NASA Selects Companies For Advanced Aircraft Concepts Study
WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded two contracts for studies designed to identify advanced concepts for airliners that could enter service in 2025 and fly with less noise, cleaner exhaust and lower fuel consumption.A team led by Lockheed Martin of Palmdale, Calif., was selected for a contract worth $2.99 million. A team led by Northrop Grumman of El Segundo, Calif., was selected for a contract worth $2.65 million. Both contracts have a performance period of 12 months, beginning in November.
A key objective of the research is to ensure technological elements
proposed for meeting NASA's noise, emissions and fuel burn reduction
goals can be integrated on a single aircraft that could operate
safely within a modernized air traffic management system.
The teams will define a preferred system concept for an aircraft that
can fly up to 85 percent of the speed of sound; cover a range of
approximately 7,000 miles; and carry between 50,000 and 100,000
pounds of payload, either passengers or cargo.
NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation Project is sponsoring the
study. The project is part of the Integrated Systems Research Program
managed by the agency's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in
Washington.
The project is working to develop technology that would enable future
aircraft to burn 50 percent less fuel than current models; reduce
harmful emissions by 50 percent; and shrink the geographic areas
affected by objectionable airport noise by 83 percent.
For information about NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation
Project, visit:
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.
For information about NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, visit:
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.
Source: NASA
