NASA has awarded Boeing an award for its Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project which aims to develop a new generation of environmentally friendly single-aisle aircraft. Through a Funded Space Act Agreement, Boeing will collaborate with NASA to design, test, and fly demonstration aircraft to prove technology that can reduce emissions.
NASA will be investing $425 million over seven years while the company and its partners will contribute the entire cost, which is expected to be about $725 million. In addition, the agency will provide technical expertise and equipment as part of the agreement.
“It is our goal that the collaboration between NASA and Boeing to develop and test a comprehensive demonstration will help lead to future commercial airplanes that are more fuel-efficient, beneficial to the environment, the airline industry, and passengers around the world. If we succeed, we can see these technologies in airplanes that people use.” they’re taking it to the sky in the 2030s,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
We agree with @Boeing developing technologies for the next generation of single-aisle aircraft. We will be collaborating on a comprehensive demonstration by 2030 to help the US achieve zero emissions from aviation by 2050. Follow @NASAAero: https://t.co/dFikvL0YPa pic.twitter.com/TMXIupCyEh
— NASA (@NASA) January 18, 2023
NASA says most air travel comes from single-aisle airplanes, which are the backbone of most airliners and are the most widely used.
By the end of the 2020s, NASA wants to complete the testing of the project, so that the technologies and designs shown can help companies make decisions about the next generation of aircraft that can be used in the 2030s.
Boeing and its group of companies are collaborating with NASA on the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project to develop and test all Transonic Truss-Braced Wing aircraft. The concept involves an aircraft with longer and thinner wings than usual, and is held up by diagonal struts. This design is more fuel efficient than a conventional aircraft, as it has a design that reduces drag and therefore uses less fuel.
