Audience
Educators, Students
Grade Levels
Grades 5-8, Grades 9-12, Informal Education
Subject
Physical Science, Flight and Aeronautics
X-57 Mini Poster
NASA’s X-57 Maxwell is an all-electric experimental aircraft designed to demonstrate multiple leading-edge technologies. The goal of the X-57 is to demonstrate that an all- electric airplane can be more efficient, quieter and more environmentally friendly than airplanes powered by traditional gas-powered piston-engines.
The X-57 will demonstrate the use of a high-power distributed electric propulsion system for use on an aircraft, including a 460 volt battery to power 14 motors and propellers. In addition, the X-57 will demonstrate that vehicle cruise efficiency can be optimized by integrating the versatility and efficiency of electric propulsion into the vehicle design.
The X-57 began as a gas-powered Tecnam P2006T General Aviation aircraft in a phase known as Modification I. The wing, which is being reduced to 42% of the original size to significantly reduce drag, will feature wing-tip propellers to reduce the wing-tip vortex at cruise. At low-speeds, the distributed propellers nearly double the wing lift, allowing the X-57 to land as slowly as the original Tecnam P2006T. A test program is planned through a series of modifications, to allow researchers to take a ste-by-step approach to demonstrate the technical improvements.