International Aerospace Discussion

Shameek · Post by **Shameek** » 27 Aug 2009 07:20

Flanker in the US

Some pics of a rare Su-27 in the US.

Arun_S · Post by **Arun_S** » 31 Aug 2009 12:59

South Korea's First Rocket Launch A Success: Former Official

Seoul, South Korea (Yonhap) Aug 31, 2009
South Korea's first launch of a rocket must be viewed as a success, despite its inability to place a satellite into orbit, a former science and technology minister claimed Sunday.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 02 Sep 2009 06:22

Chinese Rocket Launches Satellite to Wrong Orbit

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 02 Sep 2009 07:02

http://a52.g.akamaitech.net/f/52/827/1d ... ies_02.jpg

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 03 Sep 2009 04:36

NASA's LRO Sees Rolling Boulders on the Moon

see pics

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 05 Sep 2009 11:02

Ken's MAKS 09 Report

http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/mos2009_day02.html
http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/mos2009_day04.html

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 05 Sep 2009 11:31

Tribute to the great designers
http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/mos2009_day01.html

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 05 Sep 2009 17:28

On the very sexy topic of "sensors":

One Clear Vision

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 07 Sep 2009 00:19

Iran says develops stealth missile interceptor system
Its amazing. How do they do that?!

Mahendra · Post by **Mahendra** » 07 Sep 2009 00:40

^^^
Just like the Djinns fought for the Paki army in 1965

Seriously, the Iranians have been making tall claims like the fighter they developed(lightening?) was better than F18/22 yada yada, these reports must be taken with a bucket of salt

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 07 Sep 2009 01:41

JASSM Chasm in Design, Quality, Cost

After 13 long years in development, the $7.1 billion Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) was reported still to be missing its target 40 percent of the time in early 2009 testing.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 07 Sep 2009 19:22

Amazing pics and clip of a UFO sighted by the Chinese during the recent eclipse.Check into the site for the video link.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... nutes.html

Chinese scientists 'filmed UFO for 40 minutes'
The UFO world is alive with speculation that China is about to reveal details of startling and detailed footage of an unidentified flying object taken during the solar eclipse on July 22.

Scientists at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing are reported to have confirmed that they filmed a UFO during the eclipse for 40 minutes. They say that they will spend the next 12 months studying the footage before drawing any conclusions.

'UFO' spotted during TV broadcast The director of the observatory, Ji Hai-sheng, told sina.com that scientists would not be speculating publicly on the nature of what was captured on film until it had been properly studied.

He added:"'Purple Mountain Observatory and Chinese Academy of Sciences said that during the July 22 total solar eclipse observation, China had discovered near the sun, by observing staff, an unidentified object, it's physical nature remains to be further studied.

"Currently manpower is being organized to deal with this data, complete the data analysis and reveal the scientific results and this will take at least one year's time to finalise."

The incident follows a series of UFO sightings in China which culminated in an object being captured on film by students in Deqing. The footage, which was featured on Chinese television, appears to show the object repeatedly changing shape after initially appearing as a glowing blue sphere.

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 08 Sep 2009 08:45

Brazil to buy French military jets, technology

rahulm · Post by **rahulm** » 09 Sep 2009 11:09

China unveils its largest commercial jet http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-new ... -fgny.html

"An arm of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) exhibited a miniature of its C919 in Hong Kong, with some observers hailing the occasion as proof the fast-rising communist country has arrived in the industry." Its a 168 - 190 seater.

Its just a model but delivery delivery to customers is by 2016

"....and is part of China's long-term plan to break the duopoly of Airbus and Boeing in the production of large commercial aircraft."

On a side note "..He also announced that the company had received a total of 208 confirmed and unconfirmed orders for its 70-seater ARJ21 -- which stands for Advanced Regional Jet for the 21st Century -- China's first home-made commercial plane."

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 10 Sep 2009 09:22

NASA can't afford to go back to the Moon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL4l4VW1pOY

shynee · Post by **shynee** » 10 Sep 2009 19:48

New space images from Hubble telescope

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 11 Sep 2009 10:10

Liftoff for Japan's H2B rocket headed for ISS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV9NgsxihcE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eohgwwxUOQ

Heh, like India, they don't seem to put any cameras onboard the rocket, and instead show us some stupid plotgraph or pictures of the launchsite for the duration of the flight. Like I said before, even a private company like SpaceX knows to put cameras on their Falcon rocket.

Igorr · Post by **Igorr** » 11 Sep 2009 11:22

Russian AAMs. R-33

soutikghosh · Post by **soutikghosh** » 11 Sep 2009 17:19

Senate panel seeks end to F-22 export ban

http://www.reuters.com/article/polit...5896JU20090910

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 12 Sep 2009 00:03

Japan's space freighter in orbit

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 12 Sep 2009 00:38

Gerard wrote:Japan's space freighter in orbit

Japan's H2A launch vehicle is able to lift 20 tonnes to LEO, while the rocket itself only weighs 530 tonnes.

How can they achieve such efficiency, which is obviously quite superior even to the upcoming GSLV Mk3.

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 12 Sep 2009 01:15

Full cryo (LOX/LH2) first and second stages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LE-7A#LE-7A

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 13 Sep 2009 00:21

No relocation of Bulava missile production - Russian Navy

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 13 Sep 2009 06:46

Here's a cool concept called Ajax, which is based on MHD propulsion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wsDSRKIEiw

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... ry_state0=

Brando · Post by **Brando** » 13 Sep 2009 08:57

Sanjay M wrote:
Gerard wrote:Japan's space freighter in orbit

Japan's H2A launch vehicle is able to lift 20 tonnes to LEO, while the rocket itself only weighs 530 tonnes.

How can they achieve such efficiency, which is obviously quite superior even to the upcoming GSLV Mk3.

The article you quoted says 16.5 tonnes capacity and JAXA is way more advanced than ISRO. Also, they dont import nearly as many components as ISRO does as they can fabricate most of the components locally. Finally, they have much bigger budget (even though they are in a budget crunch right now) and lots of help from Nasa .

ISRO should have been eying the ISS "freight market" a long time ago if they wanted a piece of that pie.

Brando · Post by **Brando** » 13 Sep 2009 09:42

Gerard wrote:Full cryo (LOX/LH2) first and second stages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LE-7A#LE-7A

Dont ALL heavy lifting rockets use staged combustion cycle cryo engines in their core stages these days ? Even the new Korean Naro-1 used a modified version of the RD-191 URM. The ULA's Atlas family also uses first, second and booster stage staged combustion cycle engines with RP-1.

Maybe ISRO's current needs in cost/tonne to GTO favors the hydrazine based engines in the core stage like NASA did back in the day with the early Titans. But I cant see them flogging the hypergol engines forever when the rest of the world is on the full-cryo bandwagon.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 13 Sep 2009 17:37

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter vs Russia's New Airborne Counter-Stealth Radars

Assessing the Tikhomirov NIIP L-Band Active Electronically Steered Array

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 13 Sep 2009 21:45

Armadillo Aerospace Wins Lunar Lander Prize

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsVbl34HIws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuJ_jASXMVY

10 months ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcWRc1wK3gM

Gerard · Post by **Gerard** » 14 Sep 2009 00:42

F16 Jet crash kills Israel hero's son

The 21-year-old pilot, Assaf Ramon, was the son of Israel's only astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

tarun · Post by **tarun** » 14 Sep 2009 15:50

http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnol ... 6&fsrc=rss

<Quote>
Drones also enable a government to avoid the political risk of putting combat boots on foreign soil.
</Quote>

Now what if non-state actors get hold of this technology.

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 15 Sep 2009 11:44

Boeing has 2 planes for tanker contest

The St. Louis-based defense unit of Boeing Co. on Monday offered details of its tanker proposals that would be either a KC-767 or a larger, converted 777. The latter would be comparable in size to the modified A330 offered by competitor Northrop Grumman Corp. and European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.

f it wins the contract, Boeing projects 50,000 jobs will be dedicated to the tanker. The planes would be built in Washington state.

It seems US does want to retain manufacturing of the flagship defence products by hook or crook.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 15 Sep 2009 18:24

tarun wrote:http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnol ... 6&fsrc=rss

Drones also enable a government to avoid the political risk of putting combat boots on foreign soil.
Now what if non-state actors get hold of this technology.

Pakistan is getting to be rather good at manufacturing and handling drones.

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 15 Sep 2009 23:44

Still more arm twisting by US

Boeing Meets With Brazilian Industry, Reaffirms Super Hornet as Best-Value Solution

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 16 Sep 2009 04:52

Dmurphy wrote:Still more arm twisting by US

Boeing Meets With Brazilian Industry, Reaffirms Super Hornet as Best-Value Solution

Competitors have been given until Sept. 18 to make further improvements to their offers, and Boeing is looking at all options.

Bottom line: Sharky was UNABLE to close the deal on his last trip.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 16 Sep 2009 07:50

Here's a rather niche product:

http://www.orbitaloutfitters.com/SpaceSuits.html

I wonder who would use such a suit, other than an SR-71 or Foxbat pilot?

AnimeshP · Post by **AnimeshP** » 16 Sep 2009 08:44

Sanjay M wrote:Here's a rather niche product:

http://www.orbitaloutfitters.com/SpaceSuits.html

I wonder who would use such a suit, other than an SR-71 or Foxbat pilot?

Maybe they are targeting the space tourism market ...

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 16 Sep 2009 20:03

Russia set to finish development of new air defense system

The S-500 is currently at the blueprint stage at the Almaz-Antei company and is expected to be rolled out by 2012.

"This work is in progress...I think this system will appear in the near future," Col. Gen. Alexander Zelin said.

The S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) is capable of intercepting and destroying airborne targets at a distance of up to 400 kilometers (250 miles), and can simultaneously engage up to six targets.

The S-500 is expected to have an extended range of up to 600 km (over 370 miles) and simultaneously engage up to 10 targets. The system will be capable of destroying hypersonic and ballistic targets.

Neshant · Post by **Neshant** » 17 Sep 2009 05:41

The "transfer of technology" buzzword is useless as hardly anything ever comes of it. Local companies never get to use their brains.

-----------

Brazil won't buy off-the-shelf arms like Venezuela

BRASILIA (AFP) - Brazil is looking to boost its technical capacity with its military purchases and is not "a Venezuela, buying in the world's arms supermarket," Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said Wednesday.

"We're not on a shopping spree. We're on a spree to boost national capacity," he told Brazil's Congress.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 17 Sep 2009 08:28

Masten Space Systems makes their attempt at the X-Prize:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/ ... 69817.aspx

Dmurphy · Post by **Dmurphy** » 17 Sep 2009 11:34

Gates endorses new U.S. bomber project

So the F-35 is not the last manned military aircraft by US after all.