WASHINGTON — NASA and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation of Santa Rosa, Calif., will hold the 2011 Green Flight Challenge, sponsored by Google, at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1. The competition’s goal is to advance technologies in fuel efficiency and reduced emissions with cleaner renewable fuels and electric aircraft.
NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program is providing $1.65 million in prize money to the winners of the competition. The purse is the largest aviation prize ever offered and attracted 13 teams, led by American innovators. Five of those teams successfully completed their aircraft and flight qualification requirements and will compete for the prize purse. The teams will fly their electric, biofueled and hybrid powered aircraft, to prove they have the most fuel efficient, small aircraft in the world.
To win the competition, an aircraft must fly 200 miles in less than two hours and use less than one gallon of fuel per occupant, or the equivalent in electricity. If more than one aircraft meets the criteria, first place will go to the team with the best combination of speed and efficiency. The fuel efficiency competition is on Tuesday, Sept. 27, and a speed competition on Sept. 29. To attend airport challenge events, reporters must contact CAFE’s Jo Dempsey at jo@cafefoundation.org.
Aircraft will be on public display at the airport following the competition on Oct. 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT. An awards ceremony and the Green Flight Challenge Exposition hosted by NASA will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 3, at the agency’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. To attend the exposition, reporters should contact Janet Anderson at janet.l.anderson@nasa.gov or David Steitz at david.steitz@nasa.gov to arrange for media credentials. Members of the public can reserve free tickets for the exposition at: http://tinyurl.com/3grrjnw
The CAFE Foundation advances the understanding of personal aircraft through technology research, flight testing, analysis and education. CAFE has developed award-winning flight test equipment and software recognized across the aviation industry. For more information about the CAFE Foundation and the Green Flight Challenge, visit: http://tinyurl.com/3czljgk
NASA’s Centennial Challenges promote technical innovation through a novel program of prize competitions. The challenges are designed to tap the nation’s ingenuity to make revolutionary advances in technology of value to NASA and the nation. For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/challenges
NASA’s Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) in Washington and NASA’s Marshal Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manage the prize program. For more information about OCT, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/oct
