X-57 designation given to NASA electric research plane
NewsJune 30, 2016
WASHINGTON. NASA officials announced a new X-designated test aircraft, the X-57, which will be nicknamed "Maxwell." The X-57 is an electric research plane with 14 electric motors turning propellers with all of them integrated into a uniquely-designed wing. NASA officials will test new propulsion technology with this aircraft.
The X-57 number designation was assigned by the U.S. Air Force, which manages the history-making process, following a request from NASA. The first X-plane was the X-1, which in 1947 became the first airplane to fly faster than the speed of sound. NASA researchers working directly with the electric airplane also chose to name the aircraft “Maxwell” to honor James Clerk Maxwell, the 19th century Scottish physicist who did groundbreaking work in electromagnetism, according to a NASA release. P
Maxwell is the agency’s first X-plane designation in a decade, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden during his keynote speech Friday in Washington at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) annual Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition, also known as Aviation 2016. “With the return of piloted X-planes to NASA’s research capabilities – which is a key part of our 10-year-long New Aviation Horizons initiative – the general aviation-sized X-57 will take the first step in opening a new era of aviation."
As many as five larger transport-scale X-planes also are planned as part of this initiative. Its goals – like the X-57 – include demonstrating advanced technologies to reduce fuel use, emissions, and noise, and thus speed up their introduction to the marketplace.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="This artist's concept of NASA's X-57 Maxwell aircraft shows the plane's specially designed wing and 14 electric motors. NASA Aeronautics researchers will use the Maxwell to demonstrate that electric propulsion can make planes quieter, more efficient and more environmentally friendly. Photo credit: NASA Langley/Advanced Concepts Lab, AMA, Inc.
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Part of a four-year flight demonstrator plan, NASA’s Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Technology Operations Research project will build the X-57 by modifying a recently procured, Italian-designed Tecnam P2006T twin-engine light aircraft. Its original wing and two gas-fueled piston engines will be replaced with a long, skinny wing embedded with 14 electric motors – 12 on the leading edge for take offs and landings, and one larger motor on each wing tip for use while at cruise altitude.
Potential benefits
NASA researches believe that distributing electric power across a number of motors integrated with an aircraft in this way will result in a five-time reduction in the energy required for a private plane to cruise at 175 mph.
Several other benefits would result as well. “Maxwell” will be powered only by batteries, eliminating carbon emissions and demonstrating how demand would shrink for lead-based aviation fuel still in use by general aviation.
Energy efficiency at cruise altitude using X-57 technology may benefit travelers by reducing flight times, fuel usage, as well as cutting overall operational costs for small aircraft by as much as 40 percent. Typically, to get the best fuel efficiency an airplane has to fly slower than it is able. Electric propulsion essentially eliminates the penalty for cruising at higher speeds.
Finally, electric motors are more quiet than conventional piston engines and the X-57’s electric propulsion technology is expected to significantly decrease aircraft noise, making it less annoying to the public.
The X-57 research started as part of the NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate's Transformative Aeronautics Program's Convergent Aeronautics Solutions project, with the flight demonstrations being performed as part of the Flight Demonstration Concepts project in the Integrated Aviation Systems Program.
For more information about NASA's electric propulsion research, visit http://go.nasa.gov/1S55SPP.
