Indian students win second place in NASA’s supersonic airliner design contest
11 Jul 2009
Sahaj Panchal and Dhrumir Patel, both undergraduate students from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology in Gujarat have won the second place in the non-US category contest to design a supersonic commercial airliner organised by NASA.
College students from the US, Japan and India researched technology and created concepts for a supersonic passenger jet as part of a competition sponsored by the fundamental aeronautics programme at NASA's aeronautics research mission directorate.
The participants were challenged to design a small supersonic airliner and submit a research paper limited to 25 pages. Designs had to be efficient, environmentally friendly, low sonic boom commercial aircraft that could be ready for initial service by 2020.
The contest was divided into two divisions, the US division and the international division.
Sahaj Panchal and Dhrumir Patel designed the Rastofust and won the second place in the international division while an undergraduate team of three students from the University of Tokyo won top honors for their design, the hydrogen-fueled low-boom SST.
A team of undergraduates from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and a team of graduate students from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta tied for first place in the US division.
