NASA’s (Washington, D.C., U.S.) CAS Sustainable Manufacturing of Aircraft (SUMAC) project was started in September 2024 to explore sustainably derived thermoplastic composites to minimize environmental impacts on the full lifecycle of aircraft. The project is funded by NASA’s Aeronautics Mission Directorate (ARMD) and its Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Program (CAS).

Source | NASA

The SUMAC project highlights the crucial role of materials in sustainable aviation, which are often neglected due to the heavy focus on sustainable aviation fuel and new propulsion technologies. The space agency seeks to advance the applicability of sustainable composites in the aviation market, including resins/fibers characterizations, composites manufacturing and tests, integrated sensing for material state awareness, computational materials modeling and life cycle analysis.

“The CAS SUMAC project demonstrates sustainable composite technologies for advanced air mobility and commercial aircraft, ?using sustainable thermoplastic resins and natural fibers,” NASA tells CW. “In essence, SUMAC is a good example of how CAS invigorates enduring change in aeronautics to revolutionize air transportation, shaping aviation innovations that spark meaningful benefits for humanity.”

The project, running until August 2026 currently involves a multi-center team from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, Glenn Research Center in Ohio and Ames Research Center in California.

SUMAC composite technologies developed under CAS will be accelerated through a synergistic partnership with key stakeholders, including industry, academia and other government agencies.