Poll of the Week: Aeronautics

Our poll of the week highlighted NASA's future involvement in aeronautics:  which do you think was more important?  By a wide majority, OLC members selected 'Quieter, fuel efficient engines' as their choice for NASA's priority.  On the Discussion Board, here is what they said:

Earth images from space really leave an impact on people. It shows the vulnerability of our planet as well as the signs of damage that have already been done. A picture is worth a thousand words. It is a source of inspiration for people that leads to support of the "green" industry.

However, the solar cells on the rovers and ISS form an excellent renewable energy source and can reduce the carbon emissions.

My dad helped design some solar panels that convert carbon dioxide molecules into clean oil, which is really cool because it will create a cycle using pollution to create energy, and the pollution from that energy to create more energy. It's awesome. :)

I think the closed loop water purification is the best. Not only does it dramatically reduce water pollution in the lakes and rivers, and thus ultimately the ocean, but it also provides us with clean, healthy water, which we need to live.

As much as I wish I could say faster airlines--because let's face it, the faster, the less inconvenient, and making things faster is really quite fascinating and fun--definitely, greener and quieter airlines will be more important.  This is because we are slowly depleting the Earth's oil reserves--at least the easily accessible ones--and the harder it is to get oil, the more expensive it will get.  If we want flying to remain a commodity rather than a luxury, we definitely need to focus on improving the costs themselves.  I do not really believe that the loudness of the aircraft really matters that much; however, with more powerful and/or more "green" engines coming out, they might be louder than our general jet engines today, thus a need for a cap on sound.  Of course the quiet jet engines would be more important to the military for stealth missions; however, nowadays, the planes just fly so high, you would not be able to spot them in the sky anyway.

I feel more efficient solar cells are the best contribution to the world.  Because we are depleting our resources and using up coal, etc., we need other sources of energy.  Also, we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to slow global warming down.  Our major concern right now is to make electricity production efficient and "green."  The solar cells will really contribute to this.

This week, we ask what you think it will take to travel great distances through space.  And, like always, come here and support your answer on the Discussion Board.