TsAGI, ESA-ESTEC discuss upcoming tests of high-speed civilian plane
12 September 2014
During the ICAS-2014 international congress Sergey Chernyshev, executive director of the Russian research centre TsAGI and Johan Steelant, a senior engineer with the European Space Agency’s European Space Research and Technology Centre(ESA-ESTEC) discussed progress on the creation of a high-speed civilian aircraft.
The project partners have already defined the shape of the experimental aircraft and conducted computational studies. TsAGI engineers and specialists will hold a series of aerodynamic tests, and then make a prototype of the high-speed commercial aircraft, to be used for further flight experiments.
The Andøya Space Centrein Norway and the Alcântara Launch Centrein Brazil are being considered as possible locations for these.
The high-speed civilian aircraft is being developed as a result of close cooperation between scientific and production centres within the framework of the international project HEXAFLY-INT (High Speed Experimental Fly Vehicles — International) funded under the “Transport” (Aeronautics) section of the 6th and 7th Framework Programmes of the European Union.
Russian, European and Australian organizations are taking part in the project: TsAGI, CIAM, LII, MIPT, EADS-IW, DLR, ONERA, CIRA, USyD, UNSW, USQ and others. The Dutch scientific centre ESTEC is the coordinator of the project.
TsAGI Executive Director Sergey Chernyshev noted the importance of Russia’s participation in the HEXAFLY-INT project: “International programmes are an area of major importance for us. They allow us to ‘synchronize our watches’ with our foreign colleagues and improve technologically. TsAGI is a strategic partner in the HEXAFLY-INT project and actively participates in researching the concept for the high-speed civilian aircraft proposed by the European scientists. It is expected that this aircraft will fly at a speed of over
HEXAFLY-INT —a project to create a hydrogen-fuelled passenger aircraft capable of flying at high speeds — began in April 2014 and will be completed by December 2019. As part of the project it is planned to carry out a range of experimental and computational research. TsAGI scientists will perform computational studies and ground-based experiments and produce an experimental model for flight tests.
The European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) coordinates the space potential and financial and intellectual resources of its European member states, along with international programs and events. The main field of activity of this organization is the organization and implementation of EU space programs. ESA-ESTEC is a technical centre of European science, responsible for the development of most Western aerospace projects.