NASA Glenn Accepts Aviation Award for “NEAT” Facility

Each year, Aviation Week (AW) Network recognizes a limited number of innovators who achieve extraordinary accomplishments in the global aerospace arena with AW’s prestigious Laureate Award. These innovators represent the values and vision of the global aerospace community and change the way people work and move through the world.  

On March 6, NASA’s Glenn Research Center accepted an AW Laureate Award in commercial aviation for NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) located at NASA Glenn’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. NEAT allows government, industry, and academia to collaborate and conduct testing of high-powered electric powertrains, which generate power and propel aircraft forward. The goal is to transform commercial flight by creating more sustainable, fuel-efficient commercial aircraft.  

A metal building with an airplane and NASA logo on the front. A tall section is in the middle, a smaller flat section is on the left, and a large cylinder with tubing goes into the building on its right.

NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed (NEAT) is located at NASA’s Glenn Research Center at Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio.

Credit: NASA/Bridget Caswell

NEAT enables ground testing of cutting-edge systems prior to experimental flight testing. As a result, researchers can troubleshoot issues that only occur at altitude and improve them earlier in the design cycle, which both accelerates the path to flight and makes it safer.  

A number of “firsts” have been accomplished in the electric aircraft testbed.   


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