Boeing and NASA agree to build “the plane of the future”

The American company Boeing will be in charge of building the Sustainable Flight Demonstratoran aircraft developed together with the US space agency (NASA) with the hope that its design and technology serve as a model for future aviation.

With the Demonstrator, NASA hopes reduce up to 30% fuel consumption and emissions of the narrow-body planes -a single aisle- frequently destined to cover national routes, and which are the most used.

“We tend to think of NASA as a space agency, an aeronautical agency, but NASA is also a climate agency,” said the agency’s administrator, Bill Nelson, at a press conference on Wednesday.

Nelson explained that Boeing’s concept, which it is expected to be able to fly in 2028is a full-scale demonstration aircraft of the transonic braced wing type (a construction process in which girders are placed obliquely to secure a truss).

In a statement, Boeing explained that it will integrate elements of existing vehicles with entirely new components in the construction of the aircraft.

“Ultra-thin strut-braced wings, with longer spans and higher aspect ratios, could accommodate advanced propulsion systems which are currently limited by the lack of space under the wings in low-wing aircraft configurations,” the company explained.

Boeing’s chief technology officer, Todd Citron, said these “ultrathin” wings will increase the dynamic efficiency of the aircraft.

NASA also hopes that this design will incorporate a series of technological advances that will reduce fuel consumption and make aviation more sustainable, which will serve as a model for commercial aviation.

For Nelson, the project “will revolutionize the type of plane that people use most often when they fly,” and It will bring the United States closer to reaching the government’s goal of zero emissions in the aviation industry by 2050.

The administrator defended the decision to establish a public-private relationship to develop the Demonstrator, in which the aerospace agency will invest some 425 million dollars.

Nelson cited NASA’s projects to transform the International Space Station into a commercial station or the return of humanity to the Moon, for which it collaborates with the SpaceX company, as examples of collaborations with the private sector that benefit the entire industry. .

(With information from EFE)

Keep reading: