NASA seeks proposals for research studies into green aircraft concepts that can halve carbon emissions
NASA and its fellow members of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) are creating NextGen by the year 2025. This JPDO graphic shows a future aircraft with its wings blended into its body.
Fri 11 June 2010 – NASA is soliciting proposals for studies designed to identify advanced concepts that will enable commercial airliners to fly more economically, quieter and cleaner by 2025. Concepts must incorporate technologies enabling large, twin-aisle passenger aircraft to achieve ambitious environmental goals that include 50 percent less fuel consumption and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions compared with today’s airliners and around 80 percent reduction in the nuisance noise footprint around airports. The total value of the research contracts is $36.6 million, with proposals due by July 15.
The research will support the Integrated Systems Research Program in NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and the solicitation is the first of several expected under the directorate’s recently-announced ‘Research Opportunities in Aeronautics’.
NASA will select up to four teams for 12-month studies beginning in fiscal year 2011. The studies will define preferred concepts for advanced technologies that can operate with the US NextGen air traffic modernization programme that includes NASA.
After nine months work on preferred systems’ concepts, each team will be eligible to submit proposals for a subscale flight demonstrator design. NASA will select one or two concepts for 17 months of preliminary design work and risk reduction testing for completion by mid-2013. Because the flight demonstrator will be capable of operating in autonomous and remotely-piloted modes, it will test environmental technology, other suites and techniques.
The research is supported by the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project within the Integrated Systems Research Program.
On June 25 NASA TV will be broadcasting a panel discussion on Green Aviation. Panellists include Fay Collier, Project Manager for the Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project, and Carl Burleson, Acting Deputy Associate Administrator for policy, plans and environment at the Federal Aviation Administration.
