NASA Langley Research Center’s GL-10 Greased Lightning is a subscale model of a hybrid-electric distributed-propulsion unmanned aircraft with tilting wing and tail that would be able to take off and land vertically and fly for up to 24 hr. Seen here being tether-tested before free-flight tests, the 10-ft.-span GL-10 weighs 55 lb. and is battery powered.
Credit: NASA
NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Droid unmanned research aircraft tows a third-scale model of the Towed Glider Airborne Launch System (Tgals) into the air over Edwards AFB, California. The 27-ft. span twin-fuselage glider (inset images) is a model of a remotely or optional piloted glider that would be towed aloft by a transport aircraft and release a booster rocket at 40,000 ft. to place a payload into orbit.
Credit: NASA
Delivered to NASA Armstrong in October, the Ptera was developed by Area-I as a low-cost, low-risk testbed for advanced controls and configurations. Modeled on the Boeing 737, the 11.3-ft.-span UAV has two model jet engines. A second Ptera, modeled on the Bombardier CRJ700 with 12-ft. span and rear-mounted engines, will be used by NASA Langley for T-tail loss-of-control research.
Credit: NASA
Transferred from the Air Force Research Laboratory to NASA Armstrong, the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works X-56A will be used to develop active flight controls and advanced shape sensors enabling slender, flexible wings that will reduce the weight and drag of future airliners. The 480-lb., 28-ft.-span flying wing is powered by two small turbojets and has interchangeable wing sets.
Credit: NASA
This APV-3 unmanned aircraft was modified by NASA Aeronautics Academy summer interns at Armstrong to flight-test technology to sense and redistribute airloads on a wing in real time. A fiber-optic strain- and shape-sensing network was connected to an autopilot that sent individual commands to 44 trailing-edge flap segments (top image) to reduce loads on the long-span wing.
Credit: NASA
Prandtl-D was a 12.3-ft.-span scale model of a flying wing with a non-elliptical lift distribution, built and flown by NASA Aeronautics Academy interns. Resembling the Horten flying wings of the 1940s, the radio-controlled glider confirmed German aerodynamicist Ludwig Prandtl’s theory that changing the lift distribution at the wing tips could turn adverse yaw due to induced drag into beneficial proverse yaw.
Credit: NASA
NASA is making increasing use of small unmanned aircraft for flight research to reduce costs and risks. Here are some recent examples of new technologies being tested in small packages.
