Tag: engineering

NASA’s Artemis II Astronauts Head to Launch Pad for First Time

Florida Today reports that on Wednesday, the four person crew of NASA’s Artemis II mission “had a first chance to practice what their launch day will feel like.” In what is “called a dry dress rehearsal, the astronauts got suited up and took their new electric crew transportation vehicles for a spin to the launch pad.” Since the mission’s SLS rocket “is still in production at other NASA facilities nationwide, Wednesday’s practice run focused on preparing ground team support of the crew.” Slated to “launch from KSC as early as November of next year, Artemis II – the first lunar human spaceflight mission since 1972 – will send the four crew members on a trip around the moon and back deeper into space than any mission ever before.” This week’s launch day rehearsal “marked only the second time the prime crew of the Artemis II lunar mission has traveled to KSC since being announced in April.”
Full Story (Florida Today – Subscription Publication)

Norwegian Air Force F-35A JSF Demonstrates Ability to Takeoff, Land from Highway

The Drive reports that “Norway has become the first country to demonstrate the ability of the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A Joint Strike Fighter to operate from a highway as part of an exercise in Finland.” Maj. Gen. Rolf Folland, Chief of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, said in a press release, “This is a milestone, not only for the Norwegian Air Force, but also for the Nordic countries and for NATO. … This demonstrates our ability to execute a concept of dispersal. Fighter jets are vulnerable on the ground, so by being able to use small airfields – and now motorways – [we can] increase our survivability in war.” Norway’s F-35As “have been training to conduct highway operations in Finland this week as part of the latest iteration of that country’s annual Baana road base exercise, which kicked off on Monday.”
Full Story (The Drive)

AIAA Announces 2022–2023 University Student Design Competitions Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 21, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2022–2023 Design Competitions. AIAA Design Competitions give undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to respond to requests for proposals outlining a design problem that requires specialized technical solutions. Several of the competitions allow students to perform theoretical work and gain real-world insight into the design process.

“Design competitions help students solve real-life problems and prepare them to make an impact in the aerospace community. These young people receive valuable feedback from technical experts who serve as volunteers on AIAA technical committees,” said AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher. “Everyone who participates in these competitions is shaping the future of aerospace.”

Five competitions were held in the following categories:

Aircraft: Undergraduate Individual, Undergraduate Team, Graduate Team
Space:    Undergraduate Team
Engine:  Undergraduate Team

The 2022–2023 AIAA Design Competitions winners are:

Undergraduate Individual Aircraft Design

    • First Prize: Daniel Pacheco, University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas), for his design, “Design and Analysis of Little Goose.” Dr. Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, faculty advisor.

 

    • Second Prize: David Sztajnbok, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, California), for his design, “AirSChooner-105 P/C.” Dr. Geoffrey Spedding, faculty advisor.

 

  • Third Prize: Riley Schwartzhoff, University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas), for his design, “The Frog Hopper.” Dr. Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, faculty advisor.

Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design

    • First Prize: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois), for their design, “Hybrid-electric Regional Turboprop – Team Jackalope.” Stephanie Dutra, Sarah Erne, Krishna Modi, Evher Benjamin Aponte, Noor Ansari, Anish M. Joshi, and Hsien-Kuei Chang. Dr. Jason Merret, faculty advisor. Team name: Jackalope.

 

    • Second Prize: University of Virginia (Charlottesville, Virginia), for their design, “University of Virginia SkyKings Hybrid-Electric Turboprop Design.” James Caputo, Ryan Keller, Ryan Grant, Darius Espinoza, Jannik Grabner, Alex Wang, Kangyi Park, Eun Park, and Alexander Poley. Dr. Jesse Quinlan, faculty advisor. Team name: SkyKings.

 

  • Third Prize: University of California – Davis (Davis, California), for their design, “Regional Hybrid-Electric Turboprop.” Ryan Chen, Ethan Brown, Loe Yer Yang, Bryan Tiang, and Jackie The. Christina Harvey, faculty advisor. Team name: EcoProp.

Graduate Team Aircraft Design

    • First Prize: Université de Liège (Liège, Belgium), for their design, “RADAR Disaster Response Search and Identification Attritable Air Vehicle.” Alexandre Spits, Sven Michiels, Deogracias Mulamba, Robin Tamburrini, Emrah Altin, Oumar Sow, Nabil Bouyakhrichan, and Wildy Mervil. Dr. Ludovic Noels and Dr. Dimitriadis Grigorios, faculty advisors. Team name: Team Omega.

 

    • Second Prize: Université de Liège (Liège, Belgium), for their design, “BeLI.” Lucas Batlle Mari, Louis Page, Thibaut Dupont, Mathieu Van houte, Jonas Gerard, Justin Pesesse, Lucas Viseur, and Cem Biz. Dr. Ludovic Noels and Dr. Dimitriadis Grigorios, faculty advisors. Team name: BeLIvers.

 

  • Third Prize: Université de Liège (Liège, Belgium), for their design, “The Drop.” Charles Jacquet, Benoit Laurent, Lucie Linotte, Florian Muller, Mathias Brach, Leonore Colson, Colette Remacle, Eric Pavel Azangue Dongmo, and Cedric Seret. Dr. Ludovic Noels and Dr. Dimitriadis Grigorios, faculty advisors. Team name: Team The Drop.

Undergraduate Team Space Design

    • First Prize: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia), for their design, “Transit, Rendezvous, & Taxi Launcher.” Jurist Chan, Trey Farmer, Lonnie Webb, Reid Fly, Pessi Laensirinne, Sparsh Desai, Elle Smith, Aaron Hammond, and George Blackwell. Dr. Álvaro Romero-Calvo, faculty advisor. Team name: Transport and Retrieval with Two Landers (TRTL).

 

    • Second Prize: California State Polytechnic University – Pomona (Pomona, California), for their design, “Maverick.” Basil Aranda, Amanda Ewing, Tyrone Collins, Fateme Tahmak, Edgar Romero, Ashley Anderson, Cesar Villa, and Daniella Dorantes. Dr. Navid Nakhjiri, faculty advisor. Team name: Space Pirates.

 

  • Third Prize: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia), for their design, “Mars Twin Lander Descent and Ascent System.” Rebekah Geil, Kendall Seefried, Claire Keller, Landon Jarrel, Tabitha D’Amato, Jonathan Lin, Satvik Kumar, Michael Keraga, Lachlan Holliday, and Braden Kerstin.  Dr. Álvaro Romero-Calvo, faculty advisor. Team name: Project Cupid.

Undergraduate Team Engine Design

    • First Place: Turkish Naval Academy (Istanbul, Türkiye), for their design, “A New Hybrid Propulsion System Design for the NASA STARC-ABL Plane.” Burak Üzülmez (Team Captain), Mehmet Demir, Mehmet Adnan Karagöz, and Göktuğ Karaca. Doğuş Özkan, faculty advisor. Team name: The Century.

 

    • Second Place: Milwaukee School of Engineering (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), for their design, “Dream Stream Propulsion System.” Devon Lallensack, Izaiah Dietrich, Michael Gavin, and Cade Beekman. Mia Mattingly, Prabhakar Venkateswaran, faculty advisor. Team name: Team Dream Stream.

 

  • Third Place: Indian Institute of Technology – Kharagpur (Kharagpur, India), for their design, “Vidyut.” Surendra Kolhe, Jay Anantwar, Abhishek Agrawal, Aditya Bharade, and Harsh Raj. Chetankumar Sureshbhai Mistry, faculty advisor; Goutam Mandal, project advisor. Team name: Come Fly With Me.

Media Contact: Rebecca 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, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

NASA Developing Deep Space Optical Communications

Detailing NASA’s development of deep space optical communications, Aviation Week reports, “Preparing for future human deep space exploration is not just about developing large rockets, new generations of spacesuits and habitats. It is also about enabling communications, including the transmission of high-definition imagery and data over vast distances.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

NASA’s Rubio Discusses Record Time in Space

Aviation Week reports that as his U.S. record-setting mission “aboard the International Space Station (ISS) draws to a close, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio says he knows his body will take months to fully readapt to gravity and its impacts on his bones, muscles and vestibular system.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

FAA Approves BVLOS Flights for Zipline Cargo Drones

Aviation Week reports that the FAA “has authorized Zipline International to perform beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flights of its cargo drones.” The company, which “is a Part 135 operator, is now authorized by the regulator to deliver commercial packages using its UAV and a parachute.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Returning to Earth to Deliver Bennu Asteroid Sample

CNET News reports that a pickpocketed piece “of a big asteroid named Bennu is on its way back to Earth.” NASA’s OSIRIS-REx is “winding down its mission more than seven years after launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida.” In 2020, the van-size spacecraft performed a “touch-and-go” maneuver and “swiped a few ounces of material from the space rock, which is really a pile of rubble held together by its own gravity.” OSIRIS-REx “lingered around Bennu until 2021, when it started its two-year journey back to Earth.” The long flight “ends on Sept. 24, when the spacecraft will jettison the capsule containing the sample.” The capsule will then “make a superheated trip through the atmosphere before parachuting in for a soft landing at the US military’s Utah Test and Training Range near Dugway, Utah.”
Full Story (CNET News)

Joby Aviation to Begin Manufacturing Air Taxis in Ohio

The AP reports that the same Ohio river valley “where the Wright brothers pioneered human flight will soon be manufacturing cutting-edge electric planes that take off and land vertically, under an agreement announced Monday between the state and Joby Aviation Inc.” Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said, “When you’re talking about air taxis, that’s the future. We find this very, very exciting – not only for the direct jobs and indirect jobs it’s going to create, but like Intel, it’s a signal to people that Ohio is looking to the future. This is a big deal for us.” Joby’s decision to “locate its first scaled manufacturing facility at a 140-acre (57-hectare) site at Dayton International Airport delivers on two decades of groundwork laid by the state’s leaders, Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said.” Joby’s production aircraft “is designed to transport a pilot and four passengers at speeds of up to 200 miles (321.87 kilometers) per hour, with a maximum range of 100 miles (160.93 kilometers).”
;Full Story (Associated Press)

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Flies Through Coronal Mass Ejection

Forbes reports that NASA’s Parker Solar Probe “has become the first spacecraft ever to fly through a coronal mass ejection from the sun—a powerful eruption of billions of tons of plasma.” The closest spacecraft to the sun, “launched in Aug. 2018, spent two days within a CME while just 5.7 million miles (9.2 million kilometers) from the solar surface.” For context, Mercury “is 23 million miles (37 million kilometers) from the sun and Earth is a whopping 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) distant.” As revealed in a paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, Parker “passed right through the CME on Sept. 22, 2022, crossing the wake of its leading edge—its shock wave.” The moments were “captured by the probe’s Wide-field Imager for Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument and are published on YouTube.” Parker Solar Probe Project Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Nour Raouafu said, “This is the closest to the sun we’ve ever observed a CME. We’ve never seen an event of this magnitude at this distance.”
Full Story (Forbes)

FAA Reinstates Mexico’s Aviation Safety Rating to Highest Level

The AP reports that on Thursday, the FAA “returned Mexico’s aviation safety rating to the highest level two years after downgrading it.” The change will “allow Mexican airlines to add new routes to the United States, and U.S. airlines will once again be able to sell tickets on Mexican airline-operated flights.” In May 2021, the FAA “lowered Mexico’s rating because the country did not meet standards set by a United Nations aviation group.” The FAA “found that Mexico’s ability to oversee its airlines fell short of standards set by a U.N. group called the International Civil Aviation Organization.” Those standards “cover a broad range of issues, including the regulator’s technical expertise, inspection procedures and record-keeping.”
Full Story (Associated Press)