Bolden Pledges More Groundbreaking Research with Industry Written 24 June 2015
by Hannah Godofsky, AIAA communications
Touching on everything from bug residue on aircraft to the economic impacts of aviation, NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden said NASA is anxious to continue its research with the industry, and he singled out environmentally friendly flight as a special priority.
“Any conversation about the future of aviation has to begin with green aviation,” Bolden said during his keynote address to attendees of AIAA’s Aviation 2015 forum.
Bolden said aviation generates 1.5 trillion dollars in economic activity per year and supports 11.8 million jobs. Aviation also supports trade routes by moving more than 18.1 billion tons of freight annually. He underscored NASA’s historical role in advancing the aviation industry, and he said this would continue.
“Every aircraft control tower is equipped with technology that was developed by NASA,” Bolden said. “These technologies save lives, save resources, and when you consider the impact of green aviation on our environment, I think it’s fair to say that they’re saving our planet as well.”
He stressed the need for partnerships with private industry. “The bottom line is that if you’re working on efficiency, if you’re working on green aviation, if you’re working to decrease noise and increase safety, then we at NASA want to work with you. Our goal at NASA is to be with you not just when you fly, but when you innovate in flight.”
Bolden cited Boeing as an example of research on green aviation that’s being undertaken in partnership with NASA. Last week, “Boeing flew their eco-demonstrator plane up-down, from Washington state to the Langley Research Center” in Virginia, he said.
NASA and Boeing also flight tested nonstick aircraft coatings. “One of these coatings actually reduced bug residue by 40 percent versus normal control surfaces. If we’re able to reduce residue across the board, it could save fuel and money.” NASA has now invested $410 million in its Environmentally Responsible Aviation initiative, and private industry has funded $224 million in green aviation research. Bolden said 80 billion gallons of fuel could be saved through 2050.
He also pointed to work NASA is doing with FAA to develop software that will use satellite technology to improve landings at commercial airports. “Today we’re able to announce that our friends and partners at the FAA are moving forward with the full investment decision on what we call Terminal Sequencing and Spacing, or T-SAS.” T-SAS is piece of software designed to help air traffic controllers manage airspace within five miles of major airports. “It will help pilots to fly continuous descent, fuel efficient approaches to airports” and “safely permit more flights to merge together at a point where they can be cleared to approach for final descent and landing.” T-SAS will be tested at nine major U.S. international airports, with a long-term goal of global implementation.
Even so, Bolden wants to do more than fly clean. He said he hasn’t given up on the possibility of supersonic commercial flight, although he acknowledged regulatory hurdles and the need for the industry to embrace such a goal. “We’ve been flying subsonic for so long it’s easy to think this is as fast as we’ll ever travel short of teleportation,” he joked. NASA is testing different aircraft shapes in wind tunnels in an attempt to solve the sonic boom problem and would like to build and test a demonstrator with private industry partners. “I truly believe the day will come when the prohibition of supersonic flight over land is no longer necessary, when a low boom signature is no longer a dream, but a reality.”
Bolden emphasized the need for industry to see the appeal in NASA’s aeronautics agenda in order to overcome these challenges. “It starts with industry saying ‘this is something that’s really going to benefit us’, and deciding to take advantage of what we’re doing,” Bolden said. He suggested that goes for every item on NASA’s aeronautics agenda, not just commercial supersonic flight or green aviation.