Published: 17 Nov 2024
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. “As a leader in
U.S. sustainable aviation research and development, these awards are one
example of how we bring together the best ideas and most innovative concepts
from the private sector, academia, research agencies, and other stakeholders to
pioneer the future of aviation.”
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 new AACES awards are initiating a similar process, but
on a longer timeline, focusing on technologies to help transform aviation
beyond SFNP with aircraft that could enter service by 2050. The kinds of
partnerships NASA develops through SFNP and AACES are critical for the agency
to support the U.S. goal of net-zero aviation emissions by 2050 and to help put
aviation on a path toward energy-resilience.
“The AACES 2050 solicitation drew significant interest from the aviation community and as a result the award process was highly competitive,” said Nateri Madavan, director for NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program. “The proposals selected come from a diverse set of organizations that will provide exciting and wide-ranging explorations of the scenarios, technologies, and aircraft concepts that will advance aviation towards its transformative sustainability goals.”
The AACES 2050 awards went to organizations that will form networks of university and corporate partners to advance their studies. NASA expects the awardees to complete their studies by mid-2026. The new awardee institutions are:
AACES 2050 is part of NASA’s Advanced Air Transport Technology project, which explores and develops technology to further NASA’s vision for the future development of fixed-wing transport aircraft with revolutionary energy efficiency. The project falls under NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program, which evaluates and develops technologies for new aircraft systems and explores promising air travel concepts.
Source - https://www.nasa.gov/
Published: 17 Nov 2024
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. “As a leader in
U.S. sustainable aviation research and development, these awards are one
example of how we bring together the best ideas and most innovative concepts
from the private sector, academia, research agencies, and other stakeholders to
pioneer the future of aviation.”
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 new AACES awards are initiating a similar process, but
on a longer timeline, focusing on technologies to help transform aviation
beyond SFNP with aircraft that could enter service by 2050. The kinds of
partnerships NASA develops through SFNP and AACES are critical for the agency
to support the U.S. goal of net-zero aviation emissions by 2050 and to help put
aviation on a path toward energy-resilience.
“The AACES 2050 solicitation drew significant interest from the aviation community and as a result the award process was highly competitive,” said Nateri Madavan, director for NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program. “The proposals selected come from a diverse set of organizations that will provide exciting and wide-ranging explorations of the scenarios, technologies, and aircraft concepts that will advance aviation towards its transformative sustainability goals.”
The AACES 2050 awards went to organizations that will form networks of university and corporate partners to advance their studies. NASA expects the awardees to complete their studies by mid-2026. The new awardee institutions are:
AACES 2050 is part of NASA’s Advanced Air Transport Technology project, which explores and develops technology to further NASA’s vision for the future development of fixed-wing transport aircraft with revolutionary energy efficiency. The project falls under NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program, which evaluates and develops technologies for new aircraft systems and explores promising air travel concepts.
Source - https://www.nasa.gov/
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