NASA pays for development of lightning-proof 'magic skin' for aircraft

Washington, April 9 -- NASA has awarded four research groups a total of 16.5 million dollars to research better airline technology, and one involves the development of lightning-proof "magic skin" for aircrafts.

The self-healing "magic skin" being developed by Cessna would protect the exterior of an aircraft from lightning, impact damage, extreme temperatures, and even electromagnetic interference (EMI).

The idea behind this is apparently a leftover from a GE/Cessna report on N+3 (aerospace jargon for "three generations beyond the current fleet") aircraft technology completed a year ago, Fox News reported.

Called "smoothing, thermal, absorbing, reflective, conductive, cosmetic" (STAR-C2), the idea calls for a thin outer skin made form a conductive film and an energy absorbing foam that would coat the whole of each aircraft.

The GE/Cessna team figured that such a skin could cut the weight of existing environmental countermeasures by half.

It would also be specially designed to show visible damage plainly, so impact damage to the aircraft is plainly visible to inspectors on the ground.

And while the self-healing mechanism hasn't exactly been explained in plain language yet, the skin is expected to be able to heal itself if punctured or torn.

As a bonus, it would also cut down on cabin noise created by the engines.

The N+3 generation technology isn't expected to takeoff for another 20 to 25 years. Published by HT Syndication with permission from Asian News International. For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at