When fully developed, a plasma-based drag reduction technology would be widely applicable within NASA. Any system with significant contributions to drag from attached turbulent boundary layers could potentially benefit from this approach. This would include not only flight vehicles, but also test facilities, which could take advantage of the reduced power required to maintain test conditions.
Since fuel costs have historically been the largest single cost of airline operations, any technology which offers significant drag reduction (and thus fuel savings) will be of great interest to aircraft manufacturers. Other potential areas of application include high speed rail (and also normal passenger rail). Operators of ground test facilities outside of NASA (whether DoD or privately held) might also be interested in this technology.
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