The concept plane from Nasa and Boeing
(Picture: Boeing)Aircrafts of the future could make living on the Heathrow flight path a bit less unpleasant, as Nasa and Boeing have unveiled an unorthodox design that could reduce emissions by up to 30%.
As part of the space agency’s Sustainable Flight Demonstration project, a total of about $1.1 billion will be invested by Nasa, Boeing and its partners in building and testing the transonic truss-braced wing concept plane.
At a glance, the early design of the plane doesn’t look a million miles away from what you see over London’s skies right now.
But there’s a key difference that should massively reduce the crafts’ harm to the environment: the wings are far thinner and longer than what you’d typically spot on planes taxiing at the airport today.
To make this work, two trusses support the wings from below. The design not only significantly lowers the weight of the plane, reducing the fuel required to keep it airborne, but should also minimise drag in the air.
With these and other potential advances in propulsion systems, materials and system architecture, Nasa believes the plane’s fuel consumption could be about 30% less than the most fuel-efficient single-aisle aircraft in operation today.
“Nasa has dared to go farther, faster, higher and, in doing so, Nasa has made aviation more sustainable and dependable,” said Nasa administrator Bill Nelson in a press release. It’s our goal that Nasa’s partnership with Boeing to produce and test a full-scale demonstrator will help lead to future commercial airliners that are more fuel efficient, with benefits to the environment, the commercial aviation industry and to passengers worldwide.”
A 30% reduction – which could well yet prove extremely optimistic – would be massive but would still leave the aviation industry with a mountain to climb to reach its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The planes could go into service in the 2030s, with testing expected to conclude in the late 2020s.
And while a reduction in aircraft emissions would improve air quality around airports, living in the vicinity of Stanstead, Heathrow or Gatwick still won’t exactly be good for you. While it has limitations, one 2015 study found that those living within six miles of an airport were more at risk from asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart problems.
