NASA: Plans for electronic airplane

[Tsutarja]

Article.

So what do you guys think of this? I think it's pretty neat to see that NASA wants to make electric-powered aviation a reality, but I'm not so certain at how far they'd be able to go.

 

[mew_nani]

They do know all planes in existence are currently powered by electricity right?

_{sarcasm off}

Making planes more efficient is great I suppose as long as it's done cost effectively. However I'd really like NASA to actually focus on space related vehicles.... whenever they decide to get into that again I'd love for them to give me a call.

 

[KetsuekiR]

With the fossil fuel situation only getting worse with time, improved efficiency is very welcome. The article states that we might eventually even get a supersonic jetliner, once this has been perfected and that's certainly very exciting!

Making planes more efficient is great I suppose as long as it's done cost effectively. However I'd really like NASA to actually focus on space related vehicles.... whenever they decide to get into that again I'd love for them to give me a call.

Ehhh, I disagree. NASA stands for National Aeronautic and Space Administration and so I think it's not only fine but welcome that they work on terrestrial flight as well. Of course, I'm pretty sure the budget set aside for this is pretty tiny relative to the one set aside for space stuff, even if that isn't much haha.

 

[Tsutarja]

I definitely agree in that they're doing something right by focusing on working towards a way to make an airplane that is environmentally-friendly. Aeronautics definitely covers both space and the sky, and it's a shame that not many recognize that definition, and expect NASA to be entirely for space.

 

[Spiff]

it'd be great if they pull it off, but I'm skeptical that it would catch on even if it did. even most light general aviation aircraft use A LOT of electricity because of all the equipment these things have to have (transponder, radio, gps, temp guages, lights), and most of them are required equipment per the faa. obvious sacrifices are gonna have to made in order to power all this junk on an electrically powered aircraft, and if that were the case these airplanes would be easily outperformed by the more resilient and cost-effective gas powered aircraft. and I really don't see how an electrically powered engine could ever support an airliner, seeing as the average boeing burns around 10 pounds of fuel a minute. uhhh yeah that's a lot of energy man. but obviously this would be a critical turning point for the environment if they pull this off considering how much airplanes pollute

 

[Brolaire]

One of the awesome things about research is that as long as you're treading new ground (or truthing previously covered ground), it will be good for something. A relatively high speed, functioning electrically fueled plane would be an awesome contribution. Fuel efficiency is pretty low in airlines today. The newer planes are obviously better, but most fleets consist of older planes with the needed modifications, rather than brand new models.

 

[Blu·Ray]

The biggest problem with electric aircraft is the fact that batteries have a far lower energy density than jet fuel or gasoline. When planes have to lift not only the plane itself, but also the propellant, its mass becomes a big issue. As seen in this table, the energy per unit of mass of kerosene is at least 50 times as high as that of a lithium-ion battery, and even with recent advances in battery technology, we are a long way off of reaching parity. This makes electric aircraft far too expensive to operate, heavily decreases range, and makes for a generally unviable solution.
On the other hand, one has to keep in mind that electric motors are much lighter than internal combustion engines, so especially with smaller aircraft, electric may be the way to go in the future as battery technology improves and the technology is optimized.

 

[Legobricks]

I imagined a NASA-developed electric plane would be a descendent of the Convair NB-36H, with a nuclear reactor powering some sort of plasma or ion drive somehow made to work in an atmosphere. I'd be disappointed if I didn't know I was expecting too much to begin with.

Making planes more efficient is great I suppose as long as it's done cost effectively. However I'd really like NASA to actually focus on space related vehicles.... whenever they decide to get into that again I'd love for them to give me a call.

A aircraft like this could be used to explore practically oxygenless atmospheric worlds like Mars.