NASA Associate Administrator for Aero-Space Technology Sam Venneri told Dryden employees that the Agency's first A - Aeronautics - is making a comeback.
After suffering through years of stifling budgets, a new agenda is proposed to push the envelope on aeronautics research. This "Blue Print for Aeronautics" is a framework that shows why aeronautics investment is necessary. It maps out the work required to revolutionize aviation across the Mach numbers and includes benefits for commercial, civilian and military aircraft, Venneri said at a June 15 All-Hands meeting.
New concepts and new ways of approaching old problems will require flight research.
"Flight research is important and critical to the future of this Agency," Venneri said.
And this future will include concentrated efforts that will be incremental steps to other research projects.
"I want to go back to the NASA roots that were really started here - actually in the 1940s if you want to go back to the breaking of the sound barrier. Breaking Mach 6.66 in 1967 with that vehicle outside on the pedestal, the X-15, happened long ago. When we fly the X-43A, we don't want that hiatus in hypersonics. We don't want it to take that long for the next stage. We want to get back to flying things fast and understand the new frontiers of hypersonic flight," Venneri said.
Crash-proof airplanes and a morphing aircraft that can react to conditions around it using embedded controls, a nervous system and muscles in the wing for control surfaces are part of the aeronautics future plan. Hypersonic research, improving the flow of air traffic and reviving research of supersonic passenger aircraft for future generations of air travelers also could move ahead, Venneri said. He also mentioned combined cycle engines, noise and emissions reduction research, and using a C-17 for a testbed research aircraft.
The concepts are familiar to Dryden researchers, who have studied using propulsion to control aircraft when flight control surfaces fail. And on an F/A-18 researchers are preparing to look at a concept where wing-twisting motions are used as control surfaces with the Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW).
When the Centennial of Flight rolls around in 2003, NASA aeronautics could be rededicated to some of the pressing aeronautics issues, while creating excitement about the solutions.
"We want to get into solving some of the barriers for supersonic flight and it's going to be done out here," Venneri said.
To crack supersonic problems like those of emissions and noise, new concepts that already are under development will need to be proven in flight, Venneri said. Supersonic aircraft must be able to fly with noise no greater than that of a breeze, he said.
Subsonically, crash-proof aircraft having intelligent flight controls that can react if a flight control surface fails must be a priority, he said. For example, a failed jackscrew in the tail caused an aircraft to lose elevator function and crash.
"We are going to, in fact, reinvent what airplanes are across the speed regime, particularly at subsonic speeds. In effect, there is no reason why a transport aircraft should crash. Most accidents where control authority was lost, the airplanes did not have problems with the engines when they lost control ... Those engines on that [commercial airliner] that went down functioned well. The problem was there was no way to couple those engines into a flight control authority for the airplane. That's how you do things crash proof," he said.
Aircraft capable of using engine thrust to compensate for flight control surfaces could have an impact in helping to create the crash-proof aircraft, he said. In studies of many aircraft crashes, it was determined that the engines worked in nearly every case.
A total of five patents have been awarded to Bill Burcham and his team of researchers for the propulsion control-led aircraft (PCA) - a set of software that uses the engine's thrust and the aircraft's other control surfaces to compensate for those flight control surfaces that might be damaged or broken in flight.
Burcham started his work as Dryden's former chief of propulsion and PCA's founder. His team of researchers includes John Burken, Jeanette Le, Trindel Maine, John Bull, John Kaneshige, Glenn Gilyard, Jim Stewart, Gordon Fullerton and Joe Conley.
General aviation also needs a boost. About 650 people die a year in general aviation accidents - 10 times the number of those who perish in commercial aircraft transportation, Venneri said. Most are lost to control problems or weather.
And aviation traffic control solutions are needed to reduce congestion, decrease delays and increase safety. Commercial aviation has a large percent of the air traffic at a small percent of the nation's major airports, he said.
Concerning three mishaps at Dryden, Venneri said the accident boards would not seek blame, but seek out the causes and resolve the issues that resulted in the accidents.
"This is a high-risk business. It is not lost on me that human life can be put on the line here," Venneri said.
"When you do high-risk things, you do missions that involve things that leave the ground and fly - whether manned or unmanned - and there is an element of risk. I accept that element of risk and like I said, my only rule is I don't want to hurt people," he said.
Employees should use the stand down initiated after the Lear Jet accident to reaffirm procedures and culture and make sure the resources are available to do the job right, Venneri said. The stand down also is a chance for the Center to reflect on the three events - the X-43A, an incident with an ER-2 and a Lear Jet accident - to determine if they are related or if there are underlying reasons for the incidents.
