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By NASA
An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is being prepared for a drop test by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26, 2025, at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.NASA/Mark Knopp As the aviation industry works to design air taxis and other new electric aircraft, there’s a growing need to understand how the materials behave. That’s why NASA is investigating potential air taxi materials and designs to best protect passengers in the event of a crash.
On June 26, 2025, at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, researchers dropped a full-scale aircraft body modeled after an air taxi from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry.
The NASA researchers behind this test and a previous one in late 2022 investigated materials that best absorb impact forces, generating data that will enable manufacturers to design safer advanced air mobility aircraft.
Image Credit: NASA/Mark Knopp
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is shown after a drop test at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.NASA/Mark Knopp As the aviation industry works to develop new air taxis and other electric aircraft made from innovative, lightweight materials, there’s a growing need to understand how those materials behave under impact. That’s why NASA is investigating potential air taxi materials and designs that could best protect passengers in the event of a crash.
On June 26 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, researchers dropped a full-scale aircraft body modeled after an air taxi from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry.
The NASA researchers behind this test and a previous one in late 2022 investigated materials that best absorb impact forces, generating data that will enable manufacturers to design safer advanced air mobility aircraft.
“By showcasing elements of a crash alongside how added energy-absorbing technology could help make the aircraft more robust, these tests will help the development of safety regulations for advanced air mobility aircraft, leading to safer designs,” said Justin Littell, test lead, based at Langley.
An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, on June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.NASA/Mark Knopp During the June test, the aircraft was hoisted about 35 feet into the air and then released. It swung forward before crashing to the ground. The impact conditions were like the prior test in 2022, but with the addition of a 10-degree yaw, or twist, to the aircraft’s path. The yaw replicated a certification condition required by Federal Aviation Administration regulations for these kinds of aircraft.
After the drop, researchers began to evaluate how the structure and batteries withstood the impact. As expected, the material failures closely matched predictions from computer simulations, which were updated using data from the 2022 tests.
An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is being prepared for a drop test by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.NASA/Mark Knopp An aircraft body modeled after an air taxi with weighted test dummies inside is being prepared for a drop test by researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The test was completed June 26 at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. The aircraft was dropped from a tall steel structure, known as a gantry, after being hoisted about 35 feet in the air by cables. NASA researchers are investigating aircraft materials that best absorb impact forces in a crash.
The aircraft included energy absorbing subfloors, similar to crumple zones in cars, which appeared to crush as intended to help protect the seats inside. The battery experiment involved adding mass to simulate underfloor battery components of air taxis to collect acceleration levels. Once analyzed, the team will share the data and insights with the public to enhance further research and development in this area.
Lessons learned from these tests will help the advanced air mobility industry evaluate the crashworthiness of aircraft designs before flying over communities.
The work is managed by the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project under NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program in support of NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility mission, which seeks to deliver data to guide the industry’s development of electric air taxis and drones.
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Last Updated Jul 28, 2025 EditorDede DiniusContactTeresa Whitingteresa.whiting@nasa.govLocationArmstrong Flight Research Center Related Terms
Armstrong Flight Research Center Advanced Air Mobility Advanced Air Vehicles Program Aeronautics Ames Research Center Drones & You Glenn Research Center Langley Research Center Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology Explore More
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA’s Athena Economical Payload Integration Cost mission, or Athena EPIC, is a test launch for an innovative, scalable space vehicle design to support future missions. The small satellite platform is engineered to share resources among the payloads onboard by managing routine functions so the individual payloads don’t have to.
This technology results in lower costs to taxpayers and a quicker path to launch.
Fully integrated, the Athena EPIC satellite undergoes performance testing in a NovaWurks cleanroom to prepare the sensor for launch. The optical module payload element may be seen near the top of the instrument with the single small telescope.NovaWurks “Increasing the speed of discovery is foundational to NASA. Our ability to leverage access to innovative space technologies across federal agencies through industry partners is the future,” said Clayton Turner, Associate Administrator for Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. “Athena EPIC is a valuable demonstration of the government at its best — serving humankind to advance knowledge with existing hardware configured to operate with new technologies.”
The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the U.S. Space Force are government partners for this demo mission. Athena EPIC’s industry partner, NovaWurks, provided the space vehicle, which utilizes a small satellite platform assembled with a Hyper-Integrated Satlet, or HISat.
Engineers at NovaWurks in Long Beach prepare to mount the optical payload subassembly (center, silver) consisting of the payload optical module and single telescope mounted between gimbals on each of two HISats on either side of the module which will allow scanning across the Earth’s surface.NovaWurks The HISat instruments are similar in nature to a child’s toy interlocking building blocks. They’re engineered to be built into larger structures called SensorCraft. Those SensorCraft can share resources with multiple payloads and conform to different sizes and shapes to accommodate them. This easily configurable, building-block architecture allows a lot of flexibility with payload designs and concepts, ultimately giving payload providers easier, less expensive access to space and increased maneuverability between multiple orbits.
Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, designed and built the Athena sensor payload, which consists of an optical module, a calibration module, and a newly developed sensor electronics assembly. Athena EPIC’s sensor was built with spare parts from NASA’s CERES (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System) mission. Several different generations of CERES satellite and space station instruments have tracked Earth’s radiation budget.
“Instead of Athena carrying its own processor, we’re using the processors on the HISats to control things like our heaters and do some of the control functions that typically would be done by a processor on our payload,” said Kory Priestley, principal investigator for Athena EPIC from NASA Langley. “So, this is merging an instrument and a satellite platform into what we are calling a SensorCraft. It’s a more integrated approach. We don’t need as many capabilities built into our key instrument because it’s being brought to us by the satellite host. We obtain greater redundancy, and it simplifies our payload.”
The fully assembled and tested Athena EPIC satellite which incorporates eight HISats mounted on a mock-up of a SpaceX provided launch pedestal which will hold Athena during launch.NovaWurks This is the first HISat mission led by NASA. Traditional satellites, like the ones that host the CERES instruments — are large, sometimes the size of a school bus, and carry multiple instruments. They tend to be custom units built with all of their own hardware and software to manage control, propulsion, cameras, carousels, processors, batteries, and more, and sometimes even require two of everything to guard against failures in the system. All of these factors, plus the need for a larger launch vehicle, significantly increase costs.
This transformational approach to getting instruments into space can reduce the cost from billions to millions per mission. “Now we are talking about something much smaller — SensorCraft the size of a mini refrigerator,” said Priestley. “If you do have failures on orbit, you can replace these much more economically. It’s a very different approach moving forward for Earth observation.”
The Athena EPIC satellite is shown here mounted onto a vibration table during pre-launch environmental testing. The optical payload is located at the top in this picture with the two solar arrays, stowed for launch, flanking the lower half sides of the satellite.NovaWurks Athena EPIC is scheduled to launch July 22 as a rideshare on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The primary NASA payload on the launch will be the TRACERS (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites) mission. The TRACERS mission is led by the University of Iowa for NASA’s Heliophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Earth Science Division also provided funding for Athena EPIC.
“Langley Research Center has long been a leader in developing remote sensing instruments for in-orbit satellites. As satellites become smaller, a less traditional, more efficient path to launch is needed in order to decrease complexity while simultaneously increasing the value of exploration, science, and technology measurements for the Nation,” added Turner.
For more information on NASA’s Athena EPIC mission:
https://science.nasa.gov/misshttps://science.nasa.gov/mission/athena/ion/athena/
About the Author
Charles G. Hatfield
Science Public Affairs Officer, NASA Langley Research Center
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Last Updated Jul 18, 2025 ContactCharles G. Hatfieldcharles.g.hatfield@nasa.govLocationNASA Langley Research Center Related Terms
Langley Research Center Earth Earth Science Division Earth's Atmosphere General Science Mission Directorate Explore More
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By NASA
The The Stratospheric Projectile Entry Experiment on Dynamics (SPEED), a two-stage stratospheric drop test architecture, is currently under development to bridge the state-of-the-art gap that many NASA flagship missions require to reduce system risk and enable more optimized designs via margin reduction. To do this, a two-stage vehicle will drop from a high-altitude balloon and use the first stage (an LV-Haack cone aeroshell) to accelerate the sub-scale test model to supersonic conditions. The onboard avionics will then release the test model into freestream flow at the proper altitude in Earth’s atmosphere for dynamic Mach scaling to the full-scale flight trajectory. SPEED leverages low-cost methods of manufacturing such as 3D printing and laser/water-jet cutting to enable 8 or more two-stage vehicles to be dropped in a single test, making the science-to-dollar density much higher than any current ground-test facility NASA has at its disposal. The goal is to develop a robust ejection system that can reliably introduce the test models into supersonic flow with a tight variance on initial condition perturbation. The separation system must be capable of handling a range of initial angle-of-attacks, keep the test model secure in the first stage during take-off and descent, and eject the test model in such a way that it does not linger behind the first stage and be affected by the resulting wake. As current ejection system designs are conceptual, complex, and untested, NASA is looking for alternative ideas that can be incorporated into the design of their next iteration of SPEED flight vehicles to increase system reliability. We are challenging the public to design innovative concepts for a separation mechanism that can be used to assess NASA and commercial reentry vehicle stability.
Award: $7,000 in total prizes
Open Date: July 14, 2025
Close Date: September 8, 2025
For more information, visit: https://grabcad.com/challenges/ejection-mechanism-design-for-the-speed-test-architecture
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By NASA
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Researchers from NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) recently tested a scale model of the X-59 experimental aircraft in a supersonic wind tunnel located in Chofu, Japan, to assess the noise audible underneath the aircraft. The model can be seen in the wind tunnel in this image released on July 11, 2025.
The test was an important milestone for NASA’s one-of-a-kind X-59, which is designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without causing a loud sonic boom. When the X-59 flies, sound underneath it – a result of its pressure signature – will be a critical factor for what people hear on the ground.
This marked the third round of wind tunnel tests for the X-59 model, following a previous test at JAXA and at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. The data will help researchers understand the noise level that will be created by the shock waves the X-59 produces at supersonic speeds.
Image credit: JAXA
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