NASA has launched a prize challenge in search of ideas for how to create a new airspace system by 2035 that could accommodate up to 10 million piloted and autonomous aircraft operations per day. “Our current system is not equipped to handle this volume or variety of aircraft,” says NASA. The agency is asking innovators to “cast aside the restraints of the current transportation model” and develop new concepts and technologies for the airspace of the future. Registration opened this week for the “Sky For All” challenge, which offers a total of $15,000 in prizes.
Submissions should include a full description of the design, including safety features and an explanation of how the new air transportation system would interact with other forms of transportation, including ground and sea. Entrants also should compare the proposed system’s advantages, in safety and security, to the current system. Submissions will be judged on originality and innovation, clarity and reasoning, comprehensiveness, and presentation. The competition is open to innovators from around the world. The deadline to enter is Feb. 26, and winners will be announced on March 24.
