Federal News Network anchor Eric White interviewed AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher for an episode of the network’s “The Space Hour” podcast. Topics included the impact of civilian space launches by Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos and the future of space tourism.
Full Story (Federal News Network)
Tag: Dan Dumbacher
AIAA to Recognize Technical Excellence in Aerospace at the 2021 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of technical excellence awards to be presented during the 2021 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, which will be held online 9-11 August. The awards ceremony will be held online Wednesday, 11 August, 1300-1430 hrs ET, and is open to all with free registration.
“Technical advances are the foundation for the next innovations in aerospace,” said AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher. “We applaud these winners and we are grateful for their creativity and dedication to shaping the future of aerospace.”
In addition to these technical awards, AIAA will be recognizing winners of the Best Professional Papers, Best Student Papers, and Student Paper Competitions during the forum.
The following aerospace professionals will be recognized for their outstanding contributions in their field, having been chosen by their peers from related AIAA technical committees.
| J. Philip Drummond, NASA Langley Research Center, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Air Breathing Propulsion Award for his pioneering contributions to high-speed air-breathing propulsion, his leadership in aerospace engineering, and for his continuous contributions to AIAA.
Stephen D. Heister, Purdue University, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Wyld Propulsion Award for continuous leadership in advancing rocket propulsion engineering through state-of-the-art computational and experimental research and decades of mentorship of students. Yiguang Ju, Princeton University, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Propellants and Combustion Award for outstanding contributions in studies of near-limit combustion, plasma assisted combustion, micro combustion, and cool flames. Kai Hong Luo, University College London, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Energy Systems Award for groundbreaking contributions to multiscale multiphysics modeling and simulation that have transformed energy system analysis, prediction, design, and optimization through research, innovation, education, and leadership. Robert J. Walters, Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Aerospace Power Systems Award for significant technical contributions and leadership in the area of space photovoltaic technology development and solar cell radiation damage research. |
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
AIAA to Recognize Technical Excellence in Aerospace at the 2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of technical excellence awards to be presented during the 2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum, which will be held online 2-6 August 2021. The awards ceremony is scheduled for Friday, 6 August, 1300-1430 hrs ET, and is open to all with free registration.
The following aerospace professionals will be recognized for their outstanding contributions in their field, having been chosen by their peers from related AIAA technical committees.
In addition, the following AIAA members have provided sustained, significant service and contributions to the Institute and will be presented with the AIAA Sustained Service Award.
| Willem A. Anemaat, DARcorporation, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Sustained Service Award for extensive service to AIAA through work on technical committees, national awards, publications, and conferences and forums.
Terry J. Burress, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Sustained Service Award for continuous and exemplary service to the AIAA South Central Region and the Modeling and Simulation Technical Committee, including strengthening the membership and the technical excellence of the Institute and its committees in both formal and informal leadership roles. David W. Levy, Sierra Nevada Corporation, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Sustained Service Award for sustained service as AIAA Wichita Section and Aircraft Design Technical Committee Chair, Design/Build/Fly Competition Contest Administrator, and Drag Prediction Workshop Organizing Committee. Dimitri N. Mavris, Georgia Institute of Technology, is being presented with the 2021 AIAA Sustained Service Award for 40 years of continuous meritorious service to AIAA in technical, honors and awards, publications, and international activities. |
AIAA also will recognize winners of the Best Professional Papers, Best Student Papers, and Student Paper Competitions during the forum.
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
AIAA Statement on Senate Confirmation of the Honorable Bill Nelson as NASA Administrator
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) congratulates the Honorable Bill Nelson on being confirmed as the 14th NASA Administrator. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement upon Nelson’s confirmation:
“On behalf of the Institute’s nearly 30,000 professional members, I would like to congratulate former Senator Bill Nelson on his confirmation as NASA’s 14th administrator. The agency is a source of meaningful inspiration for our country and for the world. We see significant opportunities for NASA to continue its important mission pushing the boundaries of space, aeronautics, and research and development on many fronts. Under Administrator Nelson’s leadership, we anticipate NASA will benefit from his extensive background and many bipartisan relationships as a former lawmaker.
Administrator Nelson has been a champion of our nation’s space and aeronautics programs during his many years serving in the U.S. Congress. He brings a unique perspective to the role, having spent six days in space on the Space Shuttle during mission STS-61-C, one of only two members of Congress with this distinction. He is a qualified and capable leader. As an elected official from the state of Florida, he understands the economic impact of the aerospace industry on our communities and the country, as well as the educational impact on our workforce. His knowledge and appreciation of the agency, combined with his legislative experience while working directly with elected officials at the state and federal level, will serve NASA well.
AIAA looks forward to supporting Administrator Nelson in his new role as we strive to maintain our nation’s leadership in space exploration and scientific discovery, while also helping make critical advances in technology development and aeronautics research.”
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270.
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
AIAA Mourns the Passing of Michael Collins
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) mourns the passing of Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut and AIAA Fellow. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:
“Michael Collins was a space pioneer. As a U.S. Air Force test pilot and NASA astronaut, he pushed the boundaries of our knowledge about flight and the human spirit. We especially remember him and his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, for their bravery and courage in twice traversing the wine-dark sea of space to successfully complete the historic Apollo 11 mission. As an AIAA Fellow since 1976, he was recognized for his distinction in aeronautics and astronautics, having made valuable contributions to the field.
Collins’ advocacy and enthusiasm for space, as well as for STEM education before it had a name, are examples for us all to follow. We are grateful for what he showed us about how to explore our universe when he said, ‘I think a future flight should include a poet, a priest and a philosopher… we might get a much better idea of what we saw.’ Ad Astra, Michael Collins.”
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270.
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
AIAA Marks First Flight on Another Planet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 19, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) marks today’s historic first flight of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher issued this statement:
“What an amazing sight – an aircraft flying over Mars! The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made the first ever powered, controlled flight on another planet today. Congratulations to our corporate member, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the whole Ingenuity team. Your innovative and inspirational thinking continues shaping the future of aerospace.
“We all know the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright taking a huge risk and proving to the world that heavier-than-air, powered flight was possible. Today, we saw how taking off-world risks proves anything is possible. From this day forward, we’ll remember 19 April 2021, at Jezero Crater, Wright Brothers Field, Mars, just as we have remembered 17 December 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Earth.
“Earlier this year, we watched the Perseverance rover’s landing on Mars, carrying Ingenuity onboard and showing us what your motto – Dare Mighty Things – means. We are eager to witness the team achieve the next mission milestones, especially Ingenuity’s next test flight. There’s more work to do as we accelerate our off-world future. Go Ingenuity! Go Perseverance!”
First Video of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicpoter in Flight
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270.
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
AIAA Statement on Passage of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) applauds the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement after the president signed the legislation into law:
“The American Rescue Plan will help sustain the U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) industry during these ongoing difficult times. This vital industry is a multi-trillion-dollar enterprise that supports 2.19 million jobs nationally and many more globally. It has improved our quality of life by transforming transportation, medicine, defense, and security. The necessary aid this package provides will help the employees, small businesses, and large contractors who make up the A&D sector continue to play a critical role in safely leading the nation back to a healthy and prosperous future.
AIAA applauds lawmakers’ steps to support the aviation manufacturing industry, workforce, and supply chain, which has been severely weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and will take several years to recover. Bipartisan efforts to provide economic relief with the inclusion of the Aviation Manufacturing Jobs Protection Act in the package is especially helpful. That provision allocates $3 billion in payroll support for aerospace manufacturers, including a 50% government cost-share program for workers most at risk of layoff or furlough. The package also gives agencies funds to cover certain contractor costs and to keep skilled personnel and workers in a ready state during the pandemic response through Fiscal Year 2021. Moreover, many small businesses – essential to the A&D industry’s supply chain – will directly benefit from the additional $7.25 billion made available to the Paycheck Protection Program.”
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270.
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
AIAA Executive Director Statement of Support for Space Sustainability Resolution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: John Blacksten
703.264.7532
[email protected]
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)—the world’s largest aerospace technical society—endorses Senators Tom Udall and Tim Kaine’s resolution in support of the United Nations’ 21 guidelines for the sustainable use of space. This is especially timely as AIAA has just finished hosting the 70th International Astronautical Congress, where senior domestic and international space stakeholders discussed the importance of collaboration when it comes to space exploration, space situational awareness, and space sustainability.
AIAA, on behalf of the broader aerospace community, has been an advocate for addressing space debris concerns and a champion for stronger space traffic management. This advocacy will only increase as AIAA works to build the space economy through its forums and the work of its Space Traffic Management Working Group. It is imperative for the United States to continue to work with the global space community to ensure that all actors abide by these recommended behaviors and best practices in space. The United States must remain a leader in this effort, and the adoption of this resolution will send a strong, positive message about our commitment to our international counterparts.
We look forward to working with Congress and the administration, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, our industry partners, academia, and the international space community to conform to these guidelines and ensure long-term sustainability of space.
Dan Dumbacher
AIAA Executive Director
Life in the F-35 ‘Fish Bowl’
Panelists: Moderator Juan J. Alonso, professor, Stanford University; Jeff Babione, vice president and general manager, Advanced Development Programs, Lockheed Martin
by Ben Iannotta, Aerospace America editor-in-chief
Lockheed Martin’s Jeff Babione challenged the audience of the “Evolution of the F-35” session June 26 at the 2018 AIAA AVIATION Forum in Atlanta to utter the first words that came to mind when they thought of the F-35.
After some minor prodding, a voice in the crowd said “cost overrun.” Another said “schedule.” And a third voice, which was difficult to hear, seemed to say “not as good as the F-16.”
Issuing this challenge was Babione’s way of encouraging people to reconsider their perceptions of the F-35 program as Lockheed Martin seeks to reboot opinions about the multibillion joint and international initiative that has indeed been marked by schedule delays and cost overruns. Since the program’s last re-baselining, Babione said, the company has been rolling out the F-35 aircraft nearly as planned in terms of cost and schedule.
“It was tough, but we got there,” he said.
Babione knows the F-35 program as well as anyone. Before moving earlier this year to head Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs, or Skunk Works, he was the general manager in charge of the F-35 for more than two years. For almost three years before that, he was the deputy in charge of day-to-day program management. His speech and a Q&A session moderated by Juan J. Alonso of Stanford University opened a series of “special programming” sessions at the forum planned for June 26 and June 27 to discuss the F-35 program and its history.
Babione ticked off a list of milestones for the audience. Among them, he noted that the system development and demonstration phase, involving numerous test flights, was completed earlier this year, not long after the planned 2017 date under the re-baselining. He said the program is running “just several percentage points higher on cost.” He said initial operational test and evaluation flights are scheduled to begin in August under the program’s strategy of conducting tests concurrently with low-rate initial production.
Pointing to a cost chart, Babione said that today, an A model of the F-35 — the version that will eventually replace the U.S. Air Force’s F-16s and A-10s — costs $94 million. He said the company envisions the cost declining to $80 million per plane by 2020.
Babione said Lockheed Martin has been open about the hurdles it has faced over the years and that there are no shortage of challenges ahead. He displayed a slide showing a goldfish in a bowl surrounded by the corporate logos of CNN, Facebook, Fox News, YouTube and Twitter.
“Do I look at all like that goldfish? Because that’s how it feels to be on the F-35 program,” he said, joking about searching G-O-D on Google and realizing that the F-35 received more hits.
None of that was meant to be a complaint, Babione suggested: Oversight of a multibillion program is certainly “reasonable,” he said, adding that transparency is the “hallmark” of the program.
“You can’t claim we’re hiding anything,” he said.
Video
Reusable Space Systems Are Obtainable
Panelists: Moderator Dan Dumbacher, professor of engineering practice, Purdue University; Doug Bradley, chief engineer of advance space and launch, Aerojet Rocketdyne; Ben Goldberg, vice president of science and engineering, Propulsion Systems Division, Orbital ATK; Jim Paulsen, vice president of NASA programs, Aerojet Rocketdyne; Gary Payton, distinguished visiting professor, U.S. Air Force Academy; Tom Markusic, co-founder and CEO, Firefly Space Systems
By Duane Hyland, AIAA communications (2008-2017)
Reusable space systems are the holy grail of space technology, according to a panel of experts who spoke July 25 at the 2016 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum in Salt Lake City, and thankfully, unlike the Holy Grail of myth, they said these systems are obtainable.
Gary Payton, distinguished visiting professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, told the standing-room-only crowd at the “Launch Vehicle Reusability: Holy Grail, Chasing Our Tail, or Somewhere in Between?” session that the idea of reusable systems started with Wernher von Braun, who once proposed establishing reusable components to withstand 950 launches to place crews on Mars. Payton pointed out that the X-33, X-34 and X-37 all showed that reusable systems are possible.
The panelists agreed that reusable systems — especially from the perspective of liquid engine technology — wasn’t a question, but rather, as Doug Bradley, chief engineer of advanced space and launch at Aerojet Rocketdyne, put it “an inability.”
Bradley explained that the 113 years of aerospace were reason-driven.
“People needed reasons to build faster and more capable systems, a need to move mail or cargo or passengers faster and farther than before,” he said, adding that reusable systems are the same. “People will need to explore space more cheaply, so things will go reusable.”
Issues that factor into reusability, according to the panelists, include high reliability of components, lost cost of component manufacturing, high launch volume, and design of systems and components. The more you launch, the more reliable your components, they said, adding that the better your designs, the more likely true reusability will occur.
Ben Goldberg, vice president of science and engineering for the Propulsion Systems Division at Orbital ATK, cautioned, “Reusability is neither good nor bad, but you really need to look at each vehicle and each mission.”
He said in some missions, reusing systems may not make sense due to costs and mission needs.
Other factors impacting reusability include launch type (e.g., ground or air), mission type and environment that the systems would be returning to (e.g., ocean or land).
Reusability in space systems is at a crossroads, but the panelists predict a bold turn down the road toward greater and greater reliance on reusable systems, making the goal of cheap and dependable spaceflight a reality.