March 2, 2009

Beth Dickey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2087
beth.dickey-1{at}nasa.gov

Kathy Barnstorff
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
757-864-9886/344-8511
kathy.barnstorff{at}nasa.gov
RELEASE: 09-044

NASA FLYING WING MODEL SOARS INTO NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

WASHINGTON -- A flying model NASA built to research futuristic
aircraft designs will spend its future in the United States' premier
air and space museum.

The 12-foot wing span blended wing body, or BWB, model, used during
wind tunnel flight tests at NASA's Langley Research Center in
Hampton, Va., is on long-term loan to the "How Things Fly" gallery at
the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in
Washington.

"One key focus of NASA aeronautics research is to develop
technologies
to make aircraft more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly,"
said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA's Aeronautics
Research Mission Directorate in Washington. "Because of these
technologies, airplanes may look very different 20 years from now.
This model will give visitors to the Smithsonian a glimpse into the
future of air travel."

The model was tested in a wind tunnel to help engineers better
understand how the blended wing body handles. The five-percent scale
model has 18 control surfaces along the trailing edges of the wing,
compared to four on most airplanes. Those four are the rudder, the
ailerons, the elevator and the flap. One of the challenges to
controlling a flying wing is determining how to blend the control
surfaces to make the vehicle turn and climb.

The blended wing body resembles a flying wing, unlike today's
"tube-and-wing" aircraft. "When you get rid of the tail you have to
come up with different ways to control the plane," said Dan Vicroy, a
senior research engineer at Langley. "We have a lot of experience
with conventional airplanes. We know how to predict how they are
going to fly. But with this type of a flying wing design, we have
fewer examples and less confidence in our flying quality estimates."

Vicroy led the "free flight" experiment in the Langley Full Scale
Tunnel's huge 30-by-60-foot test section. "We actually flew this BWB
in the tunnel in 2005," said Vicroy. "We had control systems on board
the model as well as high pressure air that we used to simulate the
engines." The model was constrained only by a tether cable.

In the National Air and Space Museum, the blended wing body model
will
hang from the ceiling about 15 feet above visitors' heads. "The model
is an important part of a facelift of the gallery that we hope will
be done by March 2009," said Michael Hulslander, the How Things Fly
gallery manager. "This is the most visited gallery in the museum, and
the BWB will be the largest artifact in it."

Research on blended wing body designs continues in the Subsonic Fixed
Wing Project of NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program. They are part
of hybrid wing body research into acoustics, structures, aerodynamics
and flight controls.

To learn more about NASA's blended wing body research and view video
of the model in flight in the Langley Full Scale Tunnel, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/aeronautics/features/bwb_main.html

Video of the of the blended wing body model on display at the
National
Air and Space Museum, plus video of its use in wind tunnel tests at
Langley, will air during NASA Television's Video File beginning at 4
p.m. EST March 2. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video
information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA's aeronautics research, visit:

http://aeronautics.nasa.gov

For information about other NASA projects, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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