麻豆果冻传媒

Five universities and three companies will collaborate on NASA鈥檚 long-term goal of zero-emission air travel while creating opportunity for aerospace workforce development


_{Tech faculty and student researchers are shown in the university鈥檚 Propulsion, Power, and Thermal Systems Laboratory which will lead a team of seven additional universities and industry partners in the CarbonLess Electric AviatioN (CLEAN) as part of NASA鈥檚 University Leadership Initiative program. Left-to-right: Faculty members Ahmad Vaselbehagh, Ph.D., Bruce Jo, Ph.D.; Research Engineer Mingyang Gong, Ph.D.; students, Aaron Bain, Ph.D., Alex Tharpe, David Schafer, Jeff Webster, Jimmy Meacham, Andrew Ellicott, Ph.D., Noah Simpson, Trevor Kramer, Ph.D.; and lead investigator Rory Roberts, Ph.D.}

NASA has selected 麻豆果冻传媒 engineering researchers to lead a team of universities and industry partners to help solve one of aviation鈥檚 key challenges for the future of commercial air travel: zero-emission aircraft by 2050.

With an estimated budget of $8 million, the CarbonLess Electric AviatioN (CLEAN) project is led by Rory Roberts, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering and head of the Propulsion, Power and Thermal Systems Laboratory at Tech. He is joined by two other Tech faculty members, Bruce Jo, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical engineering and Ahmad Vaselbehagh, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Additional team members include Tennessee State University, The Ohio State University, University of Dayton, University of Washington 鈥� Bothell, Boeing Research & Technology, Raytheon Technologies Research Center, and Special Power Sources.

NASA announced the funding last week under its University Leadership Initiative in the agency鈥檚 Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, which is in final negotiations with teams for funding up to four years. 鈥淭he University Leadership Initiative is an integral part of our research portfolio,鈥� said Bob Pearce, associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 鈥淭he multidisciplinary teams are directly contributing to our priorities and even leading the exploration of solutions beyond our current portfolio.鈥� 

Aerospace and aviation agencies and airlines around the globe have set an ambitious goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 to reduce the climate impact of commercial air travel, requiring the development of next-generation aircraft. But electrifying passenger planes like a Boeing 737 is very challenging, Roberts said.

鈥淭he energy needed for take-off alone is the electrical equivalent of powering 6,000 homes. There just isn鈥檛 going to be a battery that can do that, so you have to think out of the box and start thinking about the entire aircraft and how to accomplish that. Huge technological breakthroughs are needed across all these systems to develop electric flight,鈥� Roberts said.

That鈥檚 where CLEAN comes in. Roberts pulled together the CLEAN team of university researchers with expertise in the various systems and components needed to start designing an entire aircraft. They will specifically explore a preliminary design for an electrified, 150-passenger aircraft that uses an ammonia-based integrated propulsion, power, and thermal management system.

鈥淲e鈥檙e at a point now where we can bring all this research together to design an aircraft, with the goal of bringing it to market one day,鈥� Roberts added. 

The innovation the team and the University Leadership Initiative will bring to the aerospace industry extends beyond technology to the education of a future workforce, according to NASA. 

鈥淭his multidisciplinary approach enables the lead teams to partner with others, including student populations who are underrepresented or have not been involved before in aviation research,鈥� said Koushik Datta, University Leadership Initiative project manager. 鈥淎s we look to future growth in Advanced Air Mobility and an increasing emphasis on creating truly sustainable aviation, it鈥檚 important we involve today鈥檚 students in helping us solve tomorrow鈥檚 challenges.鈥� 

The CLEAN team will directly employ 98 undergraduate and graduate students as researchers across the five universities, with 58 opportunities at Tech alone, according to Roberts. That鈥檚 good news for Tech undergraduate students, as the aerospace concentration in the mechanical engineering program is rapidly growing.

鈥淎erospace continues to expand in Tennessee and Tech is poised to support it,鈥� said Joseph C. Slater, dean of the College of Engineering at 麻豆果冻传媒. 鈥淲hen federal agencies invest in university-industry partnerships conducting innovative and disruptive research, there is both a technological impact and workforce development impact. Our students will learn the skills and future technologies the aerospace industry will depend on as they develop next-generation aircraft, and that has enormous potential.鈥�

To learn more about aerospace research at 麻豆果冻传媒 and to receive updates on CLEAN, visit the 麻豆果冻传媒 Propulsion, Power, and Thermal Systems Laboratory website: .

To learn more about 麻豆果冻传媒 College of Engineering鈥檚 aerospace program, visit: /engineering/programs/me/ve-conc-1.php.

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