Sitting 10 feet off the ground on 36 stilts, the station is shaped like an airplane wing. Wind accelerates underneath and discourages snow from piling up.

With high-speed wind tests of scale models under way, the blended wing could take flight before 2020.

Vibrating in the wind, the bristles create some drag. But they also reduce the wing's slipstream, an area of low-pressure turbulence that pulls back on the wing, and hence reduce drag.