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Since the 2019 delivery of NASA's first
all-electric X plane, the X-57 Maxwell.

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Engineers have been busy getting the
vehicle ready for ground tests at NASA's

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Armstrong Flight Research Center in
California. Currently in its first

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configuration as an all-electric
aircraft known as modification 2 or just

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mod 2. The X-57 aircraft and its various
components have gone through several

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verification tests including ground
vibration testing also known as GVT on

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the X plane's wing and fuselage. A type of
aircraft structural ground test, the GVT

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exposes the vehicle to various
frequencies of vibration. The aircraft is

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barely moving when we actually do this
test the vibrations but the

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accelerometers are very sensitive and
then we're able to magnify the

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deflection so we can visualize it. By
measuring the aircraft's response NASA

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engineers are able to verify whether the
characteristics of the aircraft matched

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their predicted models. This data is
particularly critical in analyzing X-57's

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ability to avoid flutter during flight.
It's very important to know especially

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in the flight predictive modeling because you want to know how the aircraft

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behaves as it's going up in altitude
during flight and we want to

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characterize the frequencies and make
sure that they match the models that we

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are seeing. Meanwhile engineers from NASA
and Empirical Systems Aerospace of San

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Luis Obispo California began
environmental vibration testing on X-57's

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cruise motor controllers. Which provide
key power conversions for the X plane's

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motors and propellers. By testing the
cruise motor controllers at vibration

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levels up to and beyond what it would
experience in flight. The team can verify

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whether or not the design meets flight
standards. So once this testing is

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complete, there are some changes that we
will need to make to the flight cruise

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motor controllers. But if this test passes
it is a good sign for the project and

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we'll be able to move forward with
acceptance level and qualification level

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testing on our flight controllers.
Environmental and structural ground

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tests mark important tasks to check off
as X-57 proceeds through functional tests