Student interns and engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. were able to custom-build an aircraft using "printed" 3-D parts, according to Space Mart.
Two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), "Chimera" and "Alicanto," were made between the reused parts and the printed parts.
The "FrankenEye" (as the project has been dubbed) pieces were partly 3-D prints and partly re-commissioned mechanisms from Aerovironment RQ-14 Dragon Eye UAVs. Without any changes to components, the electric drones weigh less than six pounds and can carry a one pound instrument, according to NASA.
Printed parts include "wing sections, nose cones, winglets, control surfaces, wing ribs and even propellers using the NASA Ames SpaceShop," according to NASA. The lighter parts were reinforced with aluminum rods and carbon fiber tubing. The double-fuselage aircrafts are more aerodynamic and can fly longer while carrying more batteries and equipment that will be used to fly over volcanic airspace (as the electric motors are not affected by gas and ash).
"We essentially created two entirely new machines," said Kevin Reynolds, principal investigator of the FrankenEye project at Ames, according to Space Mart. "We worked alongside a group of students to rapidly prototype, manufacture, test and demonstrate key capabilities in preparation for next year's volcano plume-sampling field work."
"This project is very exciting for us because it has demonstrated a new capability for quickly and inexpensively modifying existing aircraft to tailor them to specific mission goals," said Matt Fladeland, Ames co-investigator on the FrankenEye and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer validation projects, according to Space Mart.
The future of FrankenEye includes a triple-fuselage (battery) design, sensor integration and a test mission over the sulfur cloud above Turrialba volcano.
