NASA Aeronautics Research Onboard Decades of Contributions to Aviation

Airborne Wind Shear Detection — 1980s-1990s

NASA's specially-equipped Transport Systems Research Vehicle approaching a thunderstorm to conduct microburst studies in the 1980s and 1990s.

Credit: NASA

During the 1980s and 1990s, NASA led the first comprehensive research program to discover the characteristics of microburst and wind shear hazards.

The resulting NASA technology base led to the manufacture of on-board sensors that alert pilots in advance of wind shear hazards.

Digital Fly by Wire — 1960s-1970s

NASA F-8 modified to test a digital fly-by-wire flight control system.

Credit: NASA

During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA helped develop and flight test the digital "fly-by-wire" system, which replaced heavier and less reliable hydraulics systems with a digital computer and electric wires to send signals from the pilot to the control surfaces of an aircraft.

"Fly-by-wire" is used today on new commercial and military aircraft, and on the space shuttle.

Air Traffic Management

Over the decades, NASA has developed a number of air traffic management simulation tools, including:

Center TRACON Automation System (CTAS) - 1990s
CTAS is a suite of software tools developed by NASA that generates new information for air traffic controllers.

Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) - 1990s
TMA software forecasts arriving air traffic to help controllers plan for safe arrivals during peak periods.

Surface Management System (SMS) - 2000s
SMS software provides controllers with data to know when aircraft arrive on the ground or at the gate.

Future Air traffic management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) - 2000s
FACET maps thousands of aircraft trajectories to improve traffic flow across the United States.

A FedEx ramp controller using
SMS during SMS field tests.

Credit: NASA

Click here to view the FACET
"Day in the Life" animation.

Lightning Protection Standards — 1970s-1980s

F-106 research aircraft at NASA Langley Hanger

This F-106 research aircraft used by NASA Langley Research Center for lightning characterization research is dotted with gray paint marks denoting lightning strike points.

Credit: NASA

During the 1970s and 1980s, NASA conducted extensive research and flight tests to collect the first comprehensive data on intra-cloud lightning strikes and the effects of in-flight strikes.

NASA's knowledge base is used to improve standards for protection against lightning for aircraft electrical and avionics systems.

Composite Structures — 1970s-Today

A composite fuselage structure is used on the Cirrus SR-20 general aviation aircraft.

Credit: Cirrus Design Corp.

NASA first partnered with industry during the 1970s to conduct research on how to develop high-strength, nonmetallic materials that could replace heavier metals and aluminums on aircraft.

Composite materials have gradually replaced metallic materials on parts of an aircraft's tail, wings, fuselage, engine cowlings, and landing gear doors.

Using composite materials can reduce the overall weight of an aircraft and improve fuel efficiency.

Glass Cockpit — 1970s-1980s

Glass cockpit on Space Shuttle Atlantis.

When installed on the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2000, this "glass cockpit" brought the orbiter up-to-date with commercial jet airliners and military aircraft.

Credit: NASA

During the 1970s and 1980s, NASA created and tested the concept of an advanced cockpit display that would replace the growing number of dial and gauge instruments that were taking up space on an aircraft's flight deck.

Called a "glass cockpit," the innovative approach uses flat panel digital displays to provide the flight deck crew with a more integrated, easily understood picture of the vehicle situation.

Glass cockpits are in use on commercial, military, and general aviation aircraft, and on NASA's space shuttle fleet.

Area Rule — 1950s

Robert T. Whitcomb showing area rule on a model.

NASA scientist Dr. Richard T. Whitcomb made several pioneering discoveries that are applied to most airliners today, including the "area rule."

Credit: NASA

In the 1950s, NASA scientist Richard Whitcomb discovered several fundamental solutions to key aerodynamics challenges. One of the most revolutionary was the "area rule," a concept that helped aircraft designers avoid the disruption in air flow caused by the attachment of the wings to the fuselage.

Whitcomb deduced that removing the equivalent wing cross-sectional area from that of the fuselage cross-sectional area avoided the abrupt bump and improved the distribution of flow across the longitudinal area of the aircraft.

By using the area rule, aircraft designers for decades have been able to allow aircraft to fly higher, faster, and farther.

Jet Engine Combustors — 1990s-2000s

A computer simulation of an advanced fuel mixer and combustor in operation.

Credit: NASA

During the 1990s and early 2000s, NASA improved the technology associated with jet fuel combustion to help engines burn fuel more cleanly.

The improved combustion helps reduce polluting emissions from aircraft engines, making them more environmentally friendly.

Engine Nozzle Chevrons — 1990s-2000s

Flight tests in 2005 by NASA and industry partners showed that the improved chevron with asymmetrical scallops around the engine did even better than previous state-of-the-art chevron designs to reduce community and cabin noise.

Credit: Boeing

During the 1990s and early 2000s, NASA used computer simulations to improve an asymmetrical scallop design of chevrons used on the nozzles of jet engines.

Ground and flight tests by NASA and its partners proved that the new chevron design reduced noise levels in the passenger cabin and on the ground.

Chevrons are being implemented on many of today's aircraft, including the new Boeing 787.

Supercritical Airfoil — 1960s-1970s

NASA's F-8 supercritical wing research airplane in flight at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

Credit: NASA

During the 1960s and 1970s, NASA scientist Richard Whitcomb led a team of researchers to develop and test a series of unique geometric shapes of airfoils, or wing designs, that could be applied to subsonic transport to improve lift and reduce drag.

The resulting "supercritical airfoil" shape, when integrated with the aircraft wing, minimizes drag and helps improve the aircraft's cruise efficiency.

Icing Detection — 1990s-2000s

NASA Twin Otter icing research aircraft.

NASA's Twin Otter icing research aircraft, flown in the late 1990s.

Credit: NASA

During the 1990s and early 2000s, NASA was called upon by the FAA to identify the characteristics of a dangerous and little-understood icing phenomenon called Supercooled Large Droplets (SLD).

Results from NASA flight tests and research were compiled in a large database to improve weather models and instrumentation for detecting SLD.

Winglets — 1970s-1980s

KC-135A in flight-Winglet Study.

Credit: NASA

During the 1970s and 1980s, NASA studies led to the development of vertical endplates that are now seen on many aircraft wings, or "winglets."

Winglets reduce vortices and drag, therefore improving airflow and fuel efficiency.

The first aircraft to adopt winglets were within the general aviation and business jet communities. In the mid-'80s, Boeing produced the 747-400 commercial jetliner, which used winglets to increase its range.

Runway Grooves — 1960s-1980s

Tom Yaeger (right) and Walter Horne inspect a grooved concrete surface at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in front of a Convair 990 test aircraft in 1968.

Credit: NASA

During the 1960s, NASA conceived and developed a process for cutting transverse grooves into runways to channel away standing water. Through the 1980s, NASA conducted more than one thousand test runs of aircraft and ground vehicles, proving that grooved runway surfaces have significantly greater friction properties.

Grooved runways have since helped aircraft make safe landings on pavement made slick from rain, snow, or ice. NASA's groove process was adapted for use on military base runways, U.S. public highways, and even swimming pool decks, playgrounds, and floors of refineries.

Damage-Tolerant Fan Casing — 2000s-Today

The braided fan case has a toughness superior to aluminum and enables significant reductions in weight and fuel consumption.

Credit: NASA

In the 2000s, NASA began spearheading research into developing a cost-effective turbofan jet engine casing that could be lighter, but still protect against possible fan blade failure inside the engine.

The solution was a fan case made of braided composite material that can reduce overall engine weight, increase safety, and improve aircraft structural integrity.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) — 1970s-Today

Computer generated graphic showing computational fluid.

NASA-originated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computer codes have been incorporated into industry design methods.

Credit: NASA

During the 1970s, NASA developed sophisticated computer codes that could accurately predict the flow of a fluid using complex simulations, such as air over an aircraft's wing or fuel through a space shuttle's main engine.

Those codes became CFD, which today is considered a vital tool for the study of fluid dynamics.

CFD greatly reduces the time required to test and manufacture nearly any type of aircraft.

NASA Structural Analysis (NASTRAN) — 1960s-Today

Screen capture of NASTRAN sofware being used.

A screen capture from a modern, commercial version of NASTRAN that has been developed from the original NASA program.

Credit: Noran Engineering (NEi)

In the 1960s, NASA partnered with industry to develop a common generic software program that engineers could use to model and analyze different aerospace structures, including any kind of spacecraft or aircraft.

Today, NASTRAN is an "industry-standard" tool for computer-aided engineering of all types of structures.