Nasa is giving five projects a cumulative $11.5m to progress designs for new sustainable aircraft.

The agency has asked industry and academia to come up with studies looking at aircraft concepts, key technologies and designs that will allow commercial aviation to fit within net zero 2050 goals.

The sector accounts for approximately 3% of total CO2 emissions worldwide, but is considered a hard-to-abate sector because of a lack of technologically mature alternatives to traditional jet-fuelled engines, as well as the low scale-up of sustainable aviation fuel production.

Through Nasa’s Advanced Aircraft Concepts for Environmental Sustainability 2050 initiative, it has awarded funds to five projects:

• Aurora Flight Sciences – a company owned by Boeing that is examining new alternative aviation fuels, propulsion systems, aerodynamic technologies and aircraft configurations, along with other technology areas.

• Electra – launched by MIT professors in 2020, the firm will use the funds to progress...