NASA announced on Wednesday that it has issued an award to The Boeing Company for the agency’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project. The project aims to inform a potential new generation of green single-aisle airliners that are focused on lower emissions.
Under a Funded Space Act Agreement, Boeing will work with NASA to build, test, and fly a full-scale demonstrator aircraft, and validate technologies aimed at reducing emissions. The project is expected to take seven years and will require a total investment of $1.15 billion, with NASA investing $425 million and the company and its partners contributing the remaining $725 million. NASA will also provide technical expertise and facilities as part of the agreement.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated, “Since the beginning, NASA has been with you when you fly. NASA has dared to go farther, faster, and higher. And in doing so, NASA has made aviation more sustainable and dependable. It is in our DNA. It’s our goal that NASA’s partnership with Boeing to produce and test a full-scale demonstrator will help lead to future commercial airliners that are more fuel efficient, with benefits to the environment, the commercial aviation industry, and to passengers worldwide. If we are successful, we may see these technologies in planes that the public takes to the skies in the 2030s.” This partnership between NASA and Boeing is a reflection of the agency’s commitment to advancing sustainable aviation and its determination to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in the industry.
Single-aisle aircraft are the workhorse of many airline fleets and account for nearly half of the worldwide aviation emissions. Recognizing the importance of addressing this issue, NASA has partnered with The Boeing Company for its Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project which seeks to inform a potential new generation of green single-aisle airliners. NASA plans to complete testing for the project by the late 2020s so that technologies and designs demonstrated by the project can inform industry decisions about the next generation of single-aisle aircraft that could enter into service in the 2030s.
Through the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, Boeing and its industry team will partner with NASA to develop and flight-test a full-scale Transonic Truss-Braced Wing demonstrator aircraft. The Transonic Truss-Braced Wing concept involves an aircraft with extra-long, thin wings stabilized by diagonal struts. This design results in an aircraft that is much more fuel efficient than a traditional airliner due to a shape that would create less drag – resulting in it burning less fuel.
“NASA is working toward an ambitious goal of developing game-changing technologies to reduce aviation energy use and emissions over the coming decades toward an aviation community goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Bob Pearce, NASA associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
“The Transonic Truss-Braced Wing is the kind of transformative concept and investment we will need to meet those challenges and, critically, the technologies demonstrated in this project have a clear and viable path to informing the next generation of single-aisle aircraft, benefiting everyone that uses the air transportation system.”
NASA’s goal for the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project is to use the technology flown on the demonstrator aircraft, when combined with other advancements in propulsion systems, materials, and systems architecture, to result in fuel consumption and emissions reductions of up to 30% relative to today’s most efficient single-aisle aircraft, depending on the mission.
In addition to this project, NASA has been working with Boeing and other industry partners on advanced sustainable aviation concepts, including the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing concept. Through this partnership, NASA aims to leverage the expertise of industry leaders to accelerate the development of sustainable aviation technologies and bring them to the market as soon as possible.
“We’re honored to continue our partnership with NASA and to demonstrate technology that significantly improves aerodynamic efficiency resulting in substantially lower fuel burn and emissions,”
Todd Citron, Boeing chief technology officer.
“Boeing has been advancing a multipronged sustainability strategy, including fleet renewal, operational efficiency, renewable energy, and advanced technologies to support the U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan and meet the industry objective of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator builds on more than a decade of NASA, Boeing, and our industry partners’ investments to help achieve these objectives.”
The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project is a significant step towards achieving net-zero carbon emissions from aviation by 2050 as outlined in the White House’s U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan and the International Civil Aviation Organization’s goals. The new Funded Space Act agreement allows NASA to tap into the private industry’s knowledge and experience, with Boeing and its partners laying out a proposed technical plan. NASA will provide access to its aeronautics facilities and expertise, while Boeing and its partners will contribute funding and technical capabilities. NASA will not procure an aircraft or any other hardware for its missions but will obtain access to certain ground and flight data that can be used to validate the airframe configuration and associated technologies.
This project is an activity under NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program and a key element of the Sustainable Flight National Partnership, which focuses on developing new sustainable aviation technologies. The partnership between NASA and Boeing is a testament to the agency’s commitment to advancing sustainable aviation and its determination to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in the industry. With the successful completion of this project, the aviation industry can look forward to the development of more fuel-efficient, lower-emission aircrafts that will have a positive impact on the environment, the commercial aviation industry, and passengers worldwide.
Learn more about NASA’s Sustainable Aviation efforts at: https://go.nasa.gov/3GzcDMP
