Story at a glance
- Aircraft are responsible for a significant amount of the world’s pollution and carbon emissions, contributing to worsening climate change.
- NASA is working on developing electric planes to minimize and eventually eliminate this effect.
- Its first experimental two-seater electric plane is still in development.
NASA’s slogan, “at NASA, we make Air and Space available for everyone,” applies to future generations of Americans as well as the current one. So the agency is joining efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of aircraft with electric planes.
“Initially we will get to planes carrying up to 20 people, while the technology NASA is working on will stretch that perhaps to planes with 100 people,” Kevin Noertker, co-founder of Ampaire, told The Guardian. “For that regional aviation, commuter planes, it’s a no-brainer. I think by the early 2030s we’ll be able to deliver electrified planes that are larger and higher-performance and for the very big planes, some sort of hybrid.”
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The X-57 aircraft, the latest in the X line of experimental technologies, is a modified Italian Tecnam P2006T aircraft with electric propulsion, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and a dozen small motors on its wings.
“What will drive the success of electrification in aircraft are key technologies like advanced machines, power electronics, and fault management devices,” said Amy Jankovsky, EAP technologies project manager at NASA Glenn Research Center, in a release last year. “And advancements in soft magnetic materials and insulation are key to all of these areas.”
Research shows the airline industry is responsible for about 5 percent of human-made global warming, roughly half of which is generated by just 1 percent of the world’s population. Airlines have promised to cut emissions by using hydrogen-based fuels, carbon “off-sets” and — perhaps soon — electric planes.
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