NASA's Experimental Plane 'Maxwell' Has 14 Electric Engines

NASA's glory is not just restricted to space missions and sending rovers and robots to examine the worlds of different planets in the universe. But it also masters at exploring the frontiers close to Earth.

NASA initially designed X-planes that overcame the sound barrier and flew to the edge of the Earth. It also tested unique concepts such as forward-swept wings. According to new reports, NASA has now conceptualized a new place with 14 electric engines. This all-electric plane, dubber X-57 or Maxwell, is a kind of a converted light plane.

A team of NASA researchers behind the new plane decided to name it Maxwell after the 19th century Scottish physicist who performed breakthrough work on electromagnetism, James Clerk Maxwell.

Under the new project, the NASA researchers are planning to modify the recently obtained Tecnam P2006T twin-engine light aircraft that originally has an Italian design. The X-57 or Maxwell is being built under NASA's Scalable Convergent Electric Propulsion Operations Research project.

With Maxwell, NASA is aiming to reach a top speed of 175 mph. Even though the limit is quite below the sound barrier, the researchers believe that it will still be a lot more useful. The plane will have a total of 14 engines, out of which, 14 will provide extra thrust and the remaining two will be located at the tip of the wings to propel the plane at high altitudes.

NASA is aiming for efficiency across the board with its idea of Maxwell. The American space agency wants to reduce the "overall operational costs for small aircraft by as much as 40 percent" with the help of Maxwell.

Even though the plane has been described as "hybrid" since the time of its inception, NASA says that it will try to make an all-electric plane that operates just on batteries.