NASA Next Gen Aircraft Design Research Key to Aviation Sustainability

NASA researchers are teaming up with the United States Air Force and industry as part of the NASA Aeronautics Strategic Implementation Plan to continue work on developing a sustainable future for commercial aviation with a goal of reducing fuel burn and thus making airliners of the future more efficient. The work focuses on four core technologies that NASA’s innovators call the four Es: environment, efficiency, electrification, and economy. “These are technologies that will build from the foundation laid during previous NASA projects such as the Environmentally Responsible Aviation project and studies on future aircraft designs that we called N+3,” said James Kenyon, NASA’s manager for the Advanced Air Vehicle Program. “NASA can invest in the things that are for the greater good, but we don’t build, produce, or operate commercial airplanes. We just develop technologies so that industry can competitively bring these to market as desired.”