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Spinoff story
Ubiquitous Supercritical Wing Design Cuts Billions in Fuel Costs
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
A Langley Research Center engineer_s work in the 1960s and _70s to develop a wing with better performance near the speed of sound resulted in a significant increase in subsonic efficiency. The design was shared with industry. Today, Renton, Washington-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes, as well as most other plane manufacturers, apply it to all their aircraft, saving the airline industry billions of dollars in fuel every year.