NASA, working with the Lindbergh Foundation, will show off early research that it believes could lead to “potentially revolutionary aviation concepts and technologies” during a three-day virtual seminar held Oct. 22-24. Subjects include ceramic matrix and hybrid composites for next generation aircraft, cooperative gust sensing and suppression for aircraft formation flight, sense and avoid radar for small UAVs, and turboelectric distributed propulsion. Distributed propulsion would replace a single engine with “boundary-layer ingesting propulsors” that could be tailored to provide enhanced aircraft control while increasing overall efficiency.
