Spanwise Adaptive Wing initial flight campaign

This NASA-led flight campaign demonstrated shape-memory-alloy actuation of folding wing panels on Area-I’s PTERA research aircraft. The completed tests, reported by NASA in January 2018, moved the outboard panels between level and 70-degree deflection, with separate hardware arrangements for downward and upward folding. Flights over a two-day period tested system integration and operation under real aerodynamic loads. The campaign established feasibility of the actuation approach; broader fuel-efficiency benefits and later flights were prospective research objectives.