In a forward-looking initiative, NASA is commissioning five new design studies to explore the future of sustainable aircraft. These studies aim to develop airliners that are more efficient and produce lower emissions than current models.
Through NASA's Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability (AACES) 2050 initiative, the agency asked industry and academia to come up with studies looking at aircraft concepts, key technologies, and designs that could offer the transformative solutions needed to secure commercial aviation's sustainable future by 2050.
NASA issued five awards, worth a total of $11.5 million, to four companies and one university. These new NASA-funded studies will help the agency identify and select promising aircraft concepts and technologies for further investigations.
"Through initiatives like AACES, NASA is positioned to harness a broad set of perspectives about how to further increase aircraft efficiency, reduce aviation's environmental impact and enhance U.S. technological competitiveness in the 2040s, 2050s, and beyond," said Bob Pearce, NASA associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
In 2021, NASA launched its Sustainable Flight National Partnership, focused on technologies that could be incorporated into aircraft by the 2030s. The partnership's research and development led to current NASA work including the experimental X-66 Sustainable Flight Demonstrator aircraft, its Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration project, and the development of more efficient engine cores and processes for the rapid manufacturing of lightweight composite materials.
The AACES 2050 awards went to: Aurora Flight Sciences (a Boeing Company) for open-aperture exploration of technologies and aircraft concepts; Electra for distributed electric propulsion and aerodynamic designs; Georgia Institute of Technology for sustainability technologies including the ATH2ENA starting point; JetZero for liquid hydrogen fuel exploration including blended wing body designs; and Pratt & Whitney for commercial aviation propulsion technologies targeting thermal and propulsive efficiency improvements.
NASA expects the awardees to complete their studies by mid-2026.
Source: www.nasa.gov
