NASA can’t meet the budget
The first flight of the NASA X-57 Maxwell electric aircraft , which was scheduled for the end of this year, will not take place. Management completely closes the project.
At the moment, the project has not yet been closed – it will be done in September. But the plane was not destined to take off. At the same time, NASA notes the program as successful and says that it has learned a lot from it.
NASA X-57 Maxwell electric plane is not destined to take off
The exact reasons for the project’s closure were not given, but NASA says it’s because of some safety issues that the agency can’t address without going over budget. Recall that the X-57 Maxwell is a modified Italian light twin-engine aircraft Tecnam P2006T, and the project itself was aimed at exactly this: the transfer of existing models to an electric power plant.
The final version of the X-57 was supposed to have 14 propeller engines: 2 main and 12 auxiliary. The main engines are used to move at cruising speed, while the auxiliary engines are used only during acceleration, takeoff and landing.
