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NASA taps university students to research eliminating aircraft emissions

By General Aviation News Staff · December 29, 2021 ·

NASA’s research focus on sustainable aviation will get some help from students and faculty at U.S. universities.

“Aviation of the future has to be climate friendly to keep the world flying, and a great way to do that is to allow tomorrow’s top minds to begin making contributions to these goals while still in school,” said Koushik Datta, project manager for NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI).

Three of the four teams are working toward lowering or eliminating aircraft emissions, with each team approaching the problem from a slightly different perspective. The fourth team’s research is in support of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility campaign.

The four teams and their research topics are:

University of Central Florida

This team will explore using liquid ammonia – a non-traditional source – as fuel for a jet engine and generating electricity from the engine’s exhaust heat, reducing emissions, and saving on fuel. Team members include Georgia Tech, Purdue University, Boeing, GE Research, ANSYS, Southwest Research Institute, and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

Florida State University

This team will consider how hybrid hydrogen-electric power generation could be combined with fuel cell technology to lower emissions. Team members include Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, University at Buffalo, University of Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Raytheon, Boeing, and Advanced Magnet Lab.

Georgia Institute of Technology

This team will turn its attention to sustainable aviation challenges related to a jet engine’s combustor but in this case the engine is powering a commercial supersonic transport. Team members include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Virginia Tech, Spelman College, Missouri University of Science and Technology, General Electric, and Aerodyne Research Incorporated.

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

The team aims to deliver autonomy tools to help Advanced Air Mobility aircraft fly safely through complex airspace, typical of dense urban environments. Team members include Georgia Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, North Carolina A&T State University, University of Nevada at Reno, Lockheed Martin, and Sierra Nevada Corporation.

For more information about NASA’s aeronautics research, go to NASA.gov.

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