Nasa:Silent and Efficient Supersonic Bi-Directional Flying Wing

Nasa has awarded $100-000 in funding for the Supersonic Plane Concept which claims a flight time between New York and Los Angles of two hours
www.nasa.gov...
The plane has a star shape and rotates 90 degrees when airbourne for Supersonic flight
Video

got the cash to refine the design, run simulations and do some wind tunnel testing, with the potential for more funding in the future. Unfortunately, the concept is, at best, decades from becoming a reality,

www.engadget.com...
www.dailymail.co.uk...
Amazing Concept will it ever fly

Cran

unless made of cardboard they wont get past computer modeling with a hundred grand

I bet they already have one.
A really really big triangular one.
Granted 100k is good money for college programs.
But what does 100k buy you on an F-117?


Oh and cool find OP.
S and F

Originally posted by sealing
I bet they already have one.
A really really big triangular one.
Granted 100k is good money for college programs.
But what does 100k buy you on an F-117?


Oh and cool find OP.
S and F

edit on 3-9-2012 by sealing because: add

You could probably paint one wing.

Concepts are "a dime a dozen" and nothing more than an initial ideas phase of any design, and as has been pointed out $100k is barely enough to rough out a rational concept - deciding if it feasible will cost multiples of that - way back "in hte day" Boeing wrote off a lot more than that on the SST-2707 for example.

Off the top of my head - folding wingtips were proposed for the 777 - but that was for ground use & with a substantial weight penalty - no-one bought them. Making them fold, in flight, for a supersonic a/c is going to be tricky.

Pivoting engines? A tough act to get right - e.g. the V-22 - pivoting intake & exhaust might be more feasible.

Supersonic flight over mainland USA wasn't allowed for Concorde due to the sonic boom - will this design get past that barrier(sic)?

It looks rubbish.

I have talked with some NASA engineers who agree with you, Moggett. There is a lot less here than meets the eye.

Supersonic flight over mainland USA wasn't allowed for Concorde due to the sonic boom - will this design get past that barrier(sic)?

I remember reading about this like a week ago somewhere else, and yeah the design is specifically for the sonic booms. (if I remember right)

The program used in the video is called X-Plane. It takes into account the actual shape, weight, and so of the model to create the simulation. That's pretty impressive in itself.