All-Electric X-57 Propeller Designs Undergo Wind-Tunnel Tests

Advanced designs that will propel NASA’s first all-electric X-plane, the X-57 Maxwell, to flight recently underwent wind-tunnel testing at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. These tests, which took place in the Langley Low-Speed Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel, were conducted to gather valuable operational and performance data for flight conditions, using two of the full-scale propeller assemblies seen above, provided by Empirical Systems Aerospace, or ESAero, of San Luis Obispo, California. NASA will install 12 of these electric high-lift motors and propellers into the final configuration of X-57, called Modification IV, or Mod IV. For more, visit: