Posted in Homepage on
Sunday, January 01 2012
Sam Ortega, manager of the NASA Centennial Challenges
Program, leads progressive aerospace initiatives, encouraging the participation
of independent teams, individual inventors, student groups, and private
companies. Most recently, the program’s Green Flight Challenge awarded the largest
prize in aviation history.NASA Tech Briefs: What is the Green Flight Challenge?
Sam Ortega: The
Green Flight Challenge was our biggest challenge ever conducted. The purpose
was to really push the innovation levels for green aviation itself. We wanted teams
to manufacture or build an aircraft that would have the efficiency of a [Toyota]
Prius; that would get 200 passenger miles per gallon of gas or gas equivalent;
and would be as fast as a Corvette. It would also have to fly at 100 mph. Prior airplanes only had the efficiency of 40
passenger miles per gallon, as opposed to the 200 that we were trying to shoot
for.
Read More >>