Page 124 - The Origin of Birds and Flight

The Morphing Project, managed by Anna-Maria McGowan and carried
out at the NASA Langley Research Center, aims at producing a plane able
to move its wings according to varying weather conditions—just like a bird.
Presently, the wings of subsonic planes (those traveling at less than the
speed of sound) are manufactured according to a specific height, speed
and load. When flight conditions change, however, the shape of the wing
must also change. In McGowan’s words, “The kind of wing you need at
very low speed and the kind of wing you need at high speeds are complete-
1
ly different.” Otherwise, problems will arise such as excessive fuel con-
sumption, unwanted turbulence and excessive noise.
Under present-day circumstances, however, such wing changes are im-
possible because wings are made from very hard materials. For that rea-
son, NASA is working on an “intelligent wing” project, run with the partici-
pation of DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) and the
AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory). The objective is plane wings that are
connected to a central electronic system, as living things are by their nerv-
ous system.
Bill Uher of the NASA Langley Research Center says this about the pro-
ject:
The receptors will be nerves just like those in the bird wing and will con-
stantly measure surface pressure. Activators will either expand or con-
tract the aircraft’s wings. Thus they will change the shape of wings, just
like muscles. 2
In the wing model currently being worked on, the mechanical energy of
the forces applied is turned into electrical energy, and the energy created
that emerges by means of structures resembling joints, gives rise to a
movement resembling flapping. Tests show that the wing can bend up to
20 degrees. It’s expected that the Morphing Project will make still more
progress in designing new wing structures inspired by the flying techniques
of birds.
The objective is the design of wings that can fold themselves, like those