Mon, Aug 03, 2009
Prize Is Set AT $1.5 Million For The Winning Design
It's not that easy being green, so it makes sense that a
competition looking for environmental solutions for aircraft would
offer a major prize. With that in mind, the NASA Innovative
Partnerships Program and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency
(CAFE) Foundation have announced the Green Flight Challenge. The
contest is a flight efficiency competition for aircraft that can
average at least 100 mph on a 200-mile flight while achieving
greater than 200 passenger miles per gallon.
The prize for the aircraft with the best performance is $1.5
million. The competition is scheduled for July 2011 at the Charles
M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, CA. A variety of
innovative experimental aircraft using electrical, solar, bio-fuel
or hybrid propulsion are expected to enter. Several major
universities and aircraft builders have expressed their intention
to enter teams in the challenge.
To win, teams must use cutting-edge technologies in mechanical
and electrical engineering, structures, aerodynamics and
thermodynamics. As a national showcase of "green" technology, the
challenge is expected to help advance all three of the major
climate mitigation initiatives: efficiency, conservation and
zero-carbon energy sources. These technologies will support
advances in aviation and may have broader applications in
transportation and energy storage.
The Green Flight Challenge is administered for NASA by CAFE.
Founded in 1981, CAFE is a non-profit organization dedicated to
advancing the understanding of personal aircraft technologies
through research, analysis and education.
NASA is providing the prize money as part of the Centennial
Challenges program. The program seeks innovative solutions to
problems of interest to NASA and the nation from diverse and
unconventional sources. Competitors may not receive government
funding for their entries in this challenge.
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