NASA-Funded Studies Yield Advanced Aircraft Concepts For The 2050s

• Aurora/Boeing SFM (Single-Fuel Methane) – Two-lobe noncircular fuselage with twin-aisle cabin and cryogenic methane tanks in the lower lobe, designed to minimize weight and wetted area
• Aurora TTBW (Transonic Truss-Braced Wing) – Evolved from earlier N+3 studies, incorporates laminar flow, cryogenic fuel, open-rotor propulsion, full-span variable-camber Krueger flaps, and trailing-edge slots for drag reduction
• Aurora CSW (Cruise Slotted Wing) – Twin-aisle concept using trailing edge slot to unsweep the wing ~9° for increased laminar flow; Jet M tanks span the aft lower fuselage behind main landing gear
• Aurora M Wing – Wing-integrated propulsor design with forward-swept inboard section and aft-swept outboard wing; large-diameter engine nestled beneath wing apex; reduces cruise fuel burn 2% vs conventional aircraft
• Electra.aero Lifting Fuselage Design – 178-seat, Mach 0.8, 3,500-nm range airliner with double-bubble fuselage, boundary layer ingestion (BLI), and distributed turboelectric propulsion powering three electric tail ducted fans; hybridization at 20% takeoff, 45% cruise
• JetZero Z4 Blended Wing Body (BWB) – 250-passenger, 5,000-nm range midmarket airliner modified to accommodate liquid hydrogen (LH2) tanks in wing-body blend and rear fuselage; lift-to-drag ratio drops from 22 to 21
• Georgia Tech Athena – Hybrid tube-and-wing/BWB design with noncircular cross-section, 150-178 seats twin-aisle layout, fore and aft LNG tanks, high-set natural laminar flow wing with 145-ft span requiring foldable wings for narrowbody gates
• Pratt & Whitney HySITE Engine Concept – Hydrogen-fueled turbine with steam injection cycle; condenses water vapor from exhaust using cryogenic LH2 fuel to recover waste heat for intercooling and steam injection; 99.5% NOx reduction and 20% block energy reduction claimed

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