an aircraft in which passengers will fly today. And the reason we have to do this is because this is high-risk technology. We’re trying to test the technology.”

The first test flight of this full-scale demonstrator is set which will develop in 2028. NASA hopes that one day the technology will serve about half of the commercial market through short-to medium-range aircraft.

Airlines largely rely on single-aisle aircraft, which account for nearly half of aviation emissions worldwide, according to NASA. Boeing estimates that demand for the new single-aisle jet will increase by 40,000 planes between 2035 and 2050.

The goal is for the technology to serve about 50% of the commercial market through short-and medium-range, single-corridor aircraft, Nelson said.

The other planes to get a new look are the hybrid electric aircraft that GE Aerospace and magniX are developing as part of Nasa’s Electrified Poporbertrain Flight Demonstration (EFPD) project.

The aim of the project is to enable a new generation of electric-powered aircraft. NASA is collaborating with industry partners on new technologies including lighter and more efficient engines, electronics and materials that could help improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions.

These technologies will be tested and demonstrated on existing modified aircraft.

A padded Saab 340B, white and blue in color, with it used for ground flights and testing on a hybrid electric engine of the mega zimbatt class being developed by ge Aerospace. (An engine, for the uninitiated, is the system that brings together all the components to drive a vehicle forward). NASA says the flights will take place by the middle of this decade.

A modified DeHavilland “Dash 7” aircraft, in red and white colors, is home to magniX’s hybrid engine, and is partnered with AeroTEC and Air tindi on test flights.

It is hoped the project will eventually benefit short-haul turboprop aircraft – the type carrying between 30 and 70 passengers-as well as regional commercial aircraft, with a corridor carrying up to 180 passengers.

NASA says it plans to conduct at least two flight demonstrations within the next five years so that new technologies can be introduced commercially in the United States between 2030 and 2035.

CNN’s Ashley Strickland contributed to this report.