NASA unveils future of air travel

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This was published 13 years ago

NASA unveils future of air travel

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NASA has unveiled concept designs for the type of aircraft we may be travelling on board in the year 2025 and 2035.

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NASA has given a sneak peek of designs three companies are pursuing for the aircraft of 2025. Boeing's designs have a similar look to stealth bombers.Credit:NASA/The Boeing Company

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Artist's concept of an aircraft that could enter service in 2025 from the team led by Lockheed Martin.Credit:NASA/Lockheed Martin

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Artist's concept of an aircraft that could enter service in 2025 from the team led by Northrop Grumman.Credit:NASA/Northrop Grumman

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NASA previously invited designs for aircraft that might fly in 2035, with even quieter and more fuel-efficient aims.

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The 180-passenger D8 'double bubble' configuration, by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, fused two aircraft bodies together lengthwise and mounted three turbofan jet engines on the tail.Credit:NASA/MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences

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The GE Aviation team conceptualizes a 20-passenger aircraft that could reduce congestion at major metropolitan hubs by using community airports for point-to-point travel.Credit:NASA/GE Aviation

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Boeing's Subsonic Ultra Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Volt concept is a twin-engine aircraft with hybrid propulsion technology, a tube-shaped body and a truss-braced wing mounted to the top.Credit:NASA/Boeing

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Lockheed Martin's design used simulation tools to show it was possible to achieve over-land flight by dramatically lowering the level of sonic booms through the use of an 'inverted-V' engine-under wing configuration.Credit:NASA/Lockheed Martin

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Boeing's Icon-II design concept for supersonic flight achieves sonic boom noise levels that will meet the target level required to make supersonic flight over land possible.Credit:NASA/Boeing

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Northrop Grumman designed a smaller 120-passenger aircraft tailored for shorter runways in order to help expand capacity and reduce delays. The team describes its Silent Efficient Low Emissions Commercial Transport, or SELECT, concept as 'revolutionary in its performance, if not in its appearance.'Credit:NASA/Northrop Grumman

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The Hybrid Wing Body H-Series design by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hybrid Wing Body H-Series future aircraft design concept comes from the research team led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It features embedded engines using variable area nozzles with thrust vectoring.Credit:NASA/MIT/Aurora Flight Sciences