Feature Channels: Aviation and Aeronautics

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During more than 90 approaches to Zurich Airport conducted under the leadership of the Swiss SkyLab Foundation, researchers from Empa and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) tested an assistance system that supports pilots via a display during quiet and, at the same time, fuel-efficient approaches. The results show a measurable reduction in noise emissions and fuel consumption. Now the system, developed by DLR, is to be made ready for production.

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DHS S&T added a new calculator to their online tools today to estimate the natural decay of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in the air under various environmental conditions.

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The FAA has extended funding for the Maryland Smith-supported consortium that has developed decision support tools, operational and system concepts, and policymaking tools that benefit the FAA, the airline industry and the flying public.

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Research on seeded hydrogen in nuclear thermal rocket engines has won a graduate research assistant at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) one of two 2020 American Astronautical Society (AAS) Molly Macauley Awards for Science and Engineering.

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Flight tests designed to demonstrate the refurbished B61-12’s compatibility with the U.S. Air Force’s F-15E Strike Eagle jet fighter demonstrate the bomb’s compatibility with the jet.

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With the support of a new grant from the Office of Naval Research, aerospace engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are using their extensive knowledge of flow physics to determine how air flow will affect new jet fighters and how that flow can be manipulated or changed for optimal operation.

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The US Army is turning to “digital-twin” technology from Wichita State University to resolve challenges and boost efficiencies for its enduring fleet of Black Hawk helicopters.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how manufacturing supply chains are critical to the process of delivering products and services essential to life. Whilst a series of ‘lifeboat’ projects are needed to protect manufacturing capability in the short term, Professor Janet Godsell, from WMG, University of Warwick says now is the time for UK manufacturing supply chains to pivot and build capability for the future.

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Humans depend on fossil fuels as their primary energy source, especially in transportation. However, fossil fuels are both unsustainable and unsafe, serving as the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers in China have demonstrated a prototype device that uses microwave air plasmas for jet propulsion, generating the high-temperature, high-pressure plasma in situ using only injected air and electricity. They describe the engine in AIP Advances.

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Demand is growing for new materials that can be printed at ever smaller dimensions. Scientists are now creating metal-based nanomaterials for circuit boards that could be resistant to high-altitude radiation encountered by aerospace equipment and fighter jets.

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Sandia National Laboratories employees and contractors saw their work culminate in a hypersonic flight test conducted by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army on March 19 at the Kauai Test Facility in Hawaii.

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Here's an op-ed by Dean Headley, co-author of the Airline Quality Rating from Wichita State University.

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Scientists at Argonne have built software to measure how to conserve energy in flight with 21st century vehicles — including electric and hybrid airplanes and drones.

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Faculty experts at DePaul University are available for news media interviews about the COVID-19 pandemic. Scholars who research transportation, supply chain management, the history of pandemics, public health, hospitality and more.

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Olin College President Richard K. Miller, who will step down from his position on June 30, 2020, after 21 years, will serve as the Jerome C. Hunsaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 2020-21 academic year.

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Sandia National Laboratories robotics experts are working on a way to intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems midflight.

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The University of Alabama in Hunstville’s Aerophysics Research Center (ARC), operating on Redstone Arsenal, provides the government and commercial clients with a ready means of hypersonic scaled testing with its three, two-stage light gas gun systems.

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University of Washington researchers have developed a mathematical model that describes how rotating detonation engines work.

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Amy Pritchett, head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the world’s largest aerospace professional society.

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Contrails — the white, fluffy streaks in the sky that form behind planes — can harm the environment. Now, scientists report in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology that small flight path adjustments could reduce the climate impact of these emissions.

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Argonne scientists are combining one-of-a-kind x-ray experiments with novel computer simulations to help engineers at aerospace and defense companies save time and money.

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In a finding that could benefit drone design, award-winning research by a doctoral student at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) shows that the undulating flight paths of Monarch butterflies are actually more energy efficient than a straight-line path.

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UC San Diego Health launches pilot project using drones to move medical samples, supplies and documents between Jacobs Medical Center, Moores Cancer Center and the Center for Advanced Laboratory Medicine, speeding delivery of services and patient care currently managed through ground transport.

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It has never been safer to fly on commercial airlines, according to a new study by an MIT professor that tracks the continued decrease in passenger fatalities around the globe.

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The new year brings new tests for an ambitious liquid propellant rocket being engineered by the Space Hardware Club (SHC) at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

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“Better safe than sorry” is an overused credo in life. But in the world of aviation and oil-and-gas exploration, as much as anywhere, it can be the fine line between life and death. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recognizes this sobering reality and is betting that proven successes in one of those industries – aviation—can be applied to the other, specifically on offshore drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. And the Academies has turned to the University of North Dakota, which has expertise in both disciplines, for what could be a first-of-a-kind such study.

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Engineering students at South Dakota State University are designing a drone large enough to carry a human for their capstone senior design project through a nearly $80,000 grant from NASA.

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The Rwandan genocide forced Kwizera Imani and his family to spend nine years in a refugee camp. There, Imani fell in love with school, math in particular. Imani is now a senior in aerospace engineering at Iowa State University, and he’s graduating this weekend with five internships under his belt and a new adventure: a job at Collins Aerospace.

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HFES Government Relations Committee Chair, Dr. Mica Endsley, testified yesterday on behalf of the Society during a U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing entitled “The Boeing 737 MAX: Examining the Federal Aviation Administration’s Oversight of the Aircraft’s Certification.”

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DietDetective.com and the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center have released the 2019-20 Airline Food Study, rating foods for eleven (11) airlines. The study assigned a “Health Score” (5 stars = highest rated, 0 star = lowest rated) based on criteria including healthy nutrients and calorie levels of meals, snack boxes and individual snacks, level of transparency (display of nutrient information, menu online & ingredients), improvement and maintenance of healthy offerings, menu innovation and cooperation in providing nutritional information, overall sodium levels, availability of meals on flights under 3 hours, and our Airline Water Health Score.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released updated rankings for university research and development (R&D) expenditures, and Wichita State has held its position as the top university in the country for industry-funded aeronautical R&D with a total of $39 million in fiscal year 2018.

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UK's Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) has received a $1.8 million U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant to transform coal tar pitch into high-value carbon fiber for use in aircraft, automobiles, sporting goods and other high-performance materials.

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In preparation for another lunar landing, NASA is investing $2 million in cutting-edge thermal technology to be developed by a team of researchers from Texas A&M, Boeing and Paragon.

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The world of aerospace increasingly relies on carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites to build the structures of satellites, rockets and jet aircraft. But the life of those materials is limited by how they handle heat. A team of FAMU-FSU College of Engineering researchers from Florida State University’s High-Performance Materials Institute is developing a design for a heat shield that better protects those extremely fast machines.

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Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab want to know more about the potential harmful effects of organic contamination on space exploration hardware and how to prevent it. They will talk about their research at the 66th annual AVS International Symposium and Exhibition. JPL scientist Martin Maxwell will present a session on how increased sensitivity of instruments and missions calls for an update in outdated contamination procedures.

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Travellers are willing to pay a little more for flights if they know the extra money will be used to address carbon emissions, a new study from the UBC Sauder School of Business has found.

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DHS S&T awarded $200,000 to CryptoMove, Inc., to continue to enhance its dynamic defense data protection system for CBP Small Unmanned Aircraft System security. This is the final phase of a project that was awarded under the SVIP Small Unmanned Aircraft Capabilities Solicitation.

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A standing room only crowd at the AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum in Indianapolis, Ind. heard an overview of the state of the art of warp drive theory and the feasibility of a future working system. Engage.

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A new synthetic material that creates a linked sensory network similar to a biological nervous system could enable soft robots to sense how they interact with their environment and adjust their actions accordingly.

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A 2019 Airline Water Study released by DietDetective.com and the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center reveals that the quality of drinking water varies by airline, and many airlines have possibly provided passengers with unhealthy water.

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Wichita State's Dean Headley, co-author of the Airline Quality Rating, says travelers should book their holiday air travel early this year.

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An analysis of HOT SHOT sounding rocket data has revealed a way to provide an earlier, more accurate indicator of whether an experimental technology will succeed in flight without falling to pieces.

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DHS S&T awarded Planck Aerosystems, Inc. of San Diego, California, $200,000 to begin testing its autonomous small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) in operational settings.

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A polymer that self-destructs? While once a fictional idea, new polymers now exist that are rugged enough to ferry packages or sensors into hostile territory and vaporize immediately upon a military mission’s completion.

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The ASSURE research team released the findings of its 18-month air to ground collision study of small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) at a press conference on Wednesday, Aug. 14, at UAH.

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Researchers from the University of New Hampshire’s Marine School are part of the crew, led by National Geographic Explorer-at-Large Robert Ballard, that is trying to answer questions about the disappearance of pilot Amelia Earhart. UNH has developed an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), or robot, that can explore the seafloor in waters that may be too deep for divers.