The X-57 Maxwell all-electric aircraft project will finish aircraft operational activities by the end of September 2023 with documentation and close-out activities continuing for several months afterward. The research from the X-57 provides aviation researchers with hundreds of lessons learned, as well as revolutionary development in areas ranging from battery technology to cruise motor control design.

The project encountered several challenges to safe flight, including mechanical issues late into its lifecycle and a lack of availability of critical components required to develop experimental hardware. The solutions needed to reach safe flight cannot be completed before the planned end of aircraft operations, and final aircraft operations will not incorporate first flight of the X-57 aircraft.

The primary goal of the X-57 project was to provide knowledge about the aircraft’s electric-propulsion-focused design and airworthiness process with regulators. This information has already helped and will continue to help advance certification approaches for electric propulsion in emerging electric aircraft markets

Credits:  @nasa 

#space #astronomy #spaceship #electric #aviation