Tag: engineering

AIAA Offers Unique Course on the Lessons from 60 Years in Space

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 29, 2024 – Reston, Va. – During the first 60 years of spaceflight, the aerospace community has been amassing an extraordinary engineering knowledge base. Now it’s time to pass this collective experience to the next generation of space explorers during May and June. Space industry professionals will benefit from the only course of its kind:  Human Spaceflight Operations: Lessons Learned from 60 Years in Space.

Course Details
7 May–27 June (Tuesdays/Thursdays)
1–3 p.m. ET
35 classroom hours total (3.5 CEU/PDH)
Online/Zoom, Sessions recorded and available for replay
AIAA Member: $1,495 USD
Non-Member: $1,795 USD
AIAA Student Member: $995 USD

The course will be taught by former NASA Astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff, someone who has lived and worked in space for almost 200 days. He will be joined by a cadre of 14 space operations experts with vast experience as flight directors, flight controllers, astronauts, and mission engineers. boo The lessons learned are derived through space mission experiences.

The experience and expertise of the instructors is unmatched. “Our goal is to pass on our insight to the next generation of space engineers, designers, operators, and crew. Anyone who is part of a current or future government space program or commercial space enterprise will gain valuable insights,” said Chamitoff, an AIAA Associate Fellow.

Course topics span the range of operational disciplines involved in planning and executing human spaceflight. “This is not a course on space system design, of which there are many. The aim is to shine light on space operations, as distinct from engineering design. However, the most important lesson is perhaps that operational requirements must be considered very carefully in the design process. We hope that through the process of explaining how things really work in space and in mission control centers, future missions can benefit from the experience (and mistakes) of so many pioneers who have come before,” Chamitoff concluded.

For more course information, contact [email protected].

Media Contact: [email protected], 804-397-5270

About AIAA
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. Visit aiaa.org or follow on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Galileo Satellites from KSC

Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX hit some notable milestones with the launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday. Most notably, the weekend flight marked the first time that the European Commission’s Galileo satellites (similar to the United State’s Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites) launched onboard an American-made rocket and from U.S. soil.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

 

 

 

 

Video

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Florida with navigation satellites for Europe
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

Archer, Joby to Provide Air Taxi Service in Abu Dhabi

Flying Magazine reports, “Two titans in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi industry are building on their previously announced plans to serve the United Arab Emirates. At the inaugural DriftX conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation, both headquartered in California, signed agreements with Abu Dhabi government agencies to introduce their respective air taxis in the Emirate.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

Boeing Starliner Crewed Test Flight Passes Critical Review

Space News reports, “The first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is a step closer to launch after completing a major pre-launch review April 25. NASA announced at an April 25 briefing that, at the completion of the two-day Flight Test Readiness Review, officials approved plans to proceed with the Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission, with a launch scheduled for 10:34 p.m. Eastern May 6 from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex (SLC) 41.”
Full Story (Space News)

Gulfstream Delivers First Two G700s

Aviation International News reports, “Gulfstream Aerospace has delivered the first two $75 million G700s to customers, the Savannah, Georgia-based aircraft manufacturer said yesterday afternoon. Both are now in service with undisclosed customers in the U.S. The company’s 7,750-nm flagship aircraft received FAA approval on March 29, followed by production certification and cabin interior approval on April 8.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

NASA and Rocket Lab Launch Solar Sail

The New Zealand Herald reports, “NASA has launched its new solar sail mission from Mahia Peninsula. Once at a Sun-synchronous orbit, about 1000 km above Earth, the spacecraft will deploy its sails and use the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, instead of rocket fuel. If the microwave oven-sized CubeSat is successfully deployed, the operation would be a precursor to larger-scale missions to the Moon and Mars, NASA said.”
Full Story (New Zealand Herald)

NASA Might Adjust Artemis III to Have Starship and Orion Dock in Low-Earth Orbit

Ars Technica reports that NASA “is privately considering modifications to its Artemis plan to land astronauts on the surface of the Moon later this decade. Multiple sources have confirmed that NASA is studying alternatives to the planned Artemis III landing of two astronauts on the Moon, nominally scheduled for September 2026, due to concerns about hardware readiness and mission complexity.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

AIAA Announces 2024 Design/Build/Fly (DBF) Competition Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 22, 2024 – Wichita, Kan. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced the winners of the 28th Annual AIAA DBF Competition:

  • 1st Place ($3,000): Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida
  • 2nd Place ($2,000): Georgia Institute of Technology
  • 3rd Place ($1,500): University of Washington, Seattle
  • Best Design Report ($100): University of Southern California

This year marks the largest-ever flyoff participation, with more than 1,000 students on 93 university teams attending onsite. The flyoff was hosted by AIAA Corporate Member Textron Aviation in Wichita, Kan. Teams from 12 countries, including 32 US states participated in the full DBF Competition, including submitting design reports and attending the flyoff.

This year’s flight objective was to design, build, and test a remotely operated radio control airplane for Urban Air Mobility. The airplane must be able to conduct a delivery flight, a medical transport flight, and an urban taxi flight. Teams also conducted a ground mission demonstrating how quickly they can change their aircraft configuration from delivery to medical transport to urban air taxi.

“Design/Build/Fly is a highlight of the year,” said AIAA CEO Dan Dumbacher. “Aerospace teaches us to adapt to the unexpected. It’s a great lesson for students as they prepare to enter this vibrant and meaningful field. The lessons learned and connections made here will be the foundation for their future careers. Congratulations to the winning teams and all the teams that made it here to the DBF flyoff!”

Russ Althof, director of the DBF Organizing Committee, said, “We owe our thanks for the success of the DBF Competition to the efforts of many volunteers from Textron Aviation, Raytheon, and the AIAA sponsoring Technical Committees: Applied Aerodynamics, Aircraft Design, Flight Test, and Design Engineering. These volunteers collectively set the rules for the contest, publicize the event, gather entries, judge the written proposals and reports, and execute the flyoff.

The 2025 AIAA DBF Competition will be held in April 2025 hosted in Tucson, Ariz., by Raytheon.

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, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

FAA to Allow Boom Supersonic to Break Sound Barrier

Flying Magazine reports, “For the first time in its history, the FAA has issued a special flight authorization to allow Boom Supersonic to break the sound barrier. The approval will allow the Colorado startup to fly its XB-1 demonstrator aircraft faster than Mach 1 up to 20 times over the next year in the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor in Mojave, California.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)