The Future of Aviation

1.

Bill Anderson
Partnership Manager for Education
Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
NASA Headquarters
The Future of Aviation

2. Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Programs

Airspace Systems
Vehicle Systems
Aviation Safety and Security

3. Aeronautics Technology Challenges

Aviation Safety
Noise Reduction
Emissions Reduction
System Capacity
New Technologies

4. Challenge: The Need to Continuously Improve Aviation Safety

50
40
Business as
usual
Hull loss
accidents per
year*
30
20
Departures, Millions*
10
Reductions
possible with
continued effort
Hull loss accident rate*
[Accidents per million departures]
0
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
*Accident and Departure data through 31 December 2001
2020

5.

Aviation Safety
Human Factors
Weather
Situational Awareness

6. Synthetic Vision

7.

Automatic Protected Airspace Avoidance
Control
Threshold
Prohibited
Area
Autonomic Control
Invoked
Approved
Flight Path
Predicted
Flight Path
Alerting Threshold

8.

Challenge: Containing Noise Within
the Airport Boundary
Growth in World Airport Noise Restrictions
All Types of Restrictions
1000
Noise Abatement
Procedures
800
Number of
Restrictions
600
400
200
0
1970
1980
1994
1995
Year
1996
1997
1998

9.

Chevron Nozzle
Noise Reduction
Airframe Noise
Reduction
Source Noise
Reduction
Aircraft
Operations

10.

Challenge: Minimizing Aviation Emissions
Smog-free
No impact on
global climate

11.

Emissions Reduction
Making engines more efficient

12.

Regenerative Fuel System
Energy Storage System
H2 Tank
Weight is a problem
O2 Tank

13.

Challenge: National Airspace System
Approaching Gridlock
Future ATM Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET)

14.

Challenge: National Airspace System
Approaching Gridlock

15.

Increasing Airspace Capacity and Efficiency
Community access with small
aircraft/airports
Gate-to-gate air traffic management
capacity & flexibility
Advanced concepts of operation
Human factors

16. Expanded Accessibility to Underutilized Airports and Airspace

An additional
5,400 Public Use
Airports
Airports today with “near
all weather” availability

17. Automated Control of Small Aircraft

18.

Personal Air Vehicle Exploration
Rural/Regional General Aviation
• Conventional take off and landing
• 5-place, non-pressurized cabin
• 200 mph cruise speed
• 500-mile range
• Near all weather capability
• Target cost of $75,000

19. Personal Air Vehicles

Must be safe, efficient,
and low-cost
Roadable Vehicle

20.

Challenge: Revolutionary
Technologies and New Missions

21. Building Aircraft One Molecule at a Time

22. Mimicking Biology

23. Subsonic Transports

Notional Aircraft

24. Supersonic Aircraft

Sonic Boom
Low Speed Noise
High Speed Inefficiencies and Emissions

25.

F-15 Visible Sonic Shock Wave

26.

F5-E Supersonic Boom
Demonstration (SSBD)
F5-E Without Nose Glove
With Nose Glove

27. Vehicles of the Future

28.

Hypersonic Aircraft
Mach 7 – One Mile Per Second
Total flight – 400 miles during 6 minute test
Scramjet Burn - 11 Seconds
Mach 10 – Fall, 2004
X-43A

29. X-43A Video and Animation

Supersonic Combustion Ramjet (Scramjet)
Facts
• March 27, 2004
• 2,800 lbs.
• Length 12 ft.
• B-52
• 40,000 feet
• Pegasus Rocket
• 3,500 mph
• 100,000 feet
• Scramjet Power
• Mach 7, 5000 mph
• 10-sec burn
• Gaseous Hydrogen
• No recovery
• Next flight 12/04
• $230M Program

30.

ARES
Aerial Regional-scale
Environmental Survey of Mars

31. ARES Animation

32. ARES Balloon Drop Test

33. In Summary…

34.

The invention of flight continues…