NASA, Boeing pause X-66 to chase breakthrough ultra-thin wing aircraft design
The experimental X-66 aircraft was at the forefront of NASA’s plans to achieve net-zero aviation emissions by 2050.
NASA and Boeing are pausing the development of the X-66 full-scale Sustainable Flight Demonstrator. Instead, they will re-focus their efforts on demonstrating the benefits of thin-wing technology.
Until recently, the US space agency and Boeing touted the X-66 as a great leap for sustainable aviation. That aircraft design featured extra-long, thin wings supported by diagonal struts. Though those plans have been put on ice, they still believe in the benefits of thin-wing technology.
Their new project “would focus on demonstrating thin-wing technology with broad applications for multiple aircraft configurations,” NASA explained in a statement.
Re-focusing on thin-wing technology
The re-evaluation would see Boeing focus on a “ground-based testbed to demonstrate the potential for long, thin-wing technology”, NASA explained on it website.
The X-66 program heavily modified a McDonnell Douglas MD-90 aircraft to demonstrate a truss-braced version of the thin wing. The experimental aircraft was at the forefront of NASA’s plans to achieve net-zero aviation emissions by 2050.
The transonic truss-braced wing (TTBW) aircraft was scheduled to make its first flight in 2028. If flight demonstrations were successful, Boeing planned to start operating the aircraft commercially in the 2030s.