NASA is getting ready to test its first all-electric plane, the X-57 Maxwell, at the Armstrong Flight Research Center at California’s Edwards Air Force Base.
This latest version of the aircraft, called Modification II or Mod II, just arrived at Edwards from San Luis Obispo, California, where the plane was being developed by Empirical Systems Aerospace Inc.
For Mod II, the typical combustion engines have been replaced with electric cruise motors. And with the new engines, NASA can now begin the next phase of testing on the experimental craft, bringing it a step closer to reality.
The X-57 is based on a twin-engine Italian aircraft popular among private aviators and known as the Tecnam P2006T. NASA planned four rounds of modifications to take the plane from its base model to a completely electric aircraft.
During Modification 1, the Tecnam’s two internal combustion engines were replaced with 14 electric motors. In ...
