NASA has expanded its original one-year, $250,000 Personal Air Vehicle Challenge to a five-year set of competitions with rewards of up to $550,000 per year. The competition’s goal is to stimulate the development of Personal Air Vehicles (PAVs) that will be viable for the consumer market. The vehicles must have two to six seats, be easy to fly, quiet, safe, fuel-efficient, and capable of coping with most weather variables. NASA hopes that PAVs can help to relieve surface gridlock and save fuel while giving travelers more freedom.
“The market situation is ideal for an annual Technology Prize to bring about the needed breakthroughs and evolve them over five years,” says Dr. Brien Seeley, president of the CAFE Foundation, which will host the PAV Challenge. The PAV Challenge opens team registration on Nov. 1 and the competition begins in 2007. The CAFE (Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency) Foundation is a nonprofit, volunteer group.
NASA Expands Personal Air Vehicle Challenge
Key Takeaways:
- NASA has expanded its Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) Challenge to a five-year competition, offering up to $550,000 annually, to stimulate the development of viable consumer-market PAVs.
- The challenge aims for PAVs that are 2-6 seaters, easy to fly, quiet, safe, fuel-efficient, and capable in various weather conditions.
- NASA hopes these PAVs will help relieve surface gridlock, save fuel, and provide greater travel freedom. The CAFE Foundation will host the challenge, starting in 2007.
See a mistake? Contact us.
