NASA is joining the new age of electricity by embracing their first all-electric airplane known as the X-57 Maxwell.
NASA is not planning to get into the business of building electric planes. The space agency's primary goal for X-57 is to aid in developing certification standards and protocols for emerging electric aircraft markets as technology allows for more advanced designs. And to assist in standards and protocols, what better way than building an electric plane to test everything on.
But NASA being NASA, it's also developed an extraordinary bank of folding propellers on its aircraft which only need to be deployed at low speeds, i.e. when taking off and landing. When flying at cruising speed, all but 2 fold away to cut down on drag and make the plane more aerodynamic. Take a look at this 2 minute video demonstrating the wizardry involved: