The Greatest Challenge Facing Aeronautics

This is an essay I wrote as part of my application for a NASA scholarship. I should be hearing back about it next month. Funny story though, at first I read the instructions and though it said the maximum length was 10,000 words; so, I was about half way there when I realized that it actually said 10,000 characters. Such a me thing to do lol suddenly I had quite a bit of revising to do! I really didn't want to cut my paper by more than half cause I hit some really interesting points, but that's the way it goes.

So, here is the short version:

...and the long one: (spelling and polishing might not be the best 'cause I had to shorten it lol)
Although, the above technical challenges are relevant, the most pressing problem facing Aeronautics is best explained by Neil DeGrasse Tyson:

 

 

"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."

-Antoine  de Saint-Exupery

If you have not already, watch Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It is well worth it.