Category: Armstrong Flight Research Center

NASA Drop Test Supports Safer Air Taxi Design and Certification

As the aviation industry works to develop new air taxis and other electric aircraft made from innovative, lightweight materials, there’s a growing need to understand how those materials behave under impact. That’s why NASA is investigating potential air taxi materials and designs that could best protect passengers in the event of a crash. On June […]

NASA Rehearses How to Measure X-59’s Noise Levels

In a stretch of California’s Mojave Desert, NASA conducted a full-scale “dress rehearsal” to prepare how it will measure the noise generated by the X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft. The team behind the successful test flight series operates under NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project. Beginning June 3 and concluding this week, researchers conducted a dry […]

NASA Tests 5G-Based Aviation Network to Boost Air Taxi Connectivity

NASA engineers are exploring how the technology used in existing cellphone networks could support the next generation of aviation. In April and May, researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland built two specialized radio systems to study how well fifth-generation cellular network technology, known as 5G, can handle the demands of air taxi communications. […]

NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Aircraft Begins Taxi Tests

NASA/Jacob Shaw NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic research aircraft has officially begun taxi tests, marking the first time this one-of-a-kind experimental aircraft has moved under its own power. NASA test pilot Nils Larson and the X-59 team, made up of NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin personnel, completed the aircraft’s first low-speed taxi test at U.S. Air […]

NASA Software Catalog Puts Agency Solutions at Innovators’ Fingertips

NASA’s latest open Software Catalog, released Wednesday, offers more than 1,200 downloadable codes developed by agency engineers that could enable faster solutions to energize the space economy and stimulate American ingenuity. The catalog is part of NASA’s effort to place advanced technologies, including agency software, into the hands of businesses, researchers, and entrepreneurs to foster […]

NASA Selects Companies for Architect-Engineer Services Contract

NASA has selected seven companies to assist the agency with architectural and engineering services at multiple agency centers and facilities. The Western Regional Architect-Engineer Services is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract has a total estimated value not to exceed $75 million. The contract was awarded on July 14 with a five-year period of performance with […]

NASA Air Taxi Passenger Comfort Studies Move Forward

NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility vision involves the skies above the U.S. filled with new types of aircraft, including air taxis. But making that vision a reality involves ensuring that people will actually want to ride these aircraft – which is why NASA has been working to evaluate comfort, to see what passengers will and won’t […]

NASA Tech to Measure Heat, Strain in Hypersonic Flight

A NASA system designed to measure temperature and strain on high-speed vehicles is set to make its first flights at hypersonic speeds – greater than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound – when mounted to two research rockets launching this summer. Technicians in the Environmental Laboratory at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center […]