The Exploration of Electric Aircraft Concepts and Technologies (EXACT) project is the largest and most comprehensive sustainable aviation study undertaken by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). In EXACT, we want to find out how the climate impact of aviation can be drastically reduced while maintaining economic competitiveness. EXACT brings together the expertise of 20 institutes in the design of subcomponents, components, the whole aircraft and the air transport and energy system, enabling highly detailed aircraft design studies and their comprehensive assessment. This requires a large number of cross-sectoral disciplines and their effective cooperation, which DLR offers. In fact, it is the only research organisation in the world that can design new aircraft configurations with the necessary technical depth and breadth to make them potentially realisable as products.
EXACT covers the entire future air transport system in interaction with the energy systems. This includes detailed aircraft concept designs (entry into service 2040) involving multiple high-fidelity disciplines and covering a wide range of technologies and configurations from regional to ultra-long-range segments. It also covers energy carrier production from an economic and environmental perspective. Air traffic forecasting, fleet assignment, global economic and environmental life-cycle simulations are also included to enable final global assessment and decision making.
Our researchers calculate and compare all possible options for potential technologies to find the best solutions to meet economic and environmental requirements. This analysis is complex because new technologies interact with each other and all aspects of this process need to be understood and explored. In EXACT, for example, DLR is developing aircraft concepts in which gas turbines and batteries are combined in the best possible way, exploring the best ratio for the different requirements of different flight phases. Moreover, the best solution does not just reflect the lowest climate impact during flight, as researchers also consider the complete life cycle of the aircraft, its components and also its respective energy source. In this way, we address the overall impact of aviation on the climate.
