Whisper Aero Scores NASA Contract
Tennessee’s space startup, Whisper Aero, has announced a new NASA contract to design an extremely quiet fan.
Crewed spacecraft – from station modules to transportation vehicles – are surprisingly loud. Hooked up with life support systems, electronic fans, radios and more, the spacecraft is ringing with noise at all hours. NASA has some concerns about this constant noise and the effect of its exposure on their astronauts.
Whisper Aero’s quiet fan will aim to reduce this overall noise exposure and make space a safer environment for astronauts. The company scored the contract after making a name for themselves with a proprietary ultra-quiet electric propulsor.
At the end of the six-month effort, the startup is aiming to have prototype parts to show to NASA; if the agency deems this Phase 1 project successful, Whisper would likely move on to test a design prototype next year.
After a successful first phase, Phase 2 will compare the acoustic and aerodynamic estimates from this project to the standard NASA Spacecraft Cabin Ventilation Fan. NASA has developed a fan that achieves 66 decibels (dB) at two feet. Whisper Aero is aiming to meet or exceed 61 dB – while also being 75% more efficient.
Given the environment the fan will be in – which is outerspace – a direct translation of their already quiet propulsion technology will not be possible. Whisper Aero will need to address a few challenges that space introduces. For instance – the fan may need to run for much, much longer than their existing propulsor.
Noise is “a challenge that often is forgotten until it’s too late, and then you can’t change it,” Whisper Aero COO Ian Villasaid. “You can’t fix it. We’ve seen this time and time again on aircraft. It’s almost refreshing to see this in spacecraft, in that they’re actually trying to do something about it at NASA.”
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