September 3, 2008 - Washington, D.C. – The Concorde flew passengers at supersonic speeds from 1976-2003, and nothing has replaced it yet. But now NASA is asking students to research and describe the next generation supersonic commercial aircraft that won’t place an excessive burden on the environment.
It’s the Supersonics Project, part of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program Student Competition, and winning entries can net high school and college students cash prizes or paid internships.
NASA officials have identified a set of key technical challenges that are barriers to success, such as:
• Efficiency challenges, including supersonic cruise efficiency. There are two principal elements to supersonic cruise efficiency—propulsion efficiency and airframe aerodynamic efficiency—and these must be treated as an integrated challenge.
• Environmental challenges, including airport noise reduction, sonic boom modeling, and high-altitude emissions reduction.
During the upcoming academic year, individuals and teams of high school students will prepare well-documented short papers describing what needs to be accomplished to make supersonic flight available to commercial passengers by 2020. Advanced curriculum high school students and college participants will prepare longer papers that depict a highly efficient, environmentally friendly commercial aircraft that would emit only low sonic booms and be ready for initial overland service in 2020.
The competition is intended to encourage students to develop science and engineering skills and choose careers in aeronautics research and development. Submissions will be judged on informed content, imagination, innovation, creativity, relevancy, organization and writing.
High school winners may be eligible for individual cash awards of up to $1,000 and team awards of up to $1,500. University-level winners may be eligible for paid student internship offers and cash awards of up to $5,000.
For more contest information and submission guidelines, click here.
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The Concorde made it last flight in 2003. A new competition is asking high school and college students to research and describe a new generation of supersonic commercial aircraft that won’t place an excessive burden on the environment.
Small Supersonic Airliner
Design Goals:
Cruise speed = Mach 1.6 to 1.8
Design Range = 4000 nautical miles
Payload = 35 – 70 passenger range (mixed class)
Fuel Efficiency = 3 passenger-miles per pound of fuel
Takeoff field length < 10,000 feet
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