From TechCrunch: The future of aircraft may look very similar to today’s superficially — but under the hood (or sitting next to the tailfins) they will likely be quite different. That’s the future NASA is hoping to nurture with five research awards worth $11.5 million.
The Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 (AACES) program is an early stage, long-shot initiative to identify “transformative solutions” that could inch the carbon-spewing air travel industry towards sustainability.
These awards are nowhere near enough to make a working aircraft, of course, and these concepts are just that, concepts — but a couple million bucks can easily be the difference between a powerful new technology sitting on a shelf in a lab or getting some real-world testing.
Two of the awards are more focused than others. Electra, for instance, already has a flying prototype for its electric aircraft, and the award money will go towards advancing its existing tech. JetZero is combining a cryogenic liquid hydrogen fuel source with the unusual blended wing fuselage you see pictured up top.
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