NASA Tests New Airplane Wings with Changeable Shape

The world's largest airplane, built by the late Paul Allen's company Stratolaunch Systems, makes its first test flight in Mojave, California, US April 13, 2019. (Reuters)
The world's largest airplane, built by the late Paul Allen's company Stratolaunch Systems, makes its first test flight in Mojave, California, US April 13, 2019. (Reuters)
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NASA Tests New Airplane Wings with Changeable Shape

The world's largest airplane, built by the late Paul Allen's company Stratolaunch Systems, makes its first test flight in Mojave, California, US April 13, 2019. (Reuters)
The world's largest airplane, built by the late Paul Allen's company Stratolaunch Systems, makes its first test flight in Mojave, California, US April 13, 2019. (Reuters)

A team of US engineers has built a new kind of airplane wing assembled from hundreds of tiny identical pieces and can change shape to control the plane's flight.

According to the researchers, the innovation could provide a significant boost in aircraft production, flight and maintenance efficiency.

The new approach to wing construction, designed by engineers from the NASA and MIT institute, could afford greater flexibility in the design and manufacturing of future aircraft. The new wing design was tested in a NASA wind tunnel.

The Phys.org website reported that instead of requiring separate movable surfaces such as ailerons to control the roll and pitch of the plane, as conventional wings do, the new assembly system makes it possible to deform the whole wing, or parts of it, by incorporating a mix of stiff and flexible components in its structure.

The researchers explained that the result is a wing that is much lighter, and thus much more energy efficient, than those with conventional designs, whether made from metal or composites, because the structure, comprising thousands of tiny triangles of matchstick-like struts, is composed mostly of empty space.

In a related context, the world's largest aircraft flew over the Mojave Desert in California. Made of carbon composites, this new airplane was produced by Stratolaunch Systems as it entered the private space market.

Stratolaunch was founded by Paul Allen, the late co-founder of Microsoft. The white aircraft took off and remained in the sky for over two hours before landing safely at the Mojave airport.



LinkedIn CEO to Take over Office, More AI Duties in Microsoft Executive Shuffle

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed LinkedIn logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed LinkedIn logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
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LinkedIn CEO to Take over Office, More AI Duties in Microsoft Executive Shuffle

A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed LinkedIn logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)
A keyboard is placed in front of a displayed LinkedIn logo in this illustration taken February 21, 2023. (Reuters)

The CEO of LinkedIn will take additional responsibility for Microsoft's Office products, while an executive responsible for one of the company's leading business-to-business artificial intelligence products will start reporting to head of the company's Windows unit, according to a memo from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella viewed by Reuters.

Ryan Roslansky, who oversees the business-focused social network owned by Microsoft, will remain CEO of LinkedIn but also oversee products such as Word and Excel and also "Copilot," Microsoft's leading AI product, within the company's productivity software suite, the memo said.

Roslansky will report to Rajesh Jha, who oversees Microsoft Windows and Teams, among other duties. The memo said existing Office leaders Sumit Chauhan and Gaurav Sareen will report to Jha as well.

Also moving to report to Jha will be Charles Lamanna, who leads "Copilot" for business and industrial users, the memo said.