The National
Aeronautics and Space Administration had four industry teams come in and design
what they believe to be the commercial planes of the future. NASA had these
teams design air craft that hold up to standards they set for future air planes
of the 2030-era.
NASA's goals for a 2030-era
aircraft, compared with an aircraft entering service today, are:
- A
71-decibel reduction below current Federal Aviation Administration noise
standards, which aim to contain objectionable noise within airport
boundaries.
- A
greater than 75 percent reduction on the International Civil Aviation
Organization's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection Sixth
Meeting, or CAEP/6, standard for nitrogen oxide emissions, which aims to
improve air quality around airports.
- A
greater than 70 percent reduction in fuel burn performance, which could
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of air travel.
- The
ability to exploit metroplex concepts that enable optimal use of runways
at multiple airports within metropolitan areas, as a means of reducing air
traffic congestion and delays.
These
teams narrowed their concepts all down to one plane per team and came out with
some practical concept planes for the future. Here are the four team’s designs
and an image of the concept plane that they came up with.
The General Electric Aviation team
came up with a 20-passenger aircraft. Their design is intended to reduce the
congestion at major hubs by using point-to-point travel via community airports.
This aircraft will sport full-sized seats and have electricity generating cells
that will allow for advanced electrical systems. The plane has special
oval-shaped fuselage and an overall layout that allows for a smooth air flow
over all of its surfaces. Low noise propellers will allow the aircraft to have
less noise population both inside and outside the plane. Finally, the advanced
turboprop engines provide the aircraft with the proper thrust for short
takeoffs and the ability to climb in altitude quickly.
The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology team came up with the next concept aircraft design. They designed a
passenger plane that holds 180-passengers with its “D8 (double bubble)” design.
Their concept fuses two normal aircraft bodies side-by-side lengthwise, then
has three turbofan jet engines on its tail for its propulsion system. A major
focus of the MIT team was their use of composite materials, which significantly
lower the weight of the aircraft. They also made sure their turbofan engines
have ultra high bypass ratio, which basically allows the plane to have more
thrust. The MIT team designed this concept to be efficient, roomier, and to
fill the future needs of Boeing’s aging 737.
This next design came from the
Northrop Grumman team, which looked to make a passenger plane that seats about
120. This aircraft is designed specifically for shorter runaways to help
increase capacity while reducing the amount of delays. Their team describes the
plane as having a “Silent Efficient Low Emissions Commercial Transport, or
SELECT” concept. Grumman’s aircraft will be made out of ceramic composites,
nanotechnology and shape memory alloys. This aircraft is not only great for the
environment, but it also has the ability to land at airports with runaways as
short as 5,000 feet. This allows for much wider distribution of air traffic.
The last design from this program I
have to show you is the Boeing Company’s Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research
aka SUGAR with their concept named the SUGAR Volt. It is a twin-engine aircraft
with hybrid technology for propulsion, top mounted wing with truss, and has a
larger wingspan than normal aircraft of similar bodies. The wing also may
include hinges so it will be able to fold up to fit into smaller gates. The
aircraft’s engines are specially designed to both burn fuel and to be able to
use electricity from special battery cells to run its turbo fans when the
engine’s core powered down.
There are several major aspects of
these future aircraft that you should note for the future of commercial
aviation. These future aircraft have slightly slower cruising speeds, about five
to ten percent slower than current aircraft flying today, and that’s at higher
altitudes, all to save fuel. The concept planes all have less power for takeoff,
which allow quieter flight, but are still able to take off on the much shorter
5,000 foot long runways. These smaller aircraft’s key purpose is to fly shorter,
more direct routes that increase cost efficiency also increasing operating
capacity. But it is important to understand these concept planes are designed
to use new promised air traffic tools, which allow for automated routes to be
made for climbs and arrival descents.
"NASA - National Aeronautics
and Space Administration." NASA. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/future_airplanes.html>.
