Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC), NASA, and Lockheed Martin engineers brought the Orion spacecraft one step closer to its first flight atop NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), and enabling humans to explore the moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). The team achieved a milestone in the program with a ground firing test of the abort motor for NASA’s Orion spacecraft launch abort system (LAS), designed to enhance spaceflight safety for astronauts, at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Promontory, Utah.
Two new installments in the burgeoning SAE International Podcast Series cast a spotlight on additive manufacturing, which is fueling innovation, greater efficiencies, and the future of mobility engineering. Additive manufacturing continues to advance and transform mobility engineering, as aerospace and automotive firms increasingly adopt and invest in 3D printing technologies, which are becoming more capable and cost-effective.
The collaborative development of digital twins will inform additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing), advanced composites, assembly, and industry 4.0 processes at GKN Aerospace's Global Technology Centre in order to enable the high rate production of aircraft structures.
Software engineers engaged in the construction and development of space launchers and solid and liquid propulsion systems for space travel at AVIO – a global aerospace company with five facilities in Italy, France, and French Guyana – are leveraging the GNAT Pro Assurance and GNATemulator from AdaCore, a provider of software development and verification tools, with headquarters in Paris and New York to develop and expedite testing of safety-critical, on-board software for the Vega C launcher.
Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin successfully completed the tenth launch of its suborbital launch vehicle New Shepard. The New Shepard is designed to be a crewed, space tourism vehicle, and although the launch was unmanned, statements made during Blue Origin’s launch broadcast suggest that the company has its first crewed launch test flight targeted for the end of this year.
Later this month, Dassault Aviation SA and Airbus SE will begin work on a first-ever joint concept study (JCS) to develop a new highly capable, manned “New Generation Fighter” (NGF) aircraft for France and Germany’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program. The aircraft concept is currently categorized as a “sixth-generation” fighter.
The digital automatic flight control system can be programmed for autonomous operations such as flight stabilization and unmanned flight to set checkpoints; however, Boeing is currently working with the Canadian military to increase the Chinook’s autonomous capabilities.
At Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 in Las Vegas, Nvidia of Santa Clara, California debuted a new automotive artificial intelligence (AI) system: DRIVE AutoPilot. The new system is part of the open, flexible Nvidia DRIVE platform used globally to build autonomous vehicle solutions that increase road safety while reducing driver fatigue and stress on long drives or in stop-and-go traffic.
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in the early hours of New Year's Day, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic Kuiper Belt, a region of primordial objects that holds keys to understanding the origins of the solar system.
Honeywell Aerospace, a division of Honeywell International, has rolled out a new business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce platform for buying and selling aerospace components. The new platform, GoDirect Trade, improves access to new and used aircraft parts for airlines, air transport, and business aviation customers by offering clear pricing and direct inventory access.
Mobility engineers and executives at Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, in Fort Worth, Texas, are developing new concepts of mobility to make moving people and products more efficient and effective – and launching urban air mobility (UAM) innovations, including the Bell Nexus air taxi design, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. They envision and are helping to enable a fleet of on-demand, quiet vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft capable of safely whisking passengers over traffic and across urban landscapes by the mid-2020s.
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has test fired its Raptor rocket engine at its Rocket Development and Test Facility, in McGregor, Texas. The Raptor is designed to power the Super Heavy first stage and Starship second stage launch vehicles.
Lockheed Martin Corporation has released the latest version of RELY3D, its advanced visualization and training tool for sensor system maintainers working on the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
Once in orbit, Archinaut One will use additive manufacturing techniques – or 3D printing – to create two 32-foot beams extending out from each side of the spacecraft. As manufacturing progresses, each beam will unfurl two solar arrays that generate up to five times more power than traditional solar panels on spacecraft of similar size.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials in Arlington, Virginia, have selected BAE Systems Electronic Systems in Nashua, New Hampshire, to integrate machine-learning (ML) technology, a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), into platforms that decipher radio-frequency (RF) signals. BAE Systems won up to $4.7 million in funding from DARPA to achieve key hardware delivery, integration, and demonstration milestones.
The Seattle Innovation Lab supports DENSO's recent expansion into software-based solutions to complement its hardware expertise, bolsters its North American R&D strategy, and helps actualize its long-term plan aimed at creating new value for future mobility.
When a four-alarm fire started burning at a Santa Clara, California construction site down the street from Impossible Aerospace Corporation, the startup sent one of its US-1 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone equipped with thermal and optical sensors to help ground crews battle the blaze.