Students Design Futuristic Flying Rescue Vehicles For NASA Contest
WASHINGTON -- A rotorcraft that resembles a catamaran has taken the
top prize in a NASA aeronautics competition for college students to
develop a multi-purpose aircraft.
The entry by ten students at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., met the
competition's challenge to design a civilian aircraft that could
rescue up to 50 survivors in the event of a natural disaster, hover
to help rescue missions, land on ground or water, travel 920 miles
and cruise at speeds up to 345 miles an hour. The amphibious
tilt-rotor vehicle also had to be able to fight fires by siphoning
water into an internal tank, then dumping it after airborne.
NASA's Aeronautics Mission Directorate in Washington sponsored the
competition through the Subsonic Rotary Wing Project in its Fundamental Aeronautics
Program.
More than 100 college students from the United States, India, the
United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, China and Nigeria entered the contest
in teams or as individuals.
Susan Gorton, principal investigator of the Subsonic Rotary Wing
Project, led the review panel. "The designs were creative, innovative
and looked at many issues in detail," she said. "Reading the student
papers highlighted how many bright young engineers are interested in
the future of rotary wing vehicles. I certainly hope some of them
decide to work with NASA as a career choice."
Ten Virginia Tech undergraduates came up with the winning design-- a
twin-hulled vehicle with a large prop-rotor flanking each hull. A
team of 10 graduate students from Georgia Tech in Atlanta and the
University of Liverpool in England took second place, and 28
undergraduates from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville
placed third.
NASA sponsored the design contest to interest students in aeronautics
and engineering careers. Each winning U.S. team received a cash award
and an engraved trophy through a NASA education grant and cooperative
agreement. Cash awards ranged from $5,000 for first place to $3,000
for third place. Five of the students from the top U.S. teams also
won paid summer internships at NASA.
To read more about the competition and see some of the rotorcraft
designs, visit:
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.
The next student aeronautics competition will focus on green aviation.
For more information, visit:
http://aero.larc.nasa.gov/
For more about other NASA programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
Source: NASA
