NASA Glenn is a key partner with airlines in developing advances in flight

Bryan Schmidt, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, gave insight into how “radically different designs” of airplanes will begin to come into play in the next few decades, including on some of the aircraft being worked on at NASA Glenn in Cleveland. "Right now, a passenger airplane is basically like a big tube with wings stuck on it," Schmidt said. "With composite materials, we don't have to make airplanes like that anymore. Before, we used a big sheet of aluminum, rolled it and welded, but with composites—especially with these new manufacturing techniques (like) 3D printing—you can kind of make whatever geometry you want.”