NASA just added a new aircraft to its historic X-plane family, one that’s designed to serve different research programs in succession without the need to build a different vehicle each time.

The space agency announced the latest addition to its experimental plane series on Wednesday during the UP.Summit at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The X-70 Fractal is a reusable, rapidly configurable research platform designed to test advanced flight-control systems, allowing NASA “to explore aircraft maneuverability in ways never before demonstrated in crewed flight,” according to a statement.

“For decades, NASA Aeronautics has used X-planes to develop technologies that advance aviation,” Laurie Grindle, director of the Aeronautics Division within NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate, said in a statement. “It’s exciting to bring on another X-plane to accelerate and drive aeronautics research.”

NASA expects to fly the X-70 for the first time within the next two years.

Compared to NASA’s other experimental aircraft, which are built around specific research objectives, the X-70 is intended to accommodate different experiments and technologies. This allows researchers to investigate multiple areas of aviation without developing a new aircraft for every experiment.

The crewed aircraft’s defining feature is its modular design that allows experimental payloads, carried both internally and externally, to be swapped between research programs. It’s also equipped with rapidly reconfigurable flight-control technology, enabling engineers to test different aerodynamic concepts within the same vehicle.

“The X-70 Fractal gives NASA a crewed, high-performance platform to test advanced flight-control, maneuverability, and other cutting-edge technologies in real flight,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in the statement.

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