Boeing gets x-plane status for NASA's fuel-efficient ambitions

Boeing is getting ready to work on an experimental new plane that could help the United States cut carbon emissions from air travel.

NASA recently unveiled the X-66A this month, a Boeing model with a highly-coveted x-plan status that will test a new design and new technologies in the air.

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“We’re incredibly proud of this designation, because it means that the X-66A will be the next in a long line of experimental aircraft used to validate breakthrough designs that have transformed aviation,” Todd Citron, Boeing's chief technology officer, said in a statement. “With the learnings gained from design, construction, and flight-testing, we’ll have an opportunity to shape the future of flight and contribute to the decarbonization of aerospace.”

Boeing signed a contract with NASA in February, agreeing to build a more fuel-efficient airliner. The company aims to modify an MD-90 airplane, a common single-aisle passenger plane that NASA says contributes to almost half of airline emissions worldwide. The model's fuselage will be shortened, and its wings will get much longer and will be partially supported by trusses underneath. Boeing's design for this is the "Transonic Truss-Braced Wing." It is estimated that it could reduce fuel consumption by 30%.

The x-plane designation (for experimental aircraft) places the X-66A in a special field, reserved for major advances in aerospace. Some are developed publicly, and others are top secret. The X-1, for example, was the first aircraft to break the sound barrier in 1947.

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Boeing's X-66A will be the first x-plane constructed with the goal of lowering airplane emissions.

The project is slated to take seven years. Boeing is contributing $725 million toward the effort, and NASA is putting up $425 million.

The experimental plane is part of NASA's Sustainable Flight Demonstrator program, which seeks to develop new technologies and aircraft to lessen aviation emissions.

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