NASA LA-8 eVTOL Testbed

(Photo credit: NASA)

LA-8 eVTOL Testbed
NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, Virginia, USA
www.nasa.gov/langley

Established in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research and space research. NASA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has 10 major field centers. NASA has made space ships, explored space, the moon, launched satellites, gathered data about Earth from space, made the Skylab Space Station, explored Mars, studied our solar system using space probes and more. (Image credit: NASA)

NASA started researching distributed electric propulsion (DEP) electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) and hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft in 2009. DEP was introduced to the world in November 2009 when Mark Moore, while still at NASA, unveiled the Puffin, a personal an all-battery eVTOL concept design aircraft. For the first time, the world caught a glimpse at how electric propulsion might transform everyday flight. In 2010, according to one website, the first eVTOL aircraft flown was NASA's Puffin subscale eVTOL tailsitting aircraft.

In 2014, NASA built both eVTOL and fixed-wing DEP technology demonstrator aircraft. Some of the key design features for NASA's advanced air mobility (AAM) common reference vehicles is to increase safety exponentially, reduce the complexity of the aircraft, decrease the cost of manufacturing, minimize maintenance costs, lower the final ticket cost to the consumer, lessen or have no carbon footprint for the aircraft and decrease the noise level for the general public.

NASA has continued making passenger eVTOL concept designs, technology demonstrators and research eVTOL aircraft for any company that wants to take advantage of NASA's research. In addition, NASA is now making eVTOL and hybrid-electric eVTOL aircraft to explore planets and their moons, in our solar system. As of 2024, NASA's space probes have not traveled to any other solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy, yet.

Mark Moore, Co-Founder and CEO of Whisper Aero (formerly a Principal Investigator and Chief Technologist for On-Demand Mobility, NASA and Engineering Director of Aviation, Uber Elevate) at the Vertical Flight Society's 7th Annual Electric VTOL Symposium, Jan. 21-23, 2020 in San Jose, California, USA, stated concerning advanced air mobility (AAM), "There has not been this pace in aeronautics since the Wright Brothers."

NASA LA-8 (or Langley Aerodrome No. 8) uncrewed eVTOL tiltwing testbed
The NASA LA-8 (or Langley Aerodrome No. 8) is an uncrewed modular remote controlled eVTOL tiltwing testbed for advanced air mobility (AAM).  The project being announced to the public in April 2019. The LA-8 testbed has been called by NASA personnel, a flying laboratory for urban air mobility (UAM). The width of the testbed aircraft was decided upon so the aircraft would fit inside limits of NASA's 12 Foot Low Speed Wind Tunnel. Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) is a key factor that NASA is testing. The testbed has been flown tethered, unthethered and in wind tunnel tests.

The subscale testbed aircraft has a total of eight propellers on the leading edges of the tandem tiltwings, use eight electric motors and is powered by two lithium polymer batteries. The tiltwings have elevons, single-slotted Fowler flaps and ruddervators for a total of 20 independent control actuators. In the rear of the aircraft is an inverted V-tail. A tricycle type landing gear has been designed with one downward flange at the front of the aircraft and the inverted V-tail is used for its rear landing gear. A wheeled landing gear system has been designed for possible short takeoff and landing (STOL) testing.

The fuselage and wings have been 3D printed using nylon and polycarbonate with some use of carbon fiber and aluminum for spars and internal fuselage walls. Changes in CAD design allows 3D printing of different configurations of the aircraft's components to be easily manufactured to reduce time and labor hours—from manufacturing to flight testing. The modular design also allows the wings, fuselage and other parts of the aircraft to be reconfigured with ease.

In addition, use of rapid custom printed circuit board (PCB) services combined with off-the-shelf electronics was used to create a flight control and a data recording system capable of measuring approximately 150 aerodynamic and performance parameters and control system inputs and outputs. Multiple hatches have been incorporated into the fuselage design for easy installation and removal of electronics and batteries. Nylon plugs with threaded inserts are incorporated into the carbon side panels for attachment of wind tunnel mount hardware and other brackets.

The aircraft has also been designed so that NASA personnel can try as many different technologies as needed, to help get data to understand how electric aircraft can help make urban air mobility become a reality. One key test is how to make an aircraft that loses one or two propellers or electric motors, and the aircraft can still be landed safely. Another key test is to test whether the aircraft can handle gusty wind conditions and keep its passengers stable and safe.

Some Components and Systems of the Testbed:

• Avionics
• Electronics
• Speed controller
• Switching voltage regulators
• Cooling fans
• Heat sinks, cooling fins
• Servo motors
• Custom PCB DC-to-DC converter
• a-ß aero probe transducer
• Raspberry Pi
• Flight control system
• Data recording system and telemetry

The eVTOL testbed is named in honor of Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906), an American astronomer, physicist and aviation pioneer, who named each of his prototype aircraft a number, his first aircraft was named No. 1. Langley called his aircraft an aerodrome because it roughly is translated from Greek, meaning air runner. Therefore, Langley Aerodrome 8 or LA-8.

In 2020, a NASA employee stated that urban air mobility aircraft (meaning on-demand air taxi service or privately owned aircraft) would typically fly passengers in the 20 to 40 miles range within a city. The technology is currently available to make these aircraft but the biggest issues are air space control and establishing airworthiness. NASA is building testbeds to test lots of different eVTOL technologies. NASA will be working with the FAA and the private sector to help accelerate the advanced air mobility (AAM) effort.

During 2014-2016, NASA Langley researchers completed and tested a carbon fiber electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) drone prototype named the Greased Lightning. NASA has also stated they will be building a series of eVTOL testbeds to help accelerate the advanced air mobility market and help companies in the private sector to get their aircraft airworthy, certified and safe to fly.

NASA plans to work with airframe manufactures, flight control companies, the FAA and other companies during their testing process. NASA wants to share their information with the private sector to help make UAM safe and reliable for all eVTOL aircraft, including both package delivery drones and passenger eVTOL aircraft.

NASA's David North stated, “Some (eVTOL) companies don’t have the resources to generate the data necessary to build accurate models. Others, like Joby Aviation, Archer and Beta Technologies have the resources to hire analysts and modelers, but are not sharing that data.” Consequently, NASA Langley is gathering data that is available to anyone, including eVTOL aircraft developers, regulators and the flying public.

Some of NASA's other VTOL projects include the NASA Puffin and NASA Greased Lightning.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: eVTOL testbed
• Piloting: Remote
• Passengers: No passengers
• Cruise speed: Unknown
• Maximum takeoff weight: 65 lb (29.5 kg)
• Propellers: 8 propellers (Aeronaut CAM Carbon folding 16 inch x 8 inch pitch blades)
• Electric Motors: 8 electric motors. (Scorpion SII-4035 kV 450 electric motors)
• Power source: 2 batteries. (Lithium polymer 8-cell (33.6 volts maximum) 22000 mAh batteries)
• Windows: None
• Wings: Tandem tiltwings including 4 elevons, 4 single-slotted Fowler flaps, 2 ruddervators (for a total of 20 independent control actuators)
• Fuselage (and wings): 3-D printed nylon and polycarbonate with some use of carbon fiber and aluminum for spars and internal fuselage walls.. 3D printing allows different configurations to be easily manufactured. The aircraft is also modular in design allowing different configurations to be assembled and tested. (80% of the aircraft is 3D printed)
• Tail: 1 inverted V-tail
• Landing gear: A tricycle type landing gear with one downward flange at the front of the aircraft and an inverted V-tail for its rear landing gear. A wheeled landing gear system has been designed for possible short takeoff and landing (STOL) testing.
• Safety Features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), provides safety through redundancy for its passengers and/or cargo. DEP means having multiple propellers and motors on the aircraft so if one or more motors or propellers fail, the other working motors and propellers can safely land the aircraft.

Related Aircraft:

• NASA Dragonfly (space probe)
• NASA Greased Lightning (defunct)
• NASA Lift+Cruise (concept design)
• NASA Multi-Tiltrotor (concept design)
• NASA Puffin (concept design)
• NASA Quadrotor (concept design)
• NASA Quiet Single Main Rotor (concept design)
• NASA Raven (concept design)
• NASA Side-by-Side (concept design)
• NASA Tiltduct (concept design)
• NASA Tiltrotor (concept design)
• NASA Tiltwing (concept design)

Company Insights:

• Crunchbase
• Tracxn
• Wikipedia

Resources:

• NASA website
• NASA Advanced Air Mobility Mission web page
• NASA Advanced Air Mobility Mission More News web page
• NASA Air Mobility Pathfinders(AMP) Project More News web page
• NASA Advanced Air Mobility STEM Learning Module web page
• NASA Aeronautics Research Institute web page
• NASA Air Mobility Pathfinders Project web page
• NASA Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Reference Vehicles web page
• NASA Facebook
• NASA Twitter
• NASA YouTube Channel
• NASA Instagram
• NASA LinkedIn
• Advanced Air Mobility Wikipedia
• Samuel Langley Wikipedia
• Article: NASA Launches Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge, Electric VTOL News, Nov. 5, 2018
• Article: NASA Releases Two UAM Consultant Reports, Electric VTOL News, Nov. 12, 2018
• Article: NASA Embraces Urban Air Mobility, Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2019
• Article: NASA Holds Supply Chain Workshop, Electric VTOL News, Feb. 5, 2020
• Video: The LA-8, NASA's New eVTOL Testbed, NASA Langley Research Center, Apr. 24, 2020
• Article: Langley Aerodrome Created to Explore Urban Air Mobility, NASA Langley Research Center, Apr. 25, 2020
• Video: Langley Aerodrome: Unlocking the future of Urban Air Mobility, NASA Langley Research Center, Apr. 26, 2020
• Article: NASA’s National Campaign, Vertiflite, May/June 2020
• Article: NASA’s LA-8: Generating Public eVTOL Data, Vertiflite, July/August 2022