NASA Contest Asks Students to Design Future DC-3

For its 2007-2008 competition for high-school and college students, NASA is asking students to imagine and write about or design a mid-21st-century equivalent of the famed Douglas DC-3, which transformed air transport when it was introduced in the mid-1930s. This DC-3, painted in the colors of Martin's Air Charter, is based in the Netherlands. Credit: Doug Bull

In its 2007-2008 aeronautics competition for high school and college students, NASA wants students to write an essay about or design a mid-21st-century equivalent to the famed Douglas DC-3.

NASA is asking students to imagine a DC-3-size aircraft that could join the commercial-aircraft fleet in 2058. In both the high-school and college competitions, teams or individuals may enter.

The competition is held by the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. Winners may be invited to a student forum sponsored by the directorate. NASA might also receive offers of student internships or other prizes, including cash, but only U.S. citizens are eligible for cash prizes or NASA-funded internships.

NASA's high-school competition seeks well-informed essays describing how transportation of goods and passengers might be revolutionized in the 21st century, as it was in the 1930s and 1940s by the introduction of the DC-3.

Essays describing the future DC-3 should include sections on fuel, environmental effects, noise levels, runway length and condition, operating costs, passenger and cargo loads, and service operations.

The agency asks that essays be limited to 12 pages. They should address environmental impacts, including reduced noise and emissions, improved operating costs, the use of alternative fuels, passenger and cargo loads, and use of existing general aviation runways.

For the college competition, NASA has asked students to design a next-generation DC-3.

Design considerations should include environmental impact, daily operations on short runways, passenger and cargo limits, structure and materials, propulsion, and cost analyses for production and operation. Proposals should provide details on three or more valid operational scenarios. NASA wants university-level research papers to be limited to 25 pages.

Fort the college-level competition, design specifications must include:

• Ability to operate on runways between 1,500 and 3,000 feet in length
• Payload capacity from 25,000 to 50,000 pounds
• Significant noise reduction technology when compared with similarly sized aircraft in today's commercial fleet
• Cruise speed range from Mach 0.78 to 0.82

Additional, optional considerations that NASA suggests for the college-level aircraft-design competition are:

• Operation at general aviation airports
• Use of alternative fuels
• Reduced environmental impact
• Safety and security issues

For contest information and submission, visit: http://aero.larc.nasa.gov/competitions.htm

NASA uses the competition to foster the next generation of skilled scientists and engineers critical to its own future in aeronautics research and the future of the broader aeronautics community.

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