{"id":580793,"date":"2026-02-10T22:10:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/580793\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T22:10:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:10:20","slug":"nasa-invests-750k-in-uta-materials-research-to-improve-advanced-air-mobility-safety-dallas-innovates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/580793\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Invests $750K in\u00a0UTA Materials Research to\u00a0Improve Advanced Air Mobility Safety \u00bb Dallas Innovates"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dr. Xin (Jeffrey) Liu [Photo: UTA]<\/p>\n

NASA is investing $750,000 in UT Arlington research aimed at one of the biggest hurdles facing advanced air mobility: making next-generation aircraft safer during frequent landings and unexpected impacts.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The three-year grant from NASA\u2019s Minority University Research and Education Project program will support UTA researchers developing reusable, impact-resistant materials designed for emerging aircraft such as electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles and urban air taxis. As NASA and industry explore more routine aerial transportation, the work targets safety challenges that traditional aircraft \u201cwere never designed to handle,\u201d UTA said.<\/p>\n

Taking off and landing constantly in city environments<\/p>\n

Advanced air mobility, a priority research area for NASA, includes aircraft designed to operate more like automobiles than traditional airplanes. Unlike commercial jets that fly long distances with limited takeoffs and landings, these vehicles are expected to launch and land frequently, often in urban environments.<\/p>\n

That shift introduces new structural demands, according to project lead Xin (Jeffrey) Liu, an assistant professor in UTA\u2019s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine every family having an aircraft,\u201d Liu said in a statement. \u201cYou take off to work, land, then take off again to go home. That frequency of landing and takeoff creates very different safety challenges than traditional aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensuring aircraft structures can absorb repeated impact forces without compromising passenger safety remains \u201ca key barrier,\u201d UTA said, as regulators and manufacturers evaluate how advanced air mobility vehicles would perform under real-world operating conditions.<\/p>\n

Designing materials to absorb extreme impacts<\/p>\n

Liu\u2019s team is developing a new class of lattice metamaterials, engineered structures created through additive manufacturing that are designed to absorb impact energy in multiple stages. The goal: to protect aircraft during both routine landings and more severe impact events without permanently damaging the structure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first step allows the material to recover its shape during soft landings,\u201d Liu said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a hard landing or collision, the second step dissipates a large amount of energy to reduce damage to the airframe and reduce impact loads on passengers and pilots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike conventional impact-resistance systems that can deform or fail under repeated use, the material is designed to remain functional after multiple stress events. Reusability is a central focus of the research, particularly for aircraft expected to operate frequently.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent impact-resistance systems can break under repeated use or severe loading,\u201d Liu said. \u201cWe want a new material that can be reused and still provide strong impact resistance under severe conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The material\u2019s performance is driven by its internal geometry rather than its chemical composition, UTA said. By designing the structure at the microscale, the research team can control how it deforms under different load conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a natural material. It\u2019s designed,\u201d Liu said. \u201cWe design the structure, fabricate it using additive manufacturing, and test whether it performs well for specific impact-resistance purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

From digital design to physical testing<\/p>\n

The project combines computational modeling, additive manufacturing, and experimental testing to evaluate how the materials perform under different impact conditions. Once designed, the lattice structures are fabricated using high-precision additive manufacturing techniques and tested to assess their real-world performance.<\/p>\n

While the primary focus is advanced air mobility aircraft, the research could also apply to space and satellite systems, where structures face similar risks from debris impacts.<\/p>\n

A collaborative effort\u00a0<\/p>\n

Liu said the NASA-funded work brings together researchers across UTA, including colleagues in mechanical and aerospace engineering, as well as collaborators at the University of North Texas and industry partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is teamwork,\u201d Liu said. \u201cWe have strong collaborations inside our department, across UTA, and with external partners. Everyone is contributing to this project.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to his faculty role, Liu holds a joint appointment with the Institute of Predictive Performance Methodologies at the UTA Research Institute in Fort Worth, connecting the research to applied engineering and defense-focused work in the region.<\/p>\n

What comes next<\/p>\n

Over the next three years, Liu and his collaborators will move the material from computational design to laboratory-scale testing, a step toward validating its performance under realistic impact conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen NASA announced calls for research to improve safety in advanced air mobility, I saw that this material had real potential to address that challenge,\u201d Liu said. \u201cWe applied and, fortunately, received the funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

The work represents an incremental but critical step toward improving safety as advanced air mobility technologies continue to evolve, UTA said.<\/p>\n

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