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NASA Puffin (concept design)

NASA Puffin one passenger eVTOL tail-sitting concept design aircraft

(Image credit: NASA)

Puffin (concept design)
NASA
Hampton, Virginia, USA
www.nasa.gov

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’s Puffin is a one passenger eVTOL tail-sitting concept design (and subscale prototype) aircraft
The NASA Puffin is a one person eVTOL tail-sitting concept design aircraft. A subscale proof of concept prototype was made and flown but a full-scale Puffin prototype was never manufactured. NASA announced the design in November 2009, and the first scaled prototype took flight in February 2010. No plans exist for building a full sized Puffin. The prototype provides data and supports a proof-of-concept.

NASA researcher Mark Moore designed the concept design vehicle as part of earning his doctoral degree. He and a team made up from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Institute of Aerospace, and M-DOT Aerospace discussed the Puffin at the American Helicopter Society conference on aeromechanics in January 2010.

The vehicle earned its name because a puffin looks very awkward with wings that appear too small to fly and the bird does fly up to 55 mph (88.5 km/h) flapping its wings up to 400 beats a minute. It is also called “the most environmentally friendly bird” because it hides its waste which parallels the NASA Puffin’s near zero emissions.

The aircraft has a cruise speed of 150 mph (241 km/h) and has a maximum speed of 300 mph (483 km/h). The estimated range of the aircraft is 50 miles (80 km) and has an estimated maximum altitude of 30,000 ft (9,144 m). The Puffin has four propellers, has two 60 horsepower electric motors and is powered by batteries. The propellers are positioned near the ends of the gull wing. The empty weight of the aircraft is 400 lb (181 kg), the maximum payload weight is 200 lb (91 kg) and the maximum takeoff weight is 600 lb (272 kg).

The tail-sitter aircraft has a canopy over the cockpit providing excellent views for the pilot, has one high main gull wing with two ventral fins and has a rear X-tail that expands outward when landing (or stays expanded when parked). The fuselage is made from carbon fiber composite for a high strength to low weight ratio. The aircraft stands 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall (or long in flight mode) with a wingspan of 14.5 feet (4.4 meters). The landing gear consists of two fixed wheels at the rear of the fuselage and has a small sphere at the end of each X-tail boom.

Some of NASA's other early eVTOL projects include the NASA LA-8 eVTOL Testbed and NASA Greased Lightning.

NASA Puffin in flight, front view (Image credit: NASA)

NASA Puffin in flight, front view (Image credit: NASA)

NASA Puffin parked on a vertiport (Image credit: NASA)

NASA Puffin parked on a vertiport (Image credit: NASA)

NASA Puffin multiple views (Image credit: NASA)

NASA Puffin multiple views (Image credit: NASA)

Specifications:

  • Aircraft type: Passenger eVTOL concept design
  • Piloting: 1 pilot (no passengers)
  • Cruise speed: 150 mph (241 km/)
  • Maximum speed: 300 mph (483 km/h)
  • Range, with a maximum payload: 50 m (80 km)
  • Maximum altitude: 30,000 ft (9,144 m)
  • Empty weight (witout batteries): 300 lb (136 kg)
  • Empty weight (with batteries): 400 lb (181 kg)
  • Maximum payload weight: 200 lb (91 kg)
  • Maximum takeoff weight: 600 lb (272 kg)
  • Propellers: 4 propellers
  • Rotor Diameter: 7.5 ft (2.2 m)
  • Electric motors: 2 X 60-horsepower electric motors
  • Power source: Batteries
  • Battery weight: 100 lb (45 kg)
  • Fuselage: Carbon fiber composite
  • Height: 12 ft (3.7 m)
  • Wingspan: 14.5 ft (4.4 m)
  • Windows: Front bubble window
  • Wings: 1 high main gull wing with two ventral fins at 90 degree angles to the wing
  • Tail: X-tail. The X-tail expands for landing or when parked.
  • Landing gear: Tail sitter, two wheels at the end of the fuselage and four landing spheres at the end of the X-tail
  • Safety features: Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP) means having multiple propellers (or electric ducted fans) and multiple electric motors on an aircraft so if one or more propellers (or electric ducted fans) or some electric motors fail, the other working propellers (or electric ducted fans) and electric motors can safely land the aircraft. DEP provides safety through redundancy for passengers or cargo. There are also redundancies of critical components in the sub-systems of the aircraft providing safety through redundancy. Having multiple redundant systems on any aircraft decreases having any single point of failure.

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