GL-10

Nasa has completed a test flight of a battery-powered aircraft, which is equipped with ten engines.

With a 10ft wingspan, the aircraft was equipped with eight electric motors on the wings, two electric motors on the tail. It weighs 28.1kg at take-off.

The flight test was designed to evaluate the remotely piloted aircraft capabilities to transition from hover to wing-borne flight and vice-versa.

Nasa Langley Research Center aerospace engineer Bill Fredericks said: "So far, we have done this on five flights.

"Now we’re working on our second goal, to demonstrate that this concept is four times more aerodynamically efficient in cruise than a helicopter."

Called Greased Lightning or GL-10, the battery-powered aircraft is being developed as a potential unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Fredericks added: "It could be used for small package delivery or vertical take-off and landing, long endurance surveillance for agriculture, mapping and other applications.

"It could be used for small package delivery or vertical take-off and landing, long endurance surveillance for agriculture, mapping and other applications."

"A scaled-up version, much larger than what we are testing now, would make also a great one to four person size personal air vehicle."

Nasa initially planned to develop a 20ft wingspan aircraft powered by hybrid diesel / electric engines. The engineers are creating smaller versions for testing purposes.

The team has so far constructed 12 prototypes, including 2.3kg foam models, 11.3kg modified fibre glass hobby aircraft kits and 24.9kg carbon fibre GL-10.

Nasa plans to test aerodynamic efficiency of the GL-10 soon.

The GL-10 will be showcased at the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International 2015 conference in Atlanta.

Image: The GL-10 prototype takes-off in hover mode like a helicopter. Photo: courtesy of Nasa Langley / David C Bowman.