NASA will complete electric aircraft project X-57 this year and cancel test flights

NASA says the X-57 project to develop an electric plane will be ready this year, but previously announced test flights will not take place. With the aircraft, NASA wants to gain and share knowledge about electric propeller aircraft.

The American agency ends in September working on the aircraft, in the months that follow further documentation and other finalizing activities take place. There will not be a first test flight. The team faced “multiple challenges” that prevented safety from being guaranteed, including a shortage of key parts and “mechanical issues” that only emerged late in the aircraft’s development.

NASA X-57 with sixteen propellers

Despite the lack of test flights, NASA sees the project as a success. The main goal was not to develop a prototype, but to create a test platform for technologies and different designs. In that process, NASA’s researchers encountered several problems and solutions, which they share with others in the form of technical papers.

For example, the team discovered early in the project that the lithium ion batteries posed a danger if they became too hot. That is why the researchers developed a battery design that prevents overheating of one battery cell from also overheating other battery cells, which should increase safety. In addition, they have equipped the controllers of the cruise motors with transistors made of silicon carbide, which should provide less heat. A third development is the use of filters to reduce the effects of electromagnetic radiation.

NASA announced the Maxwell plane in 2016. The propeller plane is a converted Italian P2006T and was made in multiple configurations. For example, there was a configuration with two propellers, but the flight example should have used fourteen electric propellers. Two of these were for take-off and landing, the remaining twelve should have been used while flying at cruising altitude. According to NASA, this results in a saving of forty percent in energy costs. The aircraft would then have sixteen battery modules, weighing a total of 363kg.

NASA X-57 with two propellers