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Aero Gizmo
First Powered Flight of Miniature Air Launched Decoy
By Mike Hanlon
June 14, 2007 Raytheon's Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) is on track to begin production in 2008 having demonstrated successful powered flight performance when launched from a U.S. Air Force F-16 at Eglin Air Force Base recently. The 120-inch MALD is a low-cost, air-launched, turbojet-powered, swing-wing programmable craft that accurately duplicates the combat flight profiles and signatures of U.S. and allied aircraft. The MALD can be launched from F-16 or B-52 Stratofortress and flies a pre-programmed flight path into hostile air space to stimulate enemy air defenses. In addition to protecting valuable aircraft, MALD offers counter air operations to neutralize, if not destroy, air defense systems that pose a threat. Read More
The ion-propelled, remotely-powered jetpack
By Loz Blain
This has to be one of the most 'futuristic' developments we've seen in some time; a new U.S. patent has been awarded to a company that has plans for a safe, silent personal flight device using electromagnetic ion propulsion as its primary thrust generator and drawing its power wirelessly from earthbound inductive green power broadcast stations. California's Personal Flight Systems are taking a serious look at the future of personal flight, and the technology involved will leave you shaking your head. Read More
Successful autonomous landing of a damaged UAV
By Mike Hanlon
May 31, 2007 One of the advantages of having a human at the controls of an aircraft when things go wrong is that we have the ability to adjust and intelligently work around a problem – the tales of valiant airmen bringing home planes that have no right to still be flying are myriad. Now it seems that the humble, computer-controlled UAV is set to learn such skills too. Flight control and navigation systems provider Athena Technologies recently demonstrated the damage tolerant flight control and autonomous landing capabilities on a subscale F/A-18 UAV. See the videos … Read More
Boeing Dual-Cockpit Cueing System
By Mike Hanlon
May 23, 2007 We’ve written before about the very special Boeing-developed, US$240,000 Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) and the trials it was undergoing. Now Boeing is retrofitting F/A-18F Super Hornets with an aft cockpit JHMCS and the first examples are arriving in the hands of front line squadrons. The JHMCS gives flight crew members the ability to rapidly acquire and designate a target simply by looking at it. The two-seat version of the system places a JHMCS helmet on both crew members, giving each the capability to aim weapons and sensors as well as a visual indication of where each crew member is looking. Read More
Air crew training through distributed simulation enters experimental stage
By Mike Hanlon
May 22, 2007 A fascinating project to train military aircrews is currently entering the experimental phase in the UK, with front line Royal Air Force (RAF) aircrew now involved in the UK Mission Training through Distributed Simulation – Capability Concept Demonstrator (MTDS – CCD) programme. The experimental phase involves a series of events that are designed to show how pilots and other forces can exercise simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic in the same multi aircraft combat scenarios, where the emphasis is on tactical operations not basic flying skills. Read More
The sharpest ever satellite map of Earth
By Loz Blain
May 18, 2007 The European Space Agency's GlobCover project has unveiled the most detailed portraits ever of the Earth's land surface. Using around 40 Terabytes of images captured from the ESA's Envisat, the maps, ten times sharper than anything produced previously, the GlobCover maps will have numerous uses, including plotting worldwide land use trends, studying natural and managed ecosystems and modelling climate change extent and impacts. Read More
Fuselage sections for 787 Dreamliner delivered in Large Cargo Freighter
By Mike Hanlon
May 12, 2007 The 787 Dreamliner is the fastest-selling airplane in aviation history, with firm orders for 567 airplanes from 44 airlines. Perhaps even more intriguingly, it required a complete redesign of an existing plane to create the Large Cargo Freighter just to carry the parts in from suppliers so that its advanced construction technique could be implemented. We’ve covered the story from conception to now (here, here and here), the point where the first of the large composite fuselage sections have begun arriving at Boeing’s Everett plant for assembly.The all-composite forward section, known as section 41 and shown here wrapped in white, is manufactured by Spirit AeroSystems at its facility in Kansas. The complex structure is 21 feet in diameter and 42 feet long. Its landing gear is installed. Read More
Orbital Express completes first autonomous free flight and capture
By Mike Hanlon
May 11, 2007 The Boeing Orbital Express system has completed another first by successfully performing a fully autonomous free-flight rendezvous and capture operation. The demonstration of the two-spacecraft system is part of an ongoing Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) mission to validate on-orbit servicing capabilities. Using its onboard cameras and advanced video guidance system, the Boeing Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations (ASTRO) servicing spacecraft separated from the NextSat client spacecraft, backed away to a distance of 10 meters (33 feet), maintained proximity flight with NextSat for a full orbit, and then approached and captured NextSat with its docking mechanism. The demonstration occurred at full spacecraft autonomy to mark the first on-orbit rendezvous and capture operation performed with no active exchange of relative navigation information or any intervention or control from the ground. Read More
Phoenix Mars Lander Spacecraft being readied for August launch
By Mike Hanlon
May 9, 2007 A NASA spacecraft touched down on the coast of Florida after a brief 3-1/2 hour trip from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on Monday, but the spacecraft's next and final trip will be a 9-1/2 month journey to Mars. The spacecraft, the Phoenix Mars Lander, was delivered by its builder Lockheed Martin aboard an Air Force C-17 to NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The vehicle will undergo three more months of testing and integration in preparation for its launch on a Delta II launch vehicle in early August. Phoenix is NASA's next mission to Mars and is the first mission of NASA's Mars Scout Program. Scheduled to arrive on Mars in May 2008, the spacecraft will land on the icy northern latitudes of Mars. During its 90-day primary mission, Phoenix will dig trenches with its robotic arm into the frozen layers of water below the surface. The spacecraft will use various on-board instruments to analyze the contents of the ice and soil - checking for the presence of organic compounds and other conditions favorable for life. Read More
Transcontinental wildfire emissions monitored from space
By Mike Hanlon
May 9, 2007 As technology enables us to measure complex systems, we are often surprised by the results. Using data from the SCIAMACHY instrument aboard the European Space Agency’s environmental satellite Envisat, scientists have determined that the carbon monoxide hovering over Australia during the wildfire season largely originated from South American wildfires some 13,000 kilometres away. Read More
Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Navy Aircraft
By Mike Hanlon
May 1, 2007 The first Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, being built for the U.S. Navy, made its first public appearance at rollout ceremonies yesterday. While the E-2D’s external appearance is similar to the E-2C, the Advanced Hawkeye’s systems and capabilities are completely redesigned. At the heart of the aircraft is the new Lockheed Martin APY-9 radar that can "see" smaller targets and more of them at greater ranges than the E-2C. The new rotodome, developed by L-3 Communications Randtron Antenna Systems, contains the critically important, continuous, 360-degree scanning capability, while adding an electronically scanned array. This system allows operators to focus the radar on selected areas of interest. The new E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, in development by Northrop Grumman since 2001 and unveiled on April 30, has been the U.S. Navy's number one aviation priority. It will make its first flight this summer. Read More
Aerobie: still the longest throw after 23 years
By Loz Blain
May 1, 2007 This video is a bit of fun: Alan Adler, inventor of the Aerobie flying disc, throwing his Orbiter boomerang in Aloha Stadium, followed by Frisbee champ John Kirkland hurling an Aerobie right out of the stadium. For the record, Adler is also the inventor of the innovative coffee machine, the Aeropress. Read More
Climate catastrophes in the Solar System
By Mike Hanlon
April 27, 2007 Earth sits between two worlds that have been devastated by climate catastrophes. In the effort to combat global warming, our neighbours can provide valuable insights into the way climate catastrophes affect planets. From what scientists know now, it is possible that Venus and Mars started out a lot like Earth. At some point in time, each planet followed a path that changed its climate. The transition was from Earth-like to either a cloudy inferno (Venus) or a frigid desert (Mars). Data from Venus Express and Mars express is now helping scientists determine if, when and why each planet passed the point of no-return. Read More
Astronomers find first habitable Earth-like planet
By Mike Hanlon
April 26, 2007 Astronomers have discovered the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, an exoplanet with a radius only 50% larger than the Earth and capable of having liquid water. Using the ESO 3.6-m telescope, a team of Swiss, French and Portuguese scientists discovered a super-Earth about 5 times the mass of the Earth that orbits a red dwarf, already known to harbour a Neptune-mass planet. The astronomers have also strong evidence for the presence of a third planet with a mass about 8 Earth masses. This exoplanet - as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun – is the smallest ever found up to now and it completes a full orbit in 13 days. It is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the Sun. However, given that its host star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, is smaller and colder than the Sun – and thus less luminous – the planet nevertheless lies in the habitable zone, the region around a star where water could be liquid! Read More
Gress Aerospace begins development of Personal Air Vehicle
By Mike Hanlon
April 20, 2007 We’ve been following developments at Gress Aerospace for several years now, as it has developed its unique control technology for advanced vertical take-off and landing platforms. If successful, the control technology greatly simplifies flying, offers increased stability and functionality and requires a much smaller footprint than a traditional helicopter, hence it has wide application in commercial, industrial, and consumer markets, particularly for transportation and surveillance. The technology allows 6-Axis orientation, and a much smaller platform size in VTOL aerial vehicles. During the past twelve months, Gress has successfully scaled its system from a 15%-scale platfrom to a 40%-scale platform, and now intends to press ahead with a 100%-scale platform, build and testing phase, during the next 36 months. Introduced within the three stage build plan will be a new hybrid power generation package allowing the vehicle increased endurance with minimal fuel consumption. Once unmanned flight has been demonstrated, Gress will target the manned light-aircraft industry with plans have for an automobile-sized single seat VTOL. Read More
The flying motorcycle - road-registered and available now
By Loz Blain
April 18, 2007 For more than 50 years, the media have been promising us the personal flight revolution; by 2000 we'd all be getting around in flying cars, cruising down the skyway then touching down, driving home and unloading the shopping. Sadly, most of us are still stuck down here in traffic, but one maverick aviator has successfully taken personal flight into his own hands with a road-registered, high-safety flying motorcycle. Read More
A year on Venus
By Mike Hanlon
April 12, 2007 One year has passed since 11 April 2006, when Venus Express, Europe’s first mission to Venus and the only spacecraft now in orbit around the planet, reached its destination. Since then, this advanced probe, born to explore one of the most mysterious planetary bodies in the Solar System, has been revealing planetary details never caught before. Using state-of-the-art instrumentation, Venus Express is approaching the study of Venus on a global scale. The space probe is collecting information about Venus’ noxious and restless atmosphere (including its clouds and high-speed winds, as seen from this video obtained with the VMC camera on board) and its interaction with the solar wind and the interplanetary environment. Last but not least, it is looking for signs of surface activity, such as active volcanism. Read More
HyFish takes to the sky in Germany
By Loz Blain
April 12, 2007 When you're trying to design a more efficient airplane, where do you look for inspiration? Swiss inventor Koni Schafroth looked downward. Underwater, in fact. A scale model of his fuel cell-powered HyFish project, modeled on the shape of the ocean's fastest swimmer, took flight for the first time earlier this month. Read More
Military fast jet pilot directs multiple UAVs
By Mike Hanlon
April 4, 2007 The networked battlespace of the not-too-distant future is beginning to look very much like a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic box office thriller, “The Birds” with hordes of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) combining to overwhelming effect. QinetiQ and the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) last week demonstrated a new system which provides a single pilot with the ability to fly their own military fast jet while simultaneously directing up to four further unmanned aircraft. The system gives unmanned aircraft an advanced level of autonomously - independent decision-making including self-organisation, communication, sensing the environment, identifying possible enemies, and targeting of weapons with the final decision to shoot retained by the human pilot. The technology developed for these trials is feeding the Taranis combat UAV and ASTRAEA projects, the latter exploring the use of UAVs for non-military applications. The ability to direct multiple UAVs could be useful for search and rescue, disaster relief operations and environmental monitoring, just for a start. Read More
Boeing working on Fuel Cell Airplane
By Mike Hanlon
March 28, 2007 With all the effort we are witnessing in developing environmentally progressive technologies for automotive applications, it’s great to see that Boeing researchers and industry partners throughout Europe are planning to conduct experimental flight tests this year of a manned airplane powered only by a fuel cell and lightweight batteries. The systems integration phase of the Boeing Research and Technology Europe (BR&TE) Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane research project was completed recently and thorough systems integration testing is now under way in preparation for upcoming ground and flight testing. The Boeing demonstrator uses a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor, which is coupled to a conventional propeller. The fuel cell provides all power for the cruise phase of flight. During takeoff and climb, the flight segment that requires the most power, the system draws on lightweight lithium-ion batteries. Read More
WINDREAM ONE - transatlantic crossing using natural power
By Mike Hanlon
March 21, 2007 Paris saw the official launch of the WINDREAM ONE campaign this morning, a project headed up by Peggy Bouchet and Stéphane Rousson, sponsored by the Theolia Group. This ambitious project intends to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a sail balloon driven by natural and renewable energy sources. The quest conjures up images of great aeronautical discoveries where the courage, perseverance and a slight dose of madness inhabiting the spirit of visionaries and adventurers opened up the skies for future generations. Read More
Bombardier 415 SuperScooper Amphibious Aircraft
By Mike Hanlon
March 5, 2007 When Bombardier Aerospace received the Batefuegos de oro award from the Asociacion para la Promocion de Actividades Socioculturales (APAS) for the "Greatest technological advancement in firefighting" last December, the jury described the company’s range-topping SuperScooper 415 as the “most efficient tool for the aerial combat of forest fires.” The 415 is the latest in a line of Bombardier amphibious aircraft which began with the CL-215 in the 1960s, though its capabilities are awesome compared to its predecessors. Though it only has a top speed of 359 km/h (224 mph), in an average mission of 11 kilometres (six nautical miles) distance from water to fire, it can complete nine drops within an hour, delivering 55,233 litres (14,589 U.S. gallons). Also known as the Superscooper aicraft, is a high-wing, all-metal amphibious aircraft designed specifically for aerial firefighting. It features a four-compartment, four-door water tank system that can hold 6137 litres (1621 US gallons) of water/foam mixture and refills its tanks by skimming the surface of any suitable body of water. Read More
ESA BepiColombo mission to Mercury gets go-ahead
By Mike Hanlon
February 27, 2007 BepiColombo, the European Space Agency (ESA) mission to explore planet Mercury has received the go-ahead will now begin its industrial implementation phase, to prepare for launch in August 2013. BepiColombo is the next European planetary exploration project, and will be implemented in collaboration with Japan. A satellite 'duo' – consisting of an orbiter for planetary investigation and one for magnetospheric studies – will reach Mercury after a six-year journey towards the inner Solar System, to eventually perform the most extensive and detailed study of the planet so far. Read More
Gatech’s five-speed rocket engine
By Mike Hanlon
February 25, 2007 Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new protoype engine that allows satellites to take off with less fuel, opening the door for deep space missions, lower launch costs and more payload in orbit. The efficient satellite engine uses up to 40 percent less fuel by running on solar power while in space and by fine-tuning exhaust velocity. It uses a novel electric and magnetic field design that helps better control the exhaust particles. Ground control units can then exercise this control remotely to conserve fuel. Satellites using the Georgia Tech engine to blast off can carry more payload thanks to the mass freed up by the smaller amount of fuel needed for the trip into orbit. Or, if engineers wanted to use the reduced fuel load another way, the satellite could be launched more cheaply by using a smaller launch vehicle. Read More
New CH-47F Chinook helicopter begins Operational Testing with U.S. Army
By Mike Hanlon
February 20, 2007 The first production CH-47F Chinook helicopter is heading for the battlefield in the near future with the news that Operational Testing (OT) for the U.S. Army has begun at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. The aircraft successfully completed acceptance and developmental flight testing last December. The aircraft is the first of 452 CH-47F helicopters included in the U.S. Army Cargo Helicopter modernization program. It features a newly designed, modernized airframe and a Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System cockpit and BAE Digital Advanced Flight Control System. The advanced avionics provide improved situational awareness for flight crews with an advanced digital map display and a data transfer system that allows storing of preflight and mission data. Improved survivability features include Common Missile Warning and Improved Countermeasure Dispenser Systems. Read More
Freedom Glen
- November 25, 2009 @ 02:47 UTC
