To fly and to feel the sky would be the very first dream everyone had in their life. Flying birds have stolen the minds of human generations and put a spark of desire in their mind. Some funny guys found themselves as superman and made many jumps from the top of mountains; as a result, many of those buddies got their first and last fly to heaven. But humans had never given up their dream, instead, they take their dream to a new level.
We humans always have a mentality to chase our dreams. Some of our dreams won’t die even after the departure of our soul from this world. Those dreams will keep on sharing to many other lives and generations. As they transport from life to life, new transformation takes place in them. New ideas and knowledge will shape our dreams. Humans always keep their brain ignited with so many mind-blowing ideas. The strong desire of generations to fly is an example of that. Humanity shaped their ideas in order to achieve their dreams.
Finally, two heroes gave wings to the great dream of many generations. Yeah, The Wright brothers. Orville and Wilbur Wright were the two American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world’s first successful motor-operated aeroplane.
But the invention of the Wright flyer never put an end to the dream of humans about the fly. Human began to think about its application. They soon began to understand the benefits that an aeroplane could bring into the human lives. This paved the way for the human to build highly efficient and powerful aircraft for both defence and passenger/cargo transportation. This invention globally reshaped the life of humans.
The desire of humanity to fully and efficiently exploit the new resource lead to the invention of huge Double-deck passenger aircraft and modern supersonic fighter aircraft. Day by day these flights get updated and modified in a way to reduce expenses and fuel consumption and to increase efficiency. People used to call them the name of giant birds and animals. These aircraft always have a special place in the mind of humanity. It would be difficult to find a person who doesn’t wish to have the flights in the sky.
A new superstar is going to be added soon to these aircraft. The most interesting fact is that this aircraft is being built by the organization of superheroes, NASA ?. A few years back NASA has announced its mission to build an all-electric X-plane, the X-57 Maxwell. Mmm. Yeah, the most suitable name; isn’t? It would be an honour to the great scientist superhero ever lived in the world, James Clerk Maxwell.
NASA is a group of guys having lustrous and tremendous ideas. They have built many powerful, efficient and marvellous aircraft in its history. The most interesting thing I found on NASA is its curiosity to know the past and its hurtle to feel the future.
While you are getting astonished by visuals of mind-boggling aircraft in Marvel movies, NASA and its friends are trying to make it real to you. They have a clear-cut view about future aircraft and they know how to make it real. The aircraft in which Tony Stark and his superhero buddies travel can also be a possible one in our near future.
As the first step to that many companies have made many electric and hybrid aircraft. But it is for the first time NASA building an all-electric X-plane. This is an experimental flight, which could show us how efficient would be the electric flight of NASA in comparison to others. NASA was doing research on modifying the flights by providing electric motors and reducing the drag force. NASA then finally came forward with its plan to build electric X-plane.
This aircraft has high efficiency and speed compared to other flights. The electric propulsion provides a 5 to 10 times reduction in greenhouse gases. It also provides a technology path for aircraft to eliminate 100 low lead aviation gasoline, which is the leading contributor to lead environmental emissions. Since the aircraft is battery-powered, it can run off renewable-based electricity, making clear the environmental and economic advantages. It also has zero carbon emissions. The X-57’s designers hope to reduce by five-fold the energy necessary to fly a light aircraft at 175 miles per hour (282 km/h). This aircraft reduces the drag, which occurs in other flights by modifying its wings and by placing 14 electric motor driving propellers on the wings. It also has less noise.
By knowing the benefits of this all-electric X-plane of NASA, a dialogue of Tamil superstar Rajinikanth is coming into my mind;
“Naan late-aah vanthalum, latest-aah varuven” (Even if I come late, I’ll be the latest).
NASA was late in making an electric X plane, but they came with the latest and marvelous aircraft.
The Maxwell X-57 actually formed by modifying the Italian Tecnam P2006T. By modifying this flight, we can easily understand the difference in its electric and fuel version. This project was a collaboration between NASA and California companies Empirical Systems Aerospace of San Luis Obispo, and Joby Aviation of Santa Cruz. The Leading Edge Asynchronous Propeller Technology (LEAPTech) is the name given to this project.
They modified the wings of original Tecnam P2006T. The width of the wings of X-57 is only a third of the original one. Normal flights have wings of large width which results in a drag force during the cruise. By reducing the thickness we can avoid this drag. But there we can find a problem; the flight with fewer width wings would require a large runway for take-off. Flight with big wings can take-off from the ground even at slow speed. But X-57 needs a large runway to increase its speed in order to induce a required lift on wings.
The brightest minds at NASA began to think about a new mechanism that could solve this issue of ‘lengthy runway’. NASA decided to mount 6 propellers above each wing. By placing these propellers on the wings, we can increase the airflow over the wings which will result in producing required upward lift. Thereby we solved one drag force problem by reducing the width and increase the length of wings of flight. Then the limitations have overthrown by placing 12 propellers on the wings. These propellers will use only at the time of take-off. And during the cruise, these propellers will stop and fold back. The flight will use the big propeller in cruise mode.
The speed of each propeller can be controlled independently, offering the ability to change the over-wing airflow pattern to cope with flying conditions, such as wind gusts. The old big wings prevent the flight from stalling (which happens at low airspeeds, when the wing cannot provide sufficient lift) even at small speed. But that would not be the case for lesser width wings. But that problem can also resolve by the 12 propellers. Thereby even at the low speed, those 12 propellers prevent the flight from stalling. Distributed propulsion increases the number and decreases the size of aeroplane engines. Electric motors are substantially smaller and lighter than jet engines of equivalent power. This allows them to be placed in different, more favourable locations.
While flight take-off from runway, Wingtip vortices form at the end of the wing. This will result in another drag force. This problem can also be solved by placing propellers at the tip of the wings. This propeller rotates in the opposite direction in a way to counteract the wingtip vortices.
The Maxwell X-57 NASA’s first piloted X-plane in two decades. After its 3 modes, NASA is planning to fly its last and final model in this year. This final all-electric configuration is known as Modification IV, or Mod IV. We can wait for its first flight.
Our Earth needs sustainable development. We should use our brain in a way to bring benefits to humanity and keeping our environment safe. NASA’s electric Plane is going to make an enormous change in the field of commercial flights. In the coming future, these electric flights will have dominance in the market. We can wait for many such beautiful and environmentally friendly inventions from NASA.
– ARUN S
Courtesy:- NASA/Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC)
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