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NASA spacecraft reaches furthest target in history

2019-01-03

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.

Article

Honeywell Aerospace launches B2B e-commerce site for aerospace components

2019-01-09

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.

Article

Shape-shifting wings to fly in July

2014-05-15

Stiff but flexible trailing-edge beams could replace conventional wing flaps to boost aerodynamic efficiency.

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Blue Origin aims for crewed New Shepard launch in 2019

2019-01-29

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.

Article

Astronaut garbage is a serious operational concern when travelling to the Moon and Mars

2018-12-18

Waste, trash, refuse – regardless of preferred nomenclature – the approach to managing it has stood for centuries: collect it and then send it somewhere else to be stored or incinerated. The same holds for waste produced by astronauts in space. But for those who may spend extended time on the Moon or Mars, this approach might not be the best idea.

Article

Late Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch company cancels launch vehicle projects

2019-01-21

Months after founder Paul G. Allen’s death, Seattle-based Stratolaunch Systems Corporation will abandon several launch vehicle projects. The news comes days after a brief social media update on the massive Stratolaunch composite aircraft’s latest high-speed taxi test at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California.

Article

A new expanding NASA aeroshell could mean larger planetary payloads

2018-09-18

On Sept. 12, NASA will conduct the first test flight of its latest heatshield, the Adaptable Deployable Entry Placement Technology (ADEPT) mechanically deployable semi-rigid aeroshell entry system.

Article

Collins Aerospace will provide avionics and synthetic vision for the supersonic X-59 QueSST

2019-01-31

The X-59 utilizes a long and slender airframe to achieve supersonic speeds without causing a high decibel sonic boom. The unconventional design precludes the use of a forward-looking window or viewport. Collins Aerospace is providing a dual multi-spectral enhanced vision system to give pilots a forward view of the airspace.

Article

Bell Nexus full-scale air taxi design debuts, taps novel VTOL, hybrid propulsion, energy storage, and avionics technologies

2019-01-09

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.

Article

2017 Nissan Rogue adds hybrid system with EV-only mode

2016-10-06

Nissan gives its 2017 compact crossover a hybrid-electric powertrain option and electric A/C.

Article

Lidar technology strengthens current approaches to ADAS

2019-05-13

Lidar technologies provide immediate and accurate free-space detection and excellent object detection and localization. As a result, a driver-assistance system designed with a high-performance, forward-looking lidar (FLL) sensor would greatly improve vehicle performance and safety. The third installment of this multipart series provides practical insight into the use of lidar technology as the cornerstone of a real-world advanced driver-assistance system.

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Jeff Bezos lays out Blue Origin’s moon shot, debuts lunar lander

2019-05-13

According to the presentation, the cargo variant of the Blue Moon lander can carry 3.6 metric tons to the lunar surface. Another lander variant could potentially stretch to be capable of carrying a 6.5-metric-ton, human-rated ascent stage.

Article

SAE International anti-counterfeit standards integral to obsolescence management

2018-07-25

Counterfeit parts prevention is integral to an effective obsolescence management plan, and the focus of anti-counterfeit standards – including Counterfeit Avoidance Standard (AS5553) and Counterfeit Detection Standard (AS6081) – from SAE International in Warrendale, Pa. SAE International officials are bringing the anti-counterfeit discussion and sharing best practices, which include adherence to critical standards, to the Future of Obsolescence Management (FOM) event on October 10 and 11 in Washington.

Article

Rolls-Royce to work with airframe manufacturers, seek partners for EVTOL project

2018-07-19

Rolls-Royce in London is unveiling a concept electric vertical take-off and landing (EVTOL) vehicle, including civil and military variants, that could take to the skies as soon as the early 2020s. The flexible design – able to be adapted for a variety of applications, including personal transport, public transport, logistics, and defense – is based upon technologies currently in use and under development.

Article

Tooling decisions play major role in cost, turnaround time

2018-07-24

“Laddering up” of the range of tooling options requires assessing at each plateau whether greater upfront investment in tooling will pay off with a relatively quick return on investment. Since tooling plays such a key role in this equation, it also means working closely with OEMs willing to evaluate the best available tooling options at any time as production requirements increase.

Article

Persistent Systems Auto-Tracking Antenna System adds aircraft to network, enhances data sharing

2018-07-12

The Auto-Tracking Antenna System, a new portable, ground-to-air antenna from Persistent Systems LLC in New York, incorporates aircraft into the Wave Relay mobile ad hoc network (MANET) to boost connectivity, communications, and distribution of critical sensor data, including full-motion video, on the networked battlefield. The precisely aimed tracking system works with the MPU5 radio and Wave Relay MANET to optimize connectivity and reliable communications to enable manned and unmanned aircraft to communicate further than ever before, officials say.

Article

Martin UAV VTOL unmanned aircraft taps Persistent Systems Wave Relay data link technology

2018-07-18

Engineers at Martin UAV are incorporating Wave Relay mobile ad hoc network (MANET) technology from Persistent Systems into the company’s V-BAT small, vertical takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Article

NASA invests $44M to advance ‘tipping point’ space exploration technologies

2018-08-08

NASA officials in Washington are investing $44 million in total awards to six U.S. companies to advance 10 aerospace technologies at the “tipping point” and with the potential to benefit the commercial space economy and future NASA missions, including lunar lander and deep space rocket engine technologies. A technology is considered at a “tipping point” if investment in a ground or flight demonstration will result in significantly maturing the technology and improving the company’s ability to bring it to market, officials say.

Article

Textron Systems, Textron Aviation Defense demonstrate simulated manned-unmanned teaming capability

2018-08-02

The ability to control unmanned systems from the cockpit of a manned tactical aircraft is coming closer to reality. Textron Systems and Textron Aviation have demonstrated manned-unmanned teaming – specifically the command and control (C2) of multiple unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones, from a single manned military aircraft.

Article

Northrop Grumman acquires Orbital ATK, adds solid rocket motors to space portfolio

2018-06-26

Northrop Grumman Corp. has acquired Orbital ATK Inc., one of only two leading U.S. manufacturers of solid rocket motors (SRMs), in exchange for $7.8 billion in cash and assumption of $1.4 billion in debt. Officials have finalized the acquisition and formed Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, the company’s fourth business sector, to enable greater expansion into the space market.