FutureFlight
NASA’s X-57 Maxwell Electric Airplane Passes Critical Thermal Tests
Engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland have successfully completed thermal testing of the X-57’s cruise motor controllers.
NASA's X-57 "Modification II" is pictured in the hangar.
NASA's all-electric X-57 "Modification II" could take its first and final flights by the end of 2023. (Photo: Carla Thomas/NASA)

NASA’s first all-electric experimental aircraft, the X-57 Maxwell, recently notched another milestone on the path to its first flight. Engineers at the agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, have successfully completed thermal testing of its cruise motor controllers. 

The X-57 is a modified Tecnam P2006T twin-engine light aircraft that NASA is converting to run on electric power, with the intent of sharing its design and airworthiness process with regulators and the industry to help develop certification standards for emerging electric aircraft, including eVTOL vehicles for urban air mobility.