When flying in certain weather conditions, tiny freezing water droplets floating in the air can pose a risk to aircraft. If not taken into consideration, these water droplets can accumulate on an aircraft as ice and pose a safety risk. 

But NASA software tools such as Glenn Icing Computational Environment (GlennICE) are working to keep passengers and pilots safe. 

NASA developed GlennICE, a new NASA software code, to transform the way we explore, understand, and prevent ice buildup on aircraft wings and engines, as well as control surfaces like rudders and elevators.  

Owing to decades of world-class NASA research, engineers nationwide can now use GlennICE to design aircraft in such a way that ice buildup will either occur rarely or pose very little risk. 

Named for NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, GlennICE is part of NASA’s work to provide the aviation industry with computational tools, including design software, to improve aircraft safety and enable innovation. For icing research and modeling, NASA computer codes have become the industry standard over the past several decades. And GlennICE builds on this work, performing highly advanced digital modeling of water and ice particles in just about any atmospheric condition you can imagine. 

With updated capabilities and a streamlined user experience, GlennICE will enable users to advance the state of the art – particularly researchers working on complex, unusual future aircraft designs. 

“The legacy codes are well formulated to handle simulations of traditional tube-and-wing shaped aircraft,” said Christopher Porter, lead for GlennICE’s development. “But now, we have new vehicles with new designs that present icing research challenges. This requires a more advanced tool, and that’s where GlennICE comes in.” 

So far, dozens of industry partners as well as other government agencies have started using GlennICE, which is available on NASA’s software catalog. 

Ice buildup: not cool

Though based on legacy NASA codes such as LEWICE 3D, GlennICE is a whole different ballgame. The new toolkit can be tailored to unique situations and is compatible with other software tools. In other words, it is more configurable, and much less time consuming for researchers to set up and use. 

This streamlined process, along with its more-advanced ability to model icing, allows GlennICE to easily tackle 21st-century concepts such as supersonic planes, advanced air mobility drones and other aircraft, unconventionally shaped wings, open-rotor turbofan designs, or new configurations for conventional aircraft such as radar domes. 

But how does this simulation process work? 

“Imagine an aircraft flying through a cloud,” Porter said. “Some of those water and ice droplets hit the aircraft and some of them don’t. GlennICE simulates these droplets and exactly where they will end up, both on the aircraft and not.” 

When these water droplets hit the aircraft, they attach, freeze, and start to gather even more droplets that do the same. The software simulates exactly where this will occur, and what shape the ice will take over time. 

“We’re not just dealing with the airplane, but the physics of the air and water as well,” Porter said. 

Because it’s designed for simulating droplets, researchers have expressed interest in using GlennICE to simulate other conditions involving sand and ash. These substances, when ingested by aircraft engines, can pose separate risks that aeronautical engineers work to prevent. 

World-class research

Icing research is fundamental to aviation safety, and NASA fulfils a key role in ensuring pilots and passengers fly more safely and ice-free. The agency’s wind tunnels, for instance, have world-class icing research capabilities not commonly found in aeronautics research. 

Paired with wind tunnel testing, GlennICE offers a holistic set of capabilities to researchers. While wind tunnels can verify and validate data with real-world models and conditions, tools like GlennICE can fill gaps in research not easily achieved with wind tunnels. 

“Some environments we need to test in are impractical with wind tunnels because of the tunnel size required and complex physics involved,” Porter said. “But with GlennICE, we can do these tests digitally. For example, we can model all the icing conditions noted in new regulations.” 

The GlennICE development falls under NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concept and Advanced Air Vehicles programs. Those programs supported GlennICE to further NASA’s work on computational tool development for aerospace design. More about the history of icing research at NASA is available on the agency’s website. 

NASA’s 2026 Gateways to Blue Skies competition invites collegiate teams to conceptualize innovative systems and practices that would advance current commercial aircraft maintenance, repair, and operations with the goal to enhance resilience, safety, and efficiency.  

The commercial aviation industry is a crucial component of the U.S. economy, employing millions and supporting global commerce and tourism. However, the industry faces certain challenges, including the need to reduce rising operational costs in a growing market to accommodate increased demand in air travel, e-commerce, and cargo sectors.  

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is dedicated to working with commercial, industry, and government partners in advancing and improving the country’s aviation sector. 

“The aviation maintenance industry is at the heart of what keeps us all flying,” said Steven Holz, NASA’s lead for the Gateways to Blue Skies competition. “Having our future workforce looking into new technologies, creating, and innovating with a focus on this area of our industry will have lasting impacts on the future of aviation.” 

Sponsored by NASA’s University Innovation Project, the Gateways to Blue Skies competition encourages multidisciplinary teams of college students to conceptualize unique systems-level ideas for an aviation-themed problem identified annually. It aims to engage as many students as possible – from all backgrounds, majors, and collegiate levels, freshman to graduate. Students from aviation maintenance and trades schools are encouraged to apply. 

In this year’s competition, participating teams of two to six students should propose solutions that focus on a specific maintenance area being addressed, such as predictive maintenance, advanced monitoring, or compliance checks. Competitors must choose technologies that can be deployable by 2035.  

The competition is divided into phases. In Phase 1, teams will submit concepts in a five-to seven-page proposal and accompanying two-minute video, which will be judged in a competitive review process by NASA and industry experts.  

Up to eight finalist teams will be selected to receive a $9,000 prize and advance to Phase 2 of the competition, which includes a review of each team’s final paper, infographic, and presentation at a forum to be held in May 2026 at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Forum winners who fulfill eligibility criteria will be offered the opportunity to intern with NASA Aeronautics in the academic year following the forum.  

Teams interested in participating in the competition should review competition guidelines and eligibility requirements posted on the competition website. Teams are encouraged to submit a non-binding notice of intent by Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, via the website. Submitting a notice of intent ensures teams stay apprised of competition news. The proposal and video are due Feb. 16, 2026. 

The Gateway to Blue Skies competition is administered by the National Institute of Aerospace on behalf of NASA. The NASA Tournament Lab, part of the Prizes, Challenges, and Crowdsourcing Program in the Space Technology Mission Directorate, manages the challenge.