NASA has announced a new X-plane without showing you the real thing. What you get is a set of numbers, a promise and one artist’s impression.
The X-70 Fractal was introduced by NASA on Wednesday during the UP Summit in Kennedy Space Center. It is a crewed flight research aircraft that is designed to perform experiments using state-of-the-art flight control and manoeuvring technology, unlike any experiments carried out on the ground or on the computer.
The X-70 has a takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds. It’s designed to cruise at Mach 0.75, climb to 45,000 feet and fly more than 1,500 nautical miles. That’s about 1,726 miles.
It is also capable of carrying up to 2,000 pounds of experimental equipment, including that which is installed both internally and externally. It is possible for teams to switch equipment around between missions and thereby use one aircraft for multiple projects.
Notably, the engines, the dimensions, or the initial rounds of experiments are not mentioned in the release. Nor do the reports mention a contractor or the mode of piloting of the aircraft.Â
The only image available is that of an illustration. PopSci observes that this may not reveal anything about the final product.
Administrator Jared Isaacman is hopeful that a maiden flight would take place under the NASA umbrella in the next two years. Experience has shown that such optimism should be tempered.
