Tue, Nov 03, 2020
While at EAA AirVenture 2016, our ANN video crew checked in with NASA to find out what’s going on with their experiments into electric-powered flight. They had the opportunity to interview Mark Moore and Sean Clarke, who are both NASA Principal Investigators for the Sceptor X-57 project.
Just the name of this project sounds pretty exciting, and it is. The project centers on using electric propulsion for airplane flight, and the system being developed by NASA is referred to as ‘Distributive Electrical Propulsion.’ As you will see in the video, this means distributing multiple electric motors along the entire wingspan to provide increased aircraft efficiency.
In the video, Moore discusses the advantages of the system through both lower cost of operation and a propulsion system that produces no carbon emissions. Clarke explains how multiple engines producing thrust over the wing also produces greater aerodynamic efficiency.
Moore feels that the experimentation being performed with the X-57 project will provide the industry with technologies that can lead to full-scale man-carrying aircraft within 10 years. The video shows some fascinating tests being performed at Edwards Air Force Base, and it provides a look into what could be in the future for general aviation and commercial aviation.
Aero-TV is a production of the Internationally syndicated Aero-News Network. Seen worldwide by hundreds of thousands of aviators and aviation adherents, Aero-TV has produced over 2000 aviation and feature programs, including several hundred episodes of our daily aviation news program, AIRBORNE, hosted by Bri Cross & Christopher C. Odom. Parent company, Aero-News Network, has the most aggressive and intensive editorial profile of any aviation news organization and has published nearly 200,000 news and feature stories since its inception -- having pioneered the online 24/7 aviation new-media model that so many have emulated.
©2016 Aero-News Network, Inc., ALL Rights Reserved
More News
Pilot Also Reported That Due To A Fuel Leak, The Auxiliary Fuel Tanks Were Not Used On June 4, 2025, at 13:41 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-23, N2109P, was substantially damage>[...]
From 2023 (YouTube Edition): Reflections on War’s Collective Lessons and Cyclical Nature The exigencies of war ought be colorblind. Inane social-constructs the likes of racis>[...]
Pilot Reported That He Was Unfamiliar With The Single Seat Amateur-Built Airplane And His Intent Was To Perform High-Speed Taxi Testing Analysis: The pilot reported that he was unf>[...]
From 2023 (YouTube Edition): First Kits to Ship October 2023 Having formerly resurrected the storied shape of the Ryan ST—in effigy, anyway—Montrose, Colorado-based Tim>[...]
Performance-Based Navigation (PBN) [ICAO] Area navigation based on performance requirements for aircraft operating along an ATS route, on an instrument approach procedure or in a d>[...]
NTSB Prelim: Piper PA-23
See All