Education Law

Students design future aircraft

Sixty-one students from 14 colleges and universities around the globe have imagined what the next generation of airliners and cargo planes might look like.

Fourteen teams and two individual students submitted their designs in the annual competition sponsored by NASA's Fundamental Aeronautics Program, part of the agency's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

The highest scoring graduate team was from Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Undergraduate team honors went to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

The contest asked students to create a future subsonic transport aircraft that could carry up to 50,000 pounds, operate on runways between 1,500 and 3,000 feet long, and cruise at speeds between 595 and 625 mph - about the average speed of airliners today. The competition also stressed that concept planes should use alternative fuels and be quieter and more environmentally friendly than today's commercial fleet.

As part of the competition, six U.S. students received a 10-week paid summer internship at one of four NASA research centers around the country. Non-U.S. student winners received an engraved trophy and certificate.

Sponsors are already planning next year's competition, which will be announced by the end of this summer.

A complete list of winners of the college contest can be found at: http://aero.larc.nasa.gov.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on July 07, 2008 (boomark / email).