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PRANDTL Low drag miniature first flight.

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posted on Oct, 28 2015 @ 08:15 PM
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Just found this on my feed this morning.NASA has been playing around with a new wing design.



NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center engineers located in Edwards, California, are working on an increasingly complex aircraft called the Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag, or Prandtl-D. This illustration shows what a Prandtl-M might look like flying above the surface of Mars. This illustration shows what a Prandtl-M might look like flying above the surface of Mars. Credits: NASA Illustration / Dennis Calaba Resembling a boomerang, the aircraft features a new method for determining the shape of the wing with a twist that could lead to an 11-percent reduction in fuel consumption. The concept may also lead to significantly enhanced controllability that could eliminate the need for a vertical tail and potentially to new aircraft designs.

Looking at a 30% reduction in drag over known wing designs.



posted on Oct, 29 2015 @ 02:51 AM
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a reply to: Blackfinger

Great find! It's great to see that ideas can still turn into something physical in a period of only twelve weeks! K.J would be proud



posted on Oct, 29 2015 @ 09:28 AM
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a reply to: Blackfinger

Looks strikingly similar to those early Teledyne-Ryan/Loral/Frontier Systems proposals and designs for the AARS from the 80's.

Considering that system was designed to fly at 90000+ feet it would make sense that something designed to fly in Mars' thin atmosphere would look pretty similar. Still, I can't help but wonder if the NASA design wasn't based on some 30 year-old data that someone decided to pass along.



posted on Oct, 29 2015 @ 10:55 AM
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Pretty cool idea. A normal wing generates adverse yaw (rotation around plane up axis) when banking, as the outside wing has more lift and drag. Here they change the wing shape so that it generates proverse yaw, making the aircraft turn into the banking direction. So there is no need for vertical control surfaces, which saves weight and reduces drag.



posted on Oct, 29 2015 @ 11:28 AM
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a reply to: Barnalby

The NASA Prandtl series of sub scale aircraft are based on data from German aerodynamicist Ludwig Prandtl's studies circa 1908-1920, and the flying wing designs of the Horten brothers from the 1940s. NASA scientist Al Bowers has taken it a few steps further and is well on his way toward proving the concept of proverse yaw. This would be truly revolutionary, and there are many skeptics. The 25-foot-span Prandtl-D flew yesterday, and it was just beautiful. It is one of those designs that seems like it just "wants to fly."



posted on Oct, 29 2015 @ 08:44 PM
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a reply to: Shadowhawk

Here was today's flight:




posted on Oct, 29 2015 @ 10:53 PM
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a reply to: Sammamishman

You mean yesterday's flight, but yeah. That was the first flight of Prandtl-D (vehicle 3). I was there; in fact I am the last person you see in the video.

You can see how it catches the ground effect just before landing. It's a great aerodynamic shape. The wingtips have a twist that makes them act like winglets (but oriented horizontally).



posted on Oct, 30 2015 @ 07:25 AM
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originally posted by: Shadowhawk
a reply to: Sammamishman

You mean yesterday's flight, but yeah. That was the first flight of Prandtl-D (vehicle 3). I was there; in fact I am the last person you see in the video.


Ahh, sorry, all these days smear together it seams. Lol

Nice cameo. Don't think I would have picked that out if you hadn't mentioned it.




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