The National Aeronautics and Space Administration – better known as NASA – has unveiled details of a new competition in which designers and inventors can submit what they believe are the best new low-emission aircraft technologies.  Based on a two-year timeframe, the winning entry will be announced in July 2011 and will receive an overall sum of $1.5 million dollars.

The competition – run by NASA in cooperation with the CAFE (Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency) Foundation – has been named the Green Flight Challenge, and its aim is to find a new enviro-aircraft design based on the following credentials:

• The aircraft must be able to fly at an average speed of 100 miles an hour over a distance of 200 miles
• The aircraft’s performance must not fall below 200 miles per gallon

New Energy Efficient Aircraft Technology

It is anticipated that the NASE/CAFE Green Flight Challenge will be met by a wide range of projects embodying a multiplicity of new energy efficient aircraft technologies and features, such as photovoltaic (solar) panels, battery power, and alternative fuel-based powerplants. 

To date, a number of prominent universities have declared that they intend to submit their own green aircraft designs into the competition, as have several aviation organisations.

As a platform for the benefits of new, green technological advancement, the Green Flight Challenge is expected to help accelerate positive movement within the three principal anti climate change methods, namely drawing on energy forms with no associated carbon footprints, looking after global resources (conversation) and getting the best out of technologies with the least possible mechanical input (energy efficiency).

According to a press release issued by the CAFE Foundation, the $1.5 million prize fund surpasses those of all other previous GA (general aviation) competitions. 

Electric Aircraft

News of the Green Flight Challenge broke at AirVenture 2009 – the world’s largest annually-recurring airshow which takes place at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, at the end of July each year.  At the same venue, a new electric aircraft design was presented by its manufacturers, who claimed it to be the “world’s first commercially produced two-seat electric aircraft.”

This aircraft was the Yuneec e430, which is battery-powered and which is capable of spending as long as 180 minutes in the air off a single charge.  The e340’s initial test flights occurred earlier in 2009 and, during these, it was able to attain speeds around 150 kilometres an hour.

In related news, last month Enviro-News reported on the maiden flight of the world’s first manned fuel cell aircraft, the Antares DLR-42. 

Antares image provided by and copyright of DLR