Nasa – By using a smaller version of a full-sized aircraft called the RAVEN Subscale Wind Tunnel and Flight Test (RAVEN SWFT) vehicle, NASA is able to conduct its tests in a fast and cost-effective manner.

The small aircraft weighs 38 pounds with a wingspan of six feet and has 24 independently moving components.

Each component, called a “control effector,” can move during flight to change the aircraft’s motion – making it an ideal aircraft for advanced flight controls and autonomous flight research.

The testing is ongoing at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Researchers first used the center’s 12-Foot Low-Speed Tunnel in 2024 and have since moved on to flight testing the small aircraft, piloting it remotely from the ground. During initial flight tests, the aircraft flew while tied to a tether. Now, the team performs free flights.

Lessons learned from the aircraft’s behavior in the wind tunnel helped to reduce risks during flight tests. In the wind tunnel, researchers performed tests that closely mirror the motion of real flight.

While the scale aircraft was in motion, researchers collected information about its flight characteristics, greatly accelerating the time from design to flight.

The team also could refine the aircraft’s computer control code in real time and upload software changes to it in under 5 minutes, saving them weeks and increasing the amount of data collected.