Correction [1/14/2016]: The original title of the article said NASA’s composite material solution could save airlines $250 million. It is actually $250 billion. The article has been updated.
Last week, NASA announced that new “green technology” that incorporates composite materials could help the United States airline industry save $250 billion while simultaneously cutting pollution by 75 percent and noise to nearly one-eighth of today’s levels.
The technology, developed by NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project, features a new process for stitching together large sections of lightweight composite materials to create damage-tolerant structures that could be used in building future aircraft that weigh up to 20 percent less than a similar aircraft made with traditional metals.
“If these technologies start finding their way into the airline fleet, our computer models show the economic impact could amount to $255 billion in operational savings between 2025 and 2050,” said Jaiwon Shin, NASA’s associate administrator for aeronautics research.
