Page 3 - Aerotech News and Review, September 17, 2021

ARMSTRONG, from 2
lish the X-57 as a reference platform minent ground collision. For this activ-
for integrated approaches of distrib- ity, the team modified the algorithms
uted electric propulsion technologies. of the F-16 GCAS and the Automatic
To help integrate air taxis, cargo de- Collision Avoidance Systems and re-
livery aircraft and other new air vehicle branded them to indicate an improved
concepts into the national airspace sys- functionality suitable for non-fighter
tem, NASA is working with industry, aircraft. This new version of the soft-
academia and other government agen- ware can be used in smaller aircraft
cies like the Federal Aviation Admin- like Cessnas and future remotely pi-
istration (FAA). The bulk of this work loted or autonomous aircraft. The Joint
is happening under NASA’s Advanced Capability Technology Demonstration
Air Mobility National Campaign. activity is in partnership with the Fed-
This multi-event campaign will eral Aviation Administration and the
take place at several locations over a Department of Defense.
number of years and will include test- The X-56A suppressed potentially
ing innovative aircraft provided by destructive vibration called flutter,
industry partners. Through these test which permitted research of the air-
flights, NASA plans to collect data craft’s lightweight, flexible wings.
and provide lessons learned to inform The results of the research, which also
FAA policy decisions on AAM safety, included the Air Force Research Labo-
certification, operations, and airspace ratories in Ohio, could enable future
integration. This effort picks up where airliners to use similar wing designs to
the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Inte- conserve fuel. The X-56A team also fa-
gration in the National Airspace Sys- cilitated the development of tools and
tem, or UAS in the NAS, concluded technologies and acquired data to vali-
in 2020. date modeling techniques.
Continuing NASA’s work in auton- NASA Armstrong engineers are
omy, the Resilient Autonomy project working on an increasingly complex
has developed the Expandable Variable aircraft called the Preliminary Re-
Autonomy Architecture, or EVAA, search Aerodynamic Design to Lower
which includes autonomous elements Drag, or Prandtl-D. The aircraft fea-
for increased safety on a range of air- tures a new method for determining
craft. This software stems from the Au- the shape of the wing with a twist that
NASA photograph tomatic Ground Collision Avoidance could lead to an 11 percent reduction
After an ablative coating to protect the craft from high-temperature flight, the X-15 was then covered with a white sealant System (Auto GCAS) that has saved in drag. The concept may also lead to
coat and mounted with additional external fuel tanks.
the lives of 11 F-16 pilots. NASA Arm- significantly enhanced controllability
strong led NASA’s efforts to develop that could eliminate the need for a ver-
strong, was a joint NASA-industry a test flight near Hawaii. Another suc- aircraft fits into an overarching NASA AutoGCAS with its partners the U.S. tical tail and potentially to new aircraft
initiative to develop and demonstrate cess was General Atomics technology plan for researching regional air trans- Air Force, the U.S. Air Force Research designs.
aeronautical technologies. The primary development that lead to future aircraft portation of people and cargo. A princi- Laboratory, the Office of the Secretary Work on the Prandtl-D led to a con-
objective was to develop and transfer NASA used such as the Ikhana (Preda- pal goal of the X-57 project is to share of Defense and Lockheed Martin. cept for a potential Mars airplane. If
advanced technology to an emerging tor B) that was based at NASA Arm- the X-57 design and airworthiness The Auto GCAS system takes con- the Preliminary Research Aerodynam-
American industry and to conduct strong for science missions and the process with regulators and standards trol of an aircraft from the pilot at the
flight demonstrations of those tech- SkyGuardian unmanned aircraft that organizations. Another goal is to estab- last possible moment to avoid an im- See ARMSTRONG, Page 4
nologies in controlled environments demonstrated potential commercial
to validate the capability of Unmanned applications. The legacy of ERAST
Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to fly opera- also includes early efforts at identi-
tional science missions. The program fying and developing technology for
also focused on miniaturization and integration of UAS into the National
integration of special-purpose sensors Airspace System.
and imaging equipment for UAVs.
A major success of the program What’s new
happened in 2001, when the He- New innovations are part of what
lios Prototype reached an unofficial the center is known for and another
world-record altitude of 96,863 feet recent X-plane, the X-57 Maxwell, is
and sustaining flight above 96,000 an example.
feet for more than 40 minutes during The distributed electric powered

NASA photograph
The wingless, lifting body aircraft were lined up on Rogers Dry Lake at what is now NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research
Center, Edwards, Calif. From left to right are the X-24A, M2-F3 and the HL-10. The lifting body aircraft studied the
feasibility of maneuvering and landing an aerodynamic craft designed for reentry from space. These lifting bodies
NASA photograph were air launched by a B-52 mother ship, then flew powered by their own rocket engines before making an unpowered
This 1964 photograph shows a ground engine test underway on the Lunar approach and landing. They helped validate the concept that a space shuttle could make accurate landings without power.
Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) No. 1.

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