Boeing and NASA join forces to revolutionize single-aisle aircraft technology

NASA has issued The Boeing Company an award for their Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project aimed at creating a new generation of eco-friendly single-aisle airliners. Through a Funded Space Act Agreement, Boeing will collaborate with NASA to construct, examine, and fly a full-scale demonstrator aircraft to validate technologies that will reduce emissions.

NASA will be investing $425 million over the course of seven years while the company and its partners will be providing the rest of the funding, which is estimated to be around $725 million. Additionally, the agency will be offering technical expertise and facilities as part of the agreement.

"It's our goal that NASA's partnership with Boeing to produce and test a full-scale demonstrator will help lead to future commercial airliners that are more fuel efficient, with benefits to the environment, the commercial aviation industry, and to passengers worldwide. If we are successful, we may see these technologies in planes that the public takes to the skies in the 2030s," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

We’re partnering with @Boeing to develop technologies for the next generation of single-aisle aircraft. We'll collaborate on a full-scale demonstrator by 2030 to help the U.S. achieve net-zero carbon emissions from aviation by 2050. Follow @NASAAero: https://t.co/dFikvL0YPa pic.twitter.com/TMXIupCyEh

— NASA (@NASA) January 18, 2023

NASA says the majority of aviation emissions come from single-aisle aircraft, which are the backbone of many airline fleets and are heavily utilized.

By the late 2020s, NASA intends to finish testing for the project, so that the technologies and designs demonstrated by it can help the industry make decisions about the next generation of single-aisle aircraft that could be put into use in the 2030s.

Boeing and its industry team are collaborating with NASA on the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project to create and test a full-scale Transonic Truss-Braced Wing aircraft. The concept involves an aircraft with wings that are longer and thinner than usual, and are held in place by diagonal struts. This design is more fuel-efficient than a regular airliner, as it has a shape that reduces drag and therefore uses less fuel.