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Gray Creech
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Phone: 661-276-2662
gray.creech@nasa.gov
Tom Koehler, Communications
Boeing Engineering, Operations & Technology
Phone: 425-373-2921
thomas.j.koehler@boeing.com
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May 21, 2008
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RELEASE: 08-21
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X-48B BLENDED WING BODY FLIGHT TESTS ENTER SECOND PHASE
EDWARDS, Calif. - NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and The Boeing
Co. are expanding the flight envelope for the X-48B blended wing body
research aircraft.
Flight tests with the 500-pound, remotely piloted test vehicle are now
in a second phase involving higher speed regimes. The 21-foot wing span
test aircraft is flying without its slats deployed. Slats are flight
control surfaces on the leading edges of wings which, when extended,
allow an aircraft to take off, fly and land at slower speeds.
X-48B flight testing is taking place at NASA's Dryden Flight Research
Center on Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. NASA Dryden is providing
critical support to a Boeing-led project team that also includes the
U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, and Cranfield
Aerospace Ltd., of Bedford, England.
"The first flight in the slats-retracted configuration marked another
milestone in aviation history and the performance of the X-48 aircraft
continues to exceed our expectations," said Tim Risch, NASA X-48B
project manager. "This flight milestone reinforced the productive
relationship of the NASA, Boeing and Air Force team and NASA's continued
commitment to developing the concepts, tools and technologies for the
aircraft of the future."
"We want to fully understand the aerodynamics of the blended wing body
design all the way up to and beyond stall, so that we can learn how to
fly a blended wing body aircraft as safely as any other large transport
aircraft with a conventional tail," said Norm Princen, Boeing's X-48B
chief engineer. "This latest phase of the flight testing is one more
step in the process and we are looking forward to progressing on to more
risky flight maneuvers in the months ahead."
Initial envelope expansion flights of the aircraft, known as Block 1,
consisted of 11 flights and incorporated slow-speed testing with bolt-on
leading edge slats in the extended position. Block 2 flights began on
April 4. The X-48B first flew on July 20, 2007.
Now with a clean leading edge, the subscale aircraft, dubbed Skyray,
takes off and lands at speeds of about 75 knots compared to 60 knots in
Block 1. Data will be taken up to a maximum speed of 118 knots.
At least eight flights are scheduled for Block 2. A total of six phases
are slated for the project, each progressively increasing the level of
risk. The final phase, Block 6, is designed to push the aircraft's
flight parameters by testing the departure limiter, a critical part of
the flight control software that is designed as a safety feature to
prevent the aircraft from departing controlled flight.
NASA's participation in the blended wing body research effort is focused
on fundamental, advanced flight dynamics and structural design concepts
within the Subsonic Fixed Wing Project, part of the Fundamental
Aeronautics Program managed by NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission
Directorate, Washington.
Potential benefits of the aircraft under investigation include increased
volume for carrying capacity, efficient aerodynamics for reduced fuel
burn and possibly significant reductions in noise due to propulsion
integration options. In these initial flights, the principal focus is to
validate the research on the aerodynamics and controllability of the
shape, including comparisons of the flight data with the extensive
wind-tunnel database.
In addition to hosting the X-48B flight test and research activities,
Dryden provides engineering and technical support – expertise garnered
from years of operating cutting-edge air vehicles. Dryden assists with
the hardware and software validation and verification process, the
integration and testing of the aircraft's systems and the pilot's ground
control station. Dryden's range group provides critical telemetry and
command and control communications during X-48B flights, while Dryden
Flight Operations provides a chase aircraft and flight scheduling. Photo
and video support complement the effort.
Members of the Boeing Phantom Works research and technology
organization, based in Huntington Beach, Calif., designed the X-48B
flight test aircraft in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force
Research Laboratory to gather detailed information about the stability
and flight-control characteristics of the blended wing body design,
especially during takeoffs and landings.
Three small jet engines enable the composite-skinned, 8.5-percent scale
vehicle to fly up to an altitude of 10,000 feet. The aircraft is flown
remotely from a ground control station with the pilot using conventional
aircraft controls and instrumentation while viewing a monitor fed by a
forward-looking camera on the aircraft.
Two X-48B research vehicles were built by Cranfield Aerospace. Ship 1, a
duplicate of the Ship 2 flight test aircraft, completed extensive wind
tunnel testing in 2006 in the full-scale wind tunnel at the NASA Langley
Research Center in Hampton, Va. Ship 1 remains available for use as a
backup during the flight test program.
PHOTO EDITORS: New X-48B flight photos are available online at:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-48B/index.html
More information about X-48B flight research is available at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-090-DFRC.html
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