Build a Low-Carbon Plane and Win $1.5 Million

How much money in materials, research and manpower does it cost to design and build an environmentally friendly airplane? If you're really efficient and happen to win NASA's $1.5 million Green Flight Challenge, then possibly nothing. Otherwise, you may end up with a bittersweet consolation prize and six or more figures of debt.

Snarky U.K. technology journal The Register reported on NASA's new contest intended to stoke innovation in energy-efficient, low-emission airplanes.

But any would-be 21st century Howard Hugheses out there better get going — the contest takes place at the Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, Calif., in just two years. That's not a lot of time for something intended to, you know, revolutionize air travel as we know it. "To win, teams must use cutting-edge technologies in mechanical and electrical engineering, structures, aerodynamics and thermodynamics," the press release reads.

Eligible aircraft must average at least 100 MPH on a 200-mile flight and achieve at least 200 passenger miles per gallon. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the average commercial flight gets about 48 miles-per-gallon-per-seat — which means that a family of four driving a Honda cross country would get better mileage than if they'd taken a plane.

But it's not such a cut-and-dry calculation, as an airplane fuel efficiency article in Flying Magazine explains. And while great advances have been made, most are limited to planes that hold just one or two passengers tops.

Think you got the right stuff? Interested aviation engineers can go here for more information.

Image courtesy of NASA.