NASA is testing new ice detection probes in its Icing Research Tunnel to better understand and address supercooled large droplet icing, a rare but dangerous aviation hazard.
Why it matters. Aviation safety could be improved by better understanding and mitigating the risks of supercooled large droplet icing.
The aviation industry relies on engineering tools to help design their aircraft. Current tools work well for typical clouds, but engineers have questions about how well they account for the physics of supercooled large drops. To help answer those questions, NASA is working to enhance the equipment it uses to generate and measure experimental clouds for testing in the Icing Research Tunnel.
Ice collection seen on un-heated sections of the 1D2D-X ice drop detection probe in the test section of the IRT (Icing Research Tunnel). Drop Size Probe testing – SFD (Subsonic Flight Demonstrator) of SLD (Supercooled Large Drop) Instrumentation Test in IRT (Icing Research Tunnel) – Particle Size Distribution Entry, June 8-11, 2026 Large Drop Testing in IRT
The test campaign marks an important milestone for the Subsonic Flight Demonstrator project, part of NASA’s Research and Technology Mission Directorate.
NASA researchers have experimented with brand new probes that help calibrate the sizes of the drops in the clouds the tunnel produces.
With a series of tests in the Icing Research Tunnel at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, NASA researchers are helping U.S. industry better understand the phenomenon.
Last Updated Oct 05, 2026
