NASA’s Earth-Friendly Flight Challenge

Aviation plays such an important role in our lives today that despite the aviation industry’s harm to the environment we, as a society, cannot just cease flying. In an effort to promote more earth-friendly flying NASA recently announced the Green Flight Challenge. The earth-friendly competition is sponsored by NASA and CAFE (the Comparative Aircraft Efficiency Foundation). The winner of the competition will be announced July 2011 at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California. The winning entry will then be awarded a nice $1.5 million. To win the contestants must invent a plane that is capable of flying at an average of “at least 100 mph on a 200-mile flight while achieving greater than 200 passenger miles per gallon.” It isn’t an easy task, but the incentive and the environment calls for a good green effort. NASA expects to see various forms of greener technology used during the competition including: electrical, solar, bio-fuel and/or hybrid propulsion, at the competition. The advances gained from this technology may lead to more fuel-efficient commercial aircraft that will significantly reduce pollution caused by burning of jet fuel. If you have any ideas and would like to enter the Green Flight Challenge click here for the challenge details. http://cafefoundation.org/v2/pdf_GFC/GFC.TA.07.28.09.pdf Via Inhabitat http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/08/04/nasa-launches-15-million-dollar-gree... and Café Foundation http://cafefoundation.org/v2/main_home.php and Prnewswire http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/ww...