NASA's X-57 all-electric aircraft will go through four modalities before it reaches its end-design. The plane as it looked Friday inside a hangar at NASA Armstrong in eastern Kern is in Mod 2. Eventually the plane will have a long, skinny wing, designed at NASA Langley, with 14 electric motors, two on the wingtips and 12 on the leading edge of the wing.
Tim Williams, NASA's lead pilot for the X-57 all-electric experimental aircraft program, talks about the benefits and challenges of developing an electric-powered plane. "We're trying to figure out the hard stuff, then give it to the commercial market," he said.
The X-57 program at NASA Armstrong in eastern Kern County is investigating and demonstrating the benefits of replacing a traditional combustion system with distributed electric propulsion in a new class of general aviation aircraft. With enormous improvements in energy efficiency, emissions output and noise generation, it's possible the developing technology could revolutionize general and even commercial aviation.
Sean Clarke, one of the leaders of the X-57 program, said the all-electric, battery-powered plane will boast a 500 percent increase in high-speed cruise efficiency, zero in-flight carbon emissions and a much quieter flight noise for people on the ground.
As an all-electric experimental aircraft, X-57 will be powered by 16 of these lithium ion batteries, each one weighing about 51 pounds. The weight of the battery system will equal nearly one-third of the plane's total weight.
Tim Williams, NASA's lead pilot for the X-57 all-electric experimental aircraft program, talks about the benefits and challenges of developing an electric-powered plane. "We're trying to figure out the hard stuff, then give it to the commercial market," he said.
NASA's X-57 Maxwell is the agency's first all-electric experimental aircraft. On Friday, engineers and other NASA employees worked on the latest version of the plane at Armstrong Flight Research Center in eastern Kern County.
NASA's X-57 all-electric aircraft will go through four modalities before it reaches its end-design. The plane as it looked Friday inside a hangar at NASA Armstrong in eastern Kern is in Mod 2. Eventually the plane will have a long, skinny wing, designed at NASA Langley, with 14 electric motors, two on the wingtips and 12 on the leading edge of the wing.
Wayne "Ringo" Ringelberg, a NASA test pilot for the X-57 Maxwell electric plane program, demonstrates on Friday a flight simulator at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in eastern Kern County.
Tim Williams, NASA's lead pilot for the X-57 all-electric experimental aircraft program, talks about the benefits and challenges of developing an electric-powered plane. "We're trying to figure out the hard stuff, then give it to the commercial market," he said.
The X-57 program at NASA Armstrong in eastern Kern County is investigating and demonstrating the benefits of replacing a traditional combustion system with distributed electric propulsion in a new class of general aviation aircraft. With enormous improvements in energy efficiency, emissions output and noise generation, it's possible the developing technology could revolutionize general and even commercial aviation.
Sean Clarke, one of the leaders of the X-57 program, said the all-electric, battery-powered plane will boast a 500 percent increase in high-speed cruise efficiency, zero in-flight carbon emissions and a much quieter flight noise for people on the ground.
As an all-electric experimental aircraft, X-57 will be powered by 16 of these lithium ion batteries, each one weighing about 51 pounds. The weight of the battery system will equal nearly one-third of the plane's total weight.
Tim Williams, NASA's lead pilot for the X-57 all-electric experimental aircraft program, talks about the benefits and challenges of developing an electric-powered plane. "We're trying to figure out the hard stuff, then give it to the commercial market," he said.
This painting hanging in the lobby of a hangar at NASA Armstrong in eastern Kern County shows much of the history of aviation research and development at NASA.
NASA's X-57 Maxwell is the agency's first all-electric experimental aircraft. On Friday, engineers and other NASA employees worked on the latest version of the plane at Armstrong Flight Research Center in eastern Kern County.
When NASA test pilot Wayne “Ringo” Ringelberg heard he had been selected along with fellow pilot Tim Williams to fly the X-57, NASA’s first all-electric airplane, his ego may have swelled just a bit.
“When the previous chief pilot told me I was going to be on this project, he was going to relay to me why I was selected, and I expected to hear a lot about my precise flying skills and my exceptional technical background,” Ringelberg said Friday, tongue firmly in cheek.
Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.
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