Posted on 01/19/2023 8:07:30 AM PST by Red Badger
Boeing's more fuel-efficient airline design won an award from NASA on Wednesday, as the agency plans to invest $425 million in the project. Photo from NASA
Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Boeing's sustainable flight demonstrator project won an award Wednesday from NASA, as the company aims to roll out green single-aisle airliners by the end of the decade.
The space agency will invest $425 million to help Boeing build a more fuel-efficient airline. Boeing and its partners will contribute $725 million in funding, with plans to begin testing the new aircraft by the late 2020's.
"Since the beginning, NASA has been with you when you fly. NASA has dared to go farther, faster, higher. And in doing so, NASA has made aviation more sustainable and dependable. It is in our DNA," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
"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."
According to NASA, single-aisle aircraft account for nearly half of worldwide aviation emissions. The new Boeing aircraft is more fuel-efficient because of its extra-long thin wings, which create less drag.
The new Boeing aircrafts could go into use by the 2030s. The United States is currently aiming to achieve net-zero carbon aviation emissions by 2050. The International Civil Aviation Organization also has the same goal.
"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.
Well, there goes some more borrowed money.
The primary focus of their PUBLIC RELATIONS people is diverstiy, inclusion, and equity (DIE). If you manage to get past those morons, you’ll find some talented scientists, engineers, and technicians. You’ll also find some kool-aid drinking “climate change” true believers ...
(I know folks on the inside ...)
No doubt, hopefully they can say isolated from the other government garbage.
In aviation, if it “looks wrong” it probably is wrong ... and those wings look very wrong. The first flight prototype, if theyever get there, will have much better looking wings.
Honestly I’m not sure about that, looking at those, what I assume are rendering, not convinced the surface area of the wing is that much bigger, bit it does look a hell of a lot thinner.
Larger surface area would generate more lift, but I don’t know if it would reduce drag/improve fuel efficiency... Unless you were to fly slower because the increased surface would certainly provide the same lift and a slower speed... but I don’t think the airlines want to reduce their speed much... Seems that would be a tradeoff they would not want to make.
High wings are great.
Ever see a low wing bird?
I don’t know the X-29 looks all sorts of wrong, but met its design intention (GRIN)
With the X-29, my reaction was WTF??? Oh ... I kinda see what they're exploring, here ...
With those Boeing renderings, it's more like WTF??? No ... really ... WTF??? That looks like a disaster just waiting to happen, with 100 people on board and no ejection seats.
“What is NASA doing sticking their nose into this?”
Also sticking my money into it.
Seems to me maybe the DC-9 or 727/DC-10 rear engine design would be more appropriate...
Were the engineers able to wrestle control of the company away from the bean counters?
Those seats next to the engines must be reserved for deaf passengers.
Electric.....................😜
The loss is that the wing structure does not protect the cabin from debris in an uncontained engine event.
True, but how often does that happen now?
* High wings with 1 struts in the 200 mph club (Homebuilt Wittman Tailwind) pay a small drag penalty, however less weight, you can go with thinner wings and some say less interference drag with the fuselage.
*Their has been some R & D done on this config with the struts and yes their are benefits. IMHO the struts are possibly adding to the lift, they are not just structural.
* Think "Poor Man's Area Rule" to get the Fuselage width just right to reduce drag.
* It's even funkier with the airliners with the lower body they mount it on (Kind of what's on the top of the fuselage here)
* Notice the lower fuselage bulges for the main gear.
* My guess? Boeing blew it with the 737X not having the room without major changes to the wing to redesign the landing gear to accommodate the Pratt and Whitney Geared Turbofan for this class of aircraft, they will have all the room they need now...
How many times did the Concord crash before they were taken out of service?
With those thin skinny wings it had better be fuel efficient...
From my understanding, the concorde only had a single crash in 2000 with an otherwise pretty good safety record. Not sure what your driving at.
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