NASA Uses Scaled Flight Vehicles to Accelerate Aviation Innovation Research

Testing new aerospace concepts in actual flight environments remains one of NASA's most effective methods for advancing knowledge and reducing development risk.

The Dale Reed Scaled Flight Research Laboratory at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, is built around exactly this mission — using small remotely piloted and autonomous aircraft as cost-effective test platforms to mature innovative ideas, accelerate research learning curves, and pave the way for eventual transition to full-scale flight.

Diverse Flight Platforms

When experiments require airborne assets, the laboratory maintains a fleet of NASA-operated remotely piloted aircraft, including:

• Alta-X quadrotor drone
• DROID (Dryden Remotely Operated Integrated Drone): a remotely piloted integrated drone with a 10-foot wingspan
• Multi-Use Cub: a fixed-wing aircraft with a 14-foot wingspan and an expandable mission payload capacity
• HQ-90 quadrotor drone: an additional option for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) testing

Once aircraft and experiments have passed flight safety reviews, laboratory pilots provide full support for ground operations and flight missions.

Flight Expertise

Every member of the laboratory holds certification as a scaled flight vehicle pilot, qualified to operate one-of-a-kind or modified commercial aircraft across a range of mission profiles.

The FireSense wildfire monitoring project is one such example. NASA conducted flight operations at Geneva State Forest, approximately 100 miles south of Montgomery, Alabama. Team members integrated sensors into the Alta-X drone, completed system testing, and then deployed to the forest with their equipment. Localized meteorological data collected by the remotely piloted aircraft supports analysis of smoke dispersion and fire behavior, providing a scientific basis for wildfire decision-making and helping agencies deploy firefighting personnel and resources more effectively.

Another mission conducted near Armstrong is the EPIC (Enhancing Parachutes by Instrumenting the Canopy) project. EPIC drops a capsule containing a parachute and flexible sensors from the Alta-X. Laboratory personnel not only handle flight operations but also collaborated with the EPIC team to design and integrate the parachute deployment mechanism and safety systems.

These tests validated that flexible sensors can aid in studying supersonic parachute performance. Follow-on research will fill gaps in computational models, making supersonic parachutes safer and more reliable for delivering scientific instruments and payloads to Mars.

Driving Breakthrough Research

With its rapid design and test capabilities, the Dale Reed Scaled Flight Research Laboratory enables small aircraft to carry big ideas — generating breakthroughs that could influence NASA's aeronautics, science, and exploration missions.

Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology represents decades of collaborative research between NASA and its partners. Studies confirmed that an autopilot system can detect and recover from imminent ground-collision situations — a capability that has already helped save the lives of U.S. military high-performance jet fighter pilots. NASA Armstrong played a key role in this research and developed a simplified version, the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto GCAS), which was installed on DROID for testing. The system performed exceptionally well, and follow-on research went on to develop versions that provide warnings and steering cues to pilots. NASA Armstrong's Technology Transfer Office is actively pursuing licensing agreements to allow U.S. companies to develop the technology into commercial products.

The Prandtl-D (Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design to Lower Drag) flying wing glider was also designed, manufactured, and flight-tested at NASA Armstrong. Researchers discovered that its twisted-wing design reduces drag and generates thrust at the wingtips, laying a theoretical foundation for improved fuel efficiency in future aircraft. The original Prandtl-D is now on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., while the Prandtl-D3 is exhibited at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Researchers continue to develop the next-generation design in the laboratory.

Full Manufacturing Capabilities

The laboratory maintains a comprehensive range of capabilities to help transform promising concepts into flight-ready test structures, including:

• Rapid prototyping using both conventional and advanced 3D manufacturing techniques
• Composite and traditional fabrication methods
• Custom component design and specialized manufacturing
• Electrical and mechanical design
• Hardware and software integration
• Flight safety and flight readiness review processes

NASA Armstrong's Experimental Fabrication Branch and Environmental Laboratory further augment these capabilities, collectively supporting development, testing, and validation activities that advance NASA's aeronautics and exploration objectives.

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