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MIT and NASA Designing Silent Aircraft Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - Janice Karin Home >> News >> Transportation   
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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics recently won a contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to design quieter, more energy efficient, and more environmentally friendly commercial airplanes. The two million dollar contract from NASA is just an initial step in bringing green technologies to the sky, but it is an important step toward bringing current trends in engineering and product design to the airline industry.
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Professor Edward M. Greitzer, the H.N. Slater Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the director of the Gas Turbine Laboratory at MIT, is the project lead. Greitzer has worked on designing quieter airplanes in the past, most notably as part of the combined Cambridge University-MIT Silent Aircraft Initiative. Much of the current research at the Gas Turbine Laboratory is also devoted to developing quieter engines and quieter air travel. It is unclear how much of this research will benefit the new design initiative or whether this new team will act in concert with the Silent Aircraft Initiative since the two projects have staff overlap, complementary goals, and the same proposed schedule of facilitating new commercial aircraft by 2030.
TFOT has reported on other innovative aircraft designs including research into the use of smart materials in aircraft construction, the CarterCopter airplane-helicopter hybrid, a Boeing airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells, an air-ground hybrid that takes off vertically like a helicopter but flies like an airplane and can drive short distances on the ground like a car, and a do-it-yourself four seater airplane kit. You can find the MIT article about the NASA contract here. More about the Silent Aircraft Initiative can be found here, and current research at MIT's Gas Turbine Laboratory can also be found here. |
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What about sound-canceling circuitry and sensors lining the skin of the aircraft? By canceling the sound, it could reduce vibration of the skin, which might in turn reduce turbulence, leading to increased fuel economy. Increased by how much, I have no idea. In case it's a lot, you heard it here first :-) . |
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I have heard of pink noise generators (PNG) that uses an exact counter frequency to induce a \'loud silence\' negating the sound and accompanying vibrations. Certainly it would be useful for such high performance aircraft. |
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how about using a small turbine to drive an air mover , then use the air mover to move the aircraft |
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Quieter, greener and more energy efficient planes are the need of the day, but increasing safety of the airborne passengers is of prime importance. The winged tube design is at the moment considered the only feasible design. But there may be UFO type of concept which may be developed a few decades ahead. In this type of machine things will be entirely different and almost the entire concept will have different mechanisms. Such a machine will never nosedive on loss of control nor will it fall free at 20G or 25G. There cannot be a loss of engine and it can wait for landing which will be much smoother. There will be no risks during take off, no risk of undershoot or overshoot either. The machine may be smaller and lighter than present day airliners and passengers will not be allowed to carry less weight, in the beginning, until bigger machines are developed. |
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I travel a lot between the USA and South Africa (very long flights), and on my most recent trip I bought the Shielo Hydrate Refreshing Mist at duty free to see if it helps with the beating my skin takes from the dry airplane air. It was great, and every time I used it I felt refreshed. It is also so easy to apply, I just did it right there in my seat and didn't even have to get up. Since I got back, I've kept on using it, because my skin feels super soft, and I'm now looking into buying the rest of the Shielo skin series. |
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That is known that cash makes people autonomous. But what to do if one doesn't have money? The one way is to receive the loan or just term loan. |
