Aviation Week reported that Airbus is “working on improving the A220’s autothrottle design, after several reports of crew errors that could have led to a tail strike or more serious incidents.” The aircraft’s autopilot “will be modified, too.” In the meantime, procedures “are temporarily added in the takeoff phase.”
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Tag: Working
NASA Says Hubble Telescope Will Resume Operation Following Gyroscope Issue
SPACE reports that following a “string of setbacks concerning one of its directional instruments, the Hubble Space Telescope will get back to its job of capturing deep space images soon enough, NASA says.” It all “began on Nov. 19, when one of the iconic observatory’s three gyroscopes (a trio that live on from an original set of six) began providing faulty readings.” In general, gyroscopes “are devices that use either circulating beams of light or rapidly spinning wheels to help scientists make sure an object is facing the direction they want it to face.” Incorrect gyroscope readings “on the Hubble Telescope, as you might imagine, can therefore drastically affect science measurements.” To image a specific spot “in deep space with this Earth-orbiting telescope, you’d have to make sure it’s actually facing that spot in deep space.”
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NASA Working to Resolve Hubble Space Telescope Gyroscope Issue
SPACE reports NASA on Wednesday confirmed that the Hubble Space Telescope “automatically entered safe mode on Nov. 23.” The reason behind the interruption “lies with issues concerning one of the observatory’s gyroscopes.” Mission scientists said “that they’re working to resolve the issue and bring Hubble back on again.”
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Pratt & Whitney Moves Ahead on F-35 ECU Program
Aviation Week reports that Pratt & Whitney now “has 400 engineers working on a major upgrade for the F135 engine that powers the Lockheed Martin F-35, as the company waits for congressional approval of the formal program go-ahead in fiscal 2024.” The team assigned “to the Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) program has been funded with previous congressional add-ons to the fiscal 2023 budget that now total $180 million in awarded contracts, including a $66 million award announced on July 11, says Jill Albertelli, president of Pratt’s military engines business.” The awards are funding work “on early architecture studies and engineering preparation for the preliminary design review, Albertelli said.” Both efforts have been “launched as Congress considers the Pentagon’s request to launch full development of the ECU program in fiscal 2024.”
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NASA Working with US Military on Nuclear-Powered Rocket Engines
Mashable reported on the announcement, made at the AIAA SciTech Forum, that NASA is partnering with the US military “to test a nuclear-powered rocket engine in space as early as 2027, potentially revolutionizing how people travel the cosmos in the coming decades. The two agencies will work on a nuclear thermal propulsion system, a technology NASA wants to use to send humans to Mars in the late 2030s. But the test mission – known as Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations, or the DRACO program – would not involve astronauts.”
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