On the outside, planes of the future may look a lot like planes of today, but what’s inside (or next to the tailfins) will probably be very different. That’s the kind of future NASA wants to build with five $11.5 million study grants.
As of now, the Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 (AACES) program is just getting started. Its goal is to find “transformative solutions” that could help the carbon-emitting air travel business become more environmentally friendly.
These awards aren’t even close to enough to make an airplane that can fly, and these ideas are still just that—ideas. But a couple million dollars can make the difference between a powerful new technology sitting on a shelf in a lab and being tested in the real world.
There are two awards that are more narrow than the others. For example, Electra already has a prototype of its electric plane that can fly, and the award money will be used to improve that technology. JetZero is putting together a cryogenic liquid hydrogen fuel source with the unique body with blended wings that you can see above.
The other three awards are more general. For its ATH2ENA program, Georgia Tech will look into new fuels, propulsion systems, and combinations that look like they could be useful. Pratt and Whitney will look into “a broad suite” of power technologies to try to lower the amount of fuel they use and the pollution they release.
Aurora Flight Sciences, which is owned by Boeing, will “perform a comprehensive, ‘open-aperture’ exploration of technologies and aircraft concepts.” This sounds like it covers the most ground. One hopes that they were a little more clear in their application!
We have seen a lot of electric power and flight startups raising a lot of money from investors, but none of them are here. If they can get VC money, maybe the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze. Either that, or their ideas about the future of flight are too different. The main thing they make is personal airplanes, after all.
Also Read: X-59: Nasa’s “quiet” Supersonic Plane Was Shown Off
Advanced Air Transport Technology is the parent company of the AACES project. The Advanced Air Vehicles Program is the parent company of that project. It doesn’t say if there are any more layers on top of that.
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