How NASA Tests Shapeshifting Plane Wings

(gentle music)

[Narrator] Birds flap their wings during flight.

Planes do not.

Planes are made from rigid metal or composite components,

they're stiff and strong,

and I don't want bits bending around during flight,

thanks very much.

But this plane, about to be launched

over the safe and roomy dried-up lake beds

at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center,

is designed to do just that,

and it could lead to more fuel-efficient,

quieter and even supersonic passenger planes in the future.

(gentle music)

[Flight Observer] 16, 25, 30.

[Narrator] The project's called

Spanwise Adaptive Wing, or SAW,

and it uses a shape memory alloy

in this scaled-down prototype.

These special metals are triggered

to change shape when heated or cooled.

Instead of bulky hydraulics,

this plane has a tube with the alloy inside,

which twists and moves sections of the wing.

That means it can be built right into the wingtips

where heavy hydraulics would cause too much strain.

You can see it in operation sped up here.

The idea's been around for decades.

In the 1960s, NASA developed the XB-70,

where the outer wing panels were hinged,

increased lift for takeoff,

but then reduced drag for supersonic flight.

Its actuators were big and heavy, though.

NASA Armstrong is also developing a project

with the snappy title,

Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge,

where they've replaced the flaps on the back of the wing

with a smooth surface, which can be deformed.

That promises the same advantages of

quieter, more-efficient flight

as air doesn't get buffeted around

the extended flaps and the gaps that they leave.

(plane engine)

Good (speaking quietly)

[Narrator] The latest SAW test,

researchers flew the plane

in an elongated race track pattern,

and engineers heated and cooled the alloys,

folding the wings between zero and 70 degrees.

The next step is to scale up the technology

and fit it into the wing of an F/A-18 fighter jet,

and eventually, it could be fitted to passenger planes,

so the wings can adapt in-flight to decrease drag.

It may even allow aircraft with huge wingspans

to fold up into small airport gates.

Perhaps there is something to be said

for flexibility after all.