NASA Awards the Largest Prize in Aviation History to an All-Electric, Super-Efficient Aircraf

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/nasa-awards-largest-prize-aviation-history-all-electric-super-efficient-aircraft

NASA Awards the Largest Prize in Aviation History to an All-Electric, Super-Efficient Aircraft
By Clay Dillow Posted 10.04.2011 at 11:12 am 12 Comments

Pipistrel's Taurus G4 NASA HQ Photo


NASA has awarded the single largest prize handed down in aviation history to Team Pipistrel-USA.com for designing and demonstrating its Taurus G4 electric aircraft. Per the rules of the NASA- and Google-sponsored CAFE Green Flight Challenge, Pipistrel’s Taurus G4 covered 200 miles in less than 2 hours and did so on the electricity equivalent of less than one gallon of fuel per passenger, scoring $1.35 million for the effort.

But the cash, substantial though it may be, is only part of the story here. The CAFE (that’s Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency) Challenge was created to push aircraft engineers toward new, more efficient airplane designs that would perhaps usher in a new era of ultra-efficient flight, based on either electric engines or extremely efficient fuel-burning engines.

Technology, Clay Dillow, aviation, cafe green flight challenge, energy, environment, google, green flight, nasa, pipistrel
So while you can argue the day belongs to Pipistrel--and we certainly don’t mean to diminish that achievement--the CAFE Foundation and NASA are the real winners here. Consider: The challenge asked teams to average 100 miles per hour over two hours, and to do so on the equivalent of one gallon of gas. Not only did Pipistrel manage this, but so did California-based e-Genius with its electric-powered plane (for which it netted a second place prize of $120,000).

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