NASA (Washington, D.C., U.S.) has awarded Electra.aero Inc. (Manassas, Va., U.S.) a contract to develop key technologies and aircraft concepts for next-generation commercial airliners that could enter service by mid-century. The award to Electra comes under NASA’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability (AACES) 2050 initiative, which is part of NASA’s research program to cement U.S. leadership in decarbonizing aviation.

Electra’s aircraft, such as the EL-2 Goldfinch, often make use of composite materials. With technologies and materials to be identified as part of this initiative, Electra says that composite materials will likely be part of the review. The company’s VP adds to this statement, saying that while the aircraft “is still in the concept design stage, we do expect that the double-bubble fuselage will incorporate composites.”

Electra was founded in 2020 with a specific mission to lead in the development of sustainable aviation technologies. In 2021, Electra developed a 150-kilowatt hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion system, and in 2023 began testing it in flight aboard the company’s two-passenger ultra-short prototype aircraft. The prototype integrates proprietary aerodynamic designs and distributed hybrid-electric propulsion to achieve ultra-short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) in distances as short as 150 feet. Electra is currently developing a nine-passenger version for introduction into passenger and cargo service later this decade. To date, the company says it has more than 2,000 aircraft orders from 52 airline customers.

The larger focus of AACES is to develop technologies and aircraft concepts that significantly reduce carbon emissions from commercial aircraft. Electra is supported by a powerhouse team that includes American Airlines, Honeywell Aerospace Technologies, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment and the University of Michigan Department of Aerospace Engineering. The team will be led by Dr. Alejandra Uranga, Electra’s chief engineer for research and future concepts. Uranga serves on the University of Southern California’s Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department faculty and previously co-led a NASA N+3 program while a research engineer at MIT.

“Being selected by NASA for AACES is an important achievement for Electra,” says Uranga. “It validates our concepts and their potential scalability.”

“This work is part of the research NASA conducts under its Advanced Air Vehicles Program,” adds Barbara Esker, deputy administrator for programs under the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. “This new collaboration will help NASA and the private sector deliver new technologies to fulfill our mutual goal of cleaner skies in the decades ahead.”