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The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD) project is NASA’s next major effort aimed at revolutionizing air transportation and developing sustainable aviation enabled by green technologies. The X-66 is focused on helping the United States demonstrate advanced airframe technology that will significantly reduce fuel burn and contribute to aircraft operational efficiency.
Under a Funded Space Act Agreement, Boeing and its industry partners will collaborate with NASA to design, build, test, and fly a full-scale sustainable demonstrator aircraft, which received official U.S. Air Force designation as the X-66 in 2023. Boeing will modify an MD-90 to become the X-66 by removing its wings, aft engines, and fuselage sections. It will also be modified to feature a Transonic Truss-Braced Wing, which is an extra-long, thin wing stabilized by diagonal struts.
NASA plans to complete testing for the SFD project by the late 2020s, so that technologies and designs demonstrated by the project can inform industry decisions about the next generation of single-aisle seat class aircraft that could enter into service in the 2030s.
Over seven years, NASA will invest $425 million, while the company and its partners will contribute the remainder of the agreement funding, estimated at about $725 million. As part of the agreement, the agency also will contribute technical expertise and facilities. The project is an activity under NASA’s Integrated Aviation Systems Program (IASP) and a key element of the Sustainable Flight National Partnership, which focuses on developing new aviation technologies in collaboration with industry, academia, and other government agencies.
IASP conducts flight-oriented, system-level research and technology development to mature and transition advanced aeronautic technologies into future air vehicles and operational systems. IASP focuses on the execution of highly complex flight tests and related experiments to support all phases of NASA’s aeronautics research.
Results from the SFD project will inform industry decisions about the next generation of lower-energy consumption single-aisle seat class aircraft for entry into service in the 2030s.
Single-aisle aircraft are the workhorse of many airline fleets, and due to their heavy usage, account for nearly half of worldwide aviation fuel consumption. When combined with additional technologies, the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing configuration could reduce fuel consumption up to 30 percent relative to today's most efficient single-aisle aircraft. This design results in an aircraft that is much more fuel efficient than a traditional airliner due to a configuration that would have less drag resulting in less fuel burned during its mission.
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