http://www.autonews.com/article/20160424/OEM06/304259977/nasa-project:-getting-cars-ready-for-takeoff NASA project: Getting cars ready for takeoff [20160424] Bradford Wernle
[image http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/storyimage/CA/20160424/OEM06/304259977/AR/0/AR-304259977.jpg The Joby S2 concept, a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft prototype by Joby Aviation in Santa Cruz, Calif., uses electric motors to power propellers spread across the wings ] Study looks for a vertical detour out of traffic jams DETROIT -- It might take rocket scientists to solve the problem of urban commuter traffic -- a snarling issue that is souring some consumers on vehicle ownership. So NASA is now on the job -- with a vehicle technology right off the pages of a sci-fi comic book. NASA is undertaking a two-year feasibility study of a transportation system called vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOL). Think of large commuter vehicles that operate like the famous British Harrier Jump Jet fighter planes -- capable of lifting straight off the ground to zoom commuters over slow-moving traffic at 200 mph. Proponents and project participants in traffic-choked Silicon Valley, Calif., where the feasibility study is taking place, believe the gridlock-leaping concept could shorten the usual two-hour rush-hour crawl there to about 30 minutes. "This is not an imaginary vehicle. It's being developed right now in Silicon Valley," said Mark Moore, head of on-demand mobility planning at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. Several companies are working on versions of the vehicles, Moore told a gathering of automotive engineers at SAE World Congress here in mid-April. The mere fact such a concept was discussed at a major automotive industry conference shows how auto companies and their suppliers are broadening their thinking to consider new approaches to mobility. The envisioned airborne system would work in combination with a ride-sharing service like Uber, proponents say. Its technology is certain to captivate engineers in any transportation sector. The vertical-takeoff concept involves distributed electric propulsion, which Moore calls a transformational technology. A new generation of highly efficient compact electric motors drive fan blades. The blades operate like helicopter propellers in takeoff mode. Once the vehicle is airborne, the propellers shift position to work like airplane propellers. "This is not an imaginary vehicle." -Mark Moore, NASA The motors would power aircraft that serve the function of airborne buses or taxis. NASA researchers are studying scenarios in which the vehicles would take off and land on the grass circles at the center of freeway cloverleafs, or even on urban barges. Once they arrive there, the craft could be met by traditional vehicles to ferry passengers the last mile or two. One such advanced aircraft, the S2, is being developed by Joby Aviation of Santa Cruz, Calif. Joby's website says the electric motor-powered two-seat plane would be capable of 200 mph while using one-fifth the energy of conventional automotive transportation. According to the website, the S2 concept has 12 motors powered by the latest generation of lithium polymer batteries. Another company, Aurora Flight Sciences, of Manassas, Va., won a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract to build its experimental unmanned LightningStrike VTOL plane powered by 24 propellers. The proposed VTOL aircraft have a consumer-friendly benefit over the existing vertical takeoff aircraft, such as the Harrier fighter. Those military-oriented aircraft are thunderously loud. "Distributed electric propulsion is a technology that can get us to a very low noise signature with these urban fixed-wing aircraft," Moore says. How soon could such concepts be in production? Moore says there are many variables. "I personally believe it will be at least five years before you see these as products, but certainly you'll see them coming out in the market in less than 10 years," he says. It's likely they will appear first "in countries where the certification process is less than the U.S.," he predicts. He believes regulatory issues are more of a challenge to new technology in the United States, despite the project's efforts in California. Moore believes a VTOL system could help create a more rational transportation system. "We're talking about on-demand aviation, which is completely different than the centralized hub and spoke system we have now," he says of the concept. "Being able to take off and land at as many locations as you want to go with minimum burdens on your time -- it's a big contrast." 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