NASA took delivery this week of a Tecnam P2006T, which will undergo transformation into an electric-propulsion testbed called the X-57 Maxwell. The Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Technology and Operations Research (SCEPTOR) project, the latest in NASA's X-plane experiments, seeks to develop technologies to make flying quieter, cheaper and emissions-free. Sean Clarke, one of the leaders of the X-57 project out of NASA Armstrong in California, was among the presenters during a joint news conference with Tecnam during AirVenture 2016. Clarke told AVweb during the event that the test aircraft will undergo a series of modifications and be ready to fly in early 2018. Experiments with electric motors mounted on the wingtips will follow, he said. Future plans are to research flight characteristics with smaller inboard electric motors. The project was launched with $15 million of funding over three years.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/air-shows-events/nasa-receives-tecnam-p2006t-for-x-plane-research