NASA Unveils X-70, Teases Another X-Plane Announcement

NASA says it will have its latest X plane in the air in a couple of years but all it has now is a fuzzy AI-generated image of a V-tailed hull shrouded in mist. And it might just be the opening act for an aircraft announcement scheduled for Friday. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman figuratively unveiled the X-70 Fractal at the UP Summit at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. The aircraft proposed will be a flying testbed able to take modular payloads internally and externally. Isaacman didn’t specify exactly what it will test and it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with rampant rumors about a potential return to service of NASA’s SR-71, but President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the summit on Friday and another X plane is expected to be announced then.

As for Wednesday’s announcement, X-70 seems to be a modest project by NASA standards. “The X-70 Fractal gives NASA a crewed, high-performance platform to test advanced flight-control, maneuverability, and other cutting-edge technologies in real flight,” Isaacman said. “Its modular design and ability to rapidly swap internal and external payloads will keep our teams flying, learning, and moving quickly from one experiment to the next.” It’s a relatively small aircraft with an all-up weight of 10,000 pounds and a top speed of Mach .75.

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