Proposed NASA budget could lead to a number of new X-Planes

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NASA Administrator to Make X-Plane Announcement at Reagan National Media Event

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research Jaiwon Shin will be at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, at 1:30 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 29, to discuss with media NASA’s advanced aeronautic concepts. They’ll also make an announcement about the agency’s plan for a series of experimental aircraft.

Bolden and Shin will discuss NASA’s research into green aviation technologies, a critical part of President Obama’s push to build a clean transportation system for the 21st century, and the agency’s New Aviation Horizons initiative, which is a 10-year plan to build a series of experimental aircraft, or X-planes. Models and graphics of potential X-plane designs will be on site for viewing.

Representatives from the Aerospace Industries Association and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics also will attend.
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http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-administrator-to-make-x-plane-announcement-at-reagan-national-media-event
 
Nice find Flyaway,and we can put this picture here.
 

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I recognise two that is LM's quiet boom demonstrator & the AFRL's future transporter but not the other two?
 
Flyaway said:
I recognise two that is LM's quiet boom demonstrator & the AFRL's future transporter but not the other two?
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Boeing BWB
 
The lower left looks to be a manned version of the Greased Lightning tilt-wing electric aircraft. They've mentioned something similar as possibly fitting into NASA's Personal Air Vehicle concept.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_GL-10_Greased_Lightning


Correction:

Lower left is SCEPTOR (Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Technology Operations Research): a modified Tecnam P2006T with distributed electrical propulsion motors along the wing.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/sceptor.html

http://scitechdaily.com/distributed-electric-propulsion-may-usher-in-a-new-era-of-flight/
 
So it's a quiet Friday so I did some additional research:

  • Top is the NASA design from their Commercial Supersonic Technology program: http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/aavp/cst/index.html
  • Center-right is a NASA blended-wing body design, looks like a scaled up X-48: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/bwb_main.html
  • Center-left is a NASA concept called "Turboelectric Single-Aisle Aircraft Concept": http://www.nasa.gov/feature/researchers-advance-propulsion-toward-low-carbon-aircraft
    (you can just read that name on the large version of the image)
  • Bottom-left is SCEPTOR: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/sceptor.html
 
TomS said:
So it's a quiet Friday so I did some additional research:

  • Top is the NASA design from their Commercial Supersonic Technology program: http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/aavp/cst/index.html
  • Center-right is a NASA blended-wing body design, looks like a scaled up X-48: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/bwb_main.html
  • Center-left is a NASA concept called "Turboelectric Single-Aisle Aircraft Concept": http://www.nasa.gov/feature/researchers-advance-propulsion-toward-low-carbon-aircraft
    (you can just read that name on the large version of the image)
  • Bottom-left is SCEPTOR: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/sceptor.html
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Thank you for that.
 
My pleasure. It's probably worth mentioning at these are not necessarily the X-planes that will actually be built, even assuming the buet comes through.

SCEPTOR seems likely since they already testing the base aircraft and the new wing individually. And the press release is fairly solid on the Blended Wing-Body aircraft and a supersonic bizjet-sized concept, which may or may not be related to the design here. The rest of the program is much more speculative.
 
TomS said:
My pleasure. It's probably worth mentioning at these are not necessarily the X-planes that will actually be built, even assuming the buet comes through.

SCEPTOR seems likely since they already testing the base aircraft and the new wing individually. And the press release is fairly solid on the Blended Wing-Body aircraft and a supersonic bizjet-sized concept, which may or may not be related to the design here. The rest of the program is much more speculative.
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One interesting vehicle I'll be hoping might appear out of this is the NASA/LM hypersonic demonstrator. When NASA it was announced were getting LM to do analysis in relation to the SR-72 there was talk then of NASA building a demonstrator.

If the study is successful, NASA wants to fund a demonstration programme. Lockheed would test the dual-mode ramjet in a flight research vehicle, and try to find solutions to issues like engine packaging and designing the thermal management system, Bartolotta says.
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https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/nasa-launches-study-for-skunk-works-sr-72-concept-407222/
 
SCEPTOR is notable for a number of reasons, notably that it's probably the closest to completion. It's the extension of the LEAPtech demonstrator work done by Joby Aviation. Joby are basically getting NASA to fund initial dev for the their distributed electric VTOL called S2. Another notable is that ESaero is also part of the LEAPtech/SCEPTOR work. ESaero was a participant in NASA N+3 future commercial aircraft studies, and for the study they produced a 767 class cryogenic methane based turbo-electric aircraft design using superconductors. ESaero then went back and reworked the design with current conventional electric motor and electrical subsystems technology advances and achieved a N+2 level non-superconducting design that closed (as seen on their homepage, an embedded distributed propulsor wing with a planform more like a C-130).
 
Seems most appropriate to put this in this thread.

NASA To Test Drag-Reducing Inflight Wing Folding

Boeing will introduce folding wings to commercial aviation when the 777X airliner enters service at the end of 2019. But the devices could become commonplace on future aircraft as wingspans increase in an effort to reduce drag and fuel burn. The 777X has almost 24 ft. more wingspan than today’s 777 to optimize lift distribution and maximize cruise efficiency. Folding the tips on the ground keeps the larger aircraft compatible with existing taxiway and gate size restrictions. But NASA ...

http://m.aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/nasa-test-drag-reducing-inflight-wing-folding
 
Lockheed Martin HWB-X hybrid wing-body demonstrator.

https://twitter.com/TheWoracle/status/819211718576443395
 
XP67_Moonbat said:
I love those models in the tweet. And that Skunk Works swag got me drooling!
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You are not alone XP67_Moonbat, I have seen that tweet too. I do hope that Skunk Works design will see the light of day. B)
 
NASA Moves Electric-Propulsion Components Closer To Reality

Lightweight megawatt-scale drive systems are essential if electric propulsion is ever to succeed in commercial aircraft. Systems much more powerful than those in cars and far lighter than in ships are required. NASA has launched research into electric motors and power converters at the megawatt level, as these could support the near- or medium-term development of partially turboelectric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems for aircraft up to single-aisle airliner size. Hardware is already ...
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http://m.aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/nasa-moves-electric-propulsion-components-closer-reality
 
https://www.nasa.gov/aero/industry-provides-nasa-with-ideas-for-next-x-plane
 
NASA research agreements (NRA) have been awarded to the University of Illinois and Ohio State University to develop electric machines with a specific power goal of 13 kW/kg and an efficiency target of greater than 93%. NASA Glenn Research Center is developing a third machine with the goals of 16 kW/kg and greater than 98% efficiency.
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Aggressive. I will assume that is continues power goal and not peak power. Electric motors are already extremely power dense, currently sitting at 5-7kW/kg but reaching 13-16kW will be quite difficult. Also, the comments to that article are cancer.
 
Past and future X-Planes.

https://youtu.be/oPRj5rpe2RQ
 
Aviation Renaissance: NASA Advances Concepts for Next-gen Aircraft

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/aviation-renaissance-nasa-advances-concepts-for-next-gen-aircraft

https://youtu.be/dOK446jAsAw
 
One of the potential new X-planes to test technologies for non-BWB passenger planes could be designated X-52 given that it isn't based on a warplane (possible confusion with the B-52 was why the DoD called the F-18 Hornet loaned to NASA for aerodynamic research X-53 rather than X-52), while the full-scale BWB tech demonstrator might be designated X-48D given that Boeing years ago announced plans to build a full-size BWB tech demonstrator following the completion of the X-48C flight test program.
 
NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAVP) is now moving into the next phase of the high-speed travel research, which includes issuing two 12-month contracts to companies to develop concept designs and technology roadmaps. The roadmaps will explore air travel possibilities, outline risks and challenges, and identify needed technologies to make Mach 2-plus travel a reality.
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www.nasa.gov

Is a Mach 4 Passenger Jet Possible? NASA, Industry Explore Idea

Is a Mach 4 Passenger Jet Possible? NASA, Industry Explore Idea
www.nasa.gov www.nasa.gov
 

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