Morphing is one way to make aircraft more efficient

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• It is estimated that by 2050 there will be a six-fold increase in the number of flights there are today. This is going to be an environmental problem, and it will need radical change in aircraft design to deal with it.
• Not only is the air transport industry the fastest growing within the transport sector, it is historically the hardest to make greener.
• The transport sector as a whole is increasing CO2 emissions at such a rate that it has cancelled out two decades’ worth of green gains made across the manufacturing, power generation, district heating, residential, services and agriculture sectors combined. This devastating disparity is forecast to grow.
• The goal set by the EU to reduce aircraft CO2 emissions by 75% by 2050 is totally unrealistic. Even if Europe were to meet these goals, their aircraft industries will at the very least double its greenhouse emissions by 2050.
• The past decade has shown the least improvement in aircraft fuel efficiency when compared to advances over the past century. The “tube and wing” template we use is a fossil.
• Allowing the parameters of an aircraft’s geometry to become adjustable during flight would lead to large gains in efficiency throughout the flight envelope – that is, from take-off to landing. This is the idea behind aircraft morphing.
• Morphing means tailoring the shape of the aircraft to best fit the objective at hand – be it maximizing fuel efficiency, speed or maneuverability. Examples of morphing devices are found in commercial aircraft today, including retractable undercarriages and wing flaps.
• Morphing technologies may not be the sole solution to the problem we are facing, but they will play an important role. All-electric propulsion, energy harvesting systems, prolific use of light-weight composite materials, and formation flying will all go some way to resolving the issue.
• Morphing technologies- Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes (or morphs) one image or shape into another through a seamless transition. Most often it is used to depict one person turning into another through technological means or as part of a fantasy or surreal sequence. Traditionally such a depiction would be achieved through cross-fading techniques on film.
• Morphing algorithms continue to advance and programs can automatically morph images that correspond closely enough with relatively little instruction from the user. This has led to the use of morphing techniques to create convincing slow-motion effects where none existed in the original film or video footage by morphing between each individual frame using optical flow technology.