NASA research could save commercial airlines billions

 

Washington – The nation’s airlines could realize more than $250 billion in savings in the near future from green-related technologies developed and refined by NASA’s aeronautics researchers during the past six years.

 

These new technologies, developed under NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project, could cut airline fuel use in half, pollution by 75% and noise to nearly one-eighth of today’s levels.

 

“If these technologies start finding their way into the airline fleet, our computer models show the economic impact could amount to $255 billion in operational savings between 2025 and 2050,” said Jaiwon Shin, NASA’s associate administrator for aeronautics research.

 

Created in 2009 and completed in 2015, ERA’s mission was to explore and document the feasibility, benefits, and technical risk of inventive vehicle concepts and enabling technologies that would reduce aviation’s impact on the environment. Project researchers focused on eight major integrated technology demonstrations falling into three categories – airframe technology, propulsion technology, and vehicle systems integration.

 

By the time ERA officially concluded its six-year run, NASA had invested more than $400 million, with another $250 million in-kind resources invested by industry partners who were involved in ERA.

 

Here is a brief summary of each of the eight integrated technology demonstrations completed by the ERA researchers:

 

As part of the closeout work for the ERA project, information and results regarding each of these technology demonstrations were categorized and stored for future access and use by the aerospace industry, and will be discussed at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Sci-Tech Conference in San Diego this week.