NASA’s reputation may be centered around outer space exploration, but the reality is that America’s space agency has made great contributions to life down on Earth.
In that light, NASA has announced a new partnership with the aviation industry in order to bring electric systems to commercial flights by 2035. More specifically, NASA wants to advance design and modeling tools for a future aircraft that will use an Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) system.
Studies have found that the electrification of aircraft propulsion can have a significant impact on reducing energy use and the carbon and nitrogen oxide emissions of air travel. That’s badly needed considering that flights produced 915 million tonnes (1 billion US tons) of CO2 in 2019, according to the Air Transport Action Group.
NASA aims to introduce EAP tech into global fleets by 2035 and will start by targeting smaller airplanes such as turboprops, regional jets, and single aisle aircraft. NASA’s announcement follows a recent one from Boeing, in which the aviation giant declared it wants all its planes to fly on sustainable fuels by 2030.
