So Much Accomplished...
As 2003 draws to a
close, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center researchers have
completed a milestone series of evaluation flights for a
revolutionary flight control system that could enable future
aircraft suffering major system failures or combat damage to be
flown to a safe, controlled landing. The Intelligent Flight Control
System, aboard a highly-modified NASA F-15B, focuses on development
of "self-learning" neural network software for aircraft control
computers. In its final form, the software would compare data from
how the aircraft and its systems are operating with a database of
how it would normally operate, and automatically adjust the flight
controls to compensate for any damage or inoperative control
surfaces or systems.
In April, a joint program of the Air Force Research Laboratory,
NASA Dryden and Boeing Phantom Works completed the first phase of a
project seeking to determine the advantages of twisting flexible
wings for primary maneuvering roll control at transonic and
supersonic speeds. The Active Aeroelastic Wing employs conventional
control surfaces such as ailerons and leading-edge flaps to
aerodynamically induce twist. From flight test and simulation data,
the program will develop structural modeling techniques and tools
to help design lighter, more flexible high aspect-ratio wings for
future high-performance aircraft. Greater freedom in wing design
will enable more economical operation or greater payload
capability. In all, 50 test missions were flown in the modified,
highly instrumented F/A-18 over the course of five months.
A milestone in the development of high-altitude, long-endurance
remotely operated aircraft occurred in June with the inaugural
flight of NASA's Altair, the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to
feature triple-redundant flight systems and avionics for increased
reliability. The one-of-a-kind aircraft will initially be used to
evaluate various new control, communications and
collision-avoidance technologies that are critical to enabling UAVs
to fly safely in national airspace with manned aircraft. Later,
NASA hopes to use the Altair for a variety of environmental science
missions that are often too dangerous, difficult or lengthy for
piloted aircraft to perform.
This fall, a Dryden designed and built small-scale aircraft flew
the first known demonstration of propulsive power delivered by an
invisible, ground-based laser. The model plane, with its five-foot
wingspan, weighs only 11 ounces and is constructed from balsa wood
and carbon fiber tubing covered with Mylar film. It is
radio-controlled. The team of researchers from Dryden, Marshall
Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. , and the University of
Alabama, Huntsville, conducted the flight at Marshall and
directed the laser's energy beam at specially designed photovoltaic
cells carried onboard to power an electric motor turning the
plane's propeller. The demonstration was a key step toward the
capability to beam power to an aircraft aloft. Without the need for
onboard fuel or batteries, such an airplane could carry scientific
or communication equipment and stay in flight indefinitely.
NASA's Airborne Science Program, based at Dryden, has had a busy
year supporting missions around the globe. The DC-8 began the year
in Kiruna, Sweden, carrying instruments used to measure ozone and
other atmospheric gases. From the snowy European landscape, the
aircraft moved to the Rockies where it participated in a mission to
study the role of snow-cover on Earth's weather and climate. The
study of the snowpack during February and March will lead to
improved forecasts of springtime water supply and snow melt floods.
The DC-8 flew a coastal eddies mission off southern California in
April. The aircraft carried instruments that captured images
of the eddies to measure the motion caused by the currents and
monitor the movement of pollutants that originate on land. The
aircraft surpassed 6,000 science flight hours during a spring study
that collected aerosols along the California coast.
As 2004 nears, Dryden researchers are readying the X-43A for
flights that could reach 10 times the speed of sound next year.
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