Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, will perform a comprehensive, open aperture exploration of technologies and advanced aircraft concepts that have the potential to reduce aviation’s environmental impact and support the commercial aviation industry in its pursuit of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The work is part of NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability (AACES) 2050 project and will include examining new alternative aviation fuels, propulsion systems, aerodynamic technologies, and aircraft configurations, along with other technology areas.
“This work is part of the research NASA conducts under its Advanced Air Vehicles Program,” said Barbara Esker, deputy administrator for programs under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This new collaboration will help NASA and the private sector deliver new technologies to fulfill our mutual goal of cleaner skies in the decades ahead.”
Aurora leads a team that includes experts from Boeing and university researchers at the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, The Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Michigan. Together, the team will examine a range of technology options that could enable more sustainable aviation through dramatic reductions in lifecycle carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, persistent contrails, nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions, and community noise. Boeing’s knowledge of commercial airline products and customers will be key to achieving the team’s goal to produce a technology assessment that will inform future investments and designs for commercial airliners that could be operated in the 2050 timeframe.
“The deep technical knowledge and real-world experience of this team allows us to assess an extensive range of technology combinations that provide pathways towards climate action objectives while also addressing commercial viability” said Graham Drozeski, chief technology officer at Aurora Flight Sciences.
To become a viable commercial product, a new technology concept must consider product lifecycle attributes including certifiability, producibility, scalability, maintainability, reliability, operability, integrability and affordability, among others. The team will include these considerations when developing technology roadmaps, which can help inform industry and government investments in a cleaner, more sustainable future of flight.
Boeing’s participation in the AACES 2050 research initiative, which includes five awards, will support its focus on advancing innovation and clean technologies in aviation, including improved aerodynamic performance, novel energy systems, increased propulsion and systems efficiency, as well as reduced life cycle energy use and emissions.
“Since the dawn of the jet age, Boeing has improved the efficiency of our airplanes by 80%, and we continue to drive further innovation today to decarbonize aviation,” said Jim Hileman, the vice president and chief engineer of Sustainability and Future Mobility at Boeing. “AACES will enable us to bring experts from across Boeing together with NASA and leading universities to develop key insights that will help us to enable an ever safer and more sustainable aerospace future.”
