International Aerospace Discussion - Jan 2018

[brar_w]

Will a "winged" booster (RLV) be able to slow down, turn 180 degrees, comeback all the way back and land horizontally with ZERO active propulsion (i.e gliding all the way)? AFAIK the Energia reusable boosters concept which were planned to do something similar needed a jet engine to be attached. If you have to attach a another engine plus fuel, a "winged" booster may not look as enticing.

This is expected to fly in a few years - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnL_FHYXk-k

[Singha]

the explosive russian lunar rocket also had a lot of clustered engines ... but they were problematic

30 engines

[JTull]

the explosive russian lunar rocket also had a lot of clustered engines ... but they were problematic

30 engines

Elon Musk has mentioned that there's a generational difference in avionics between them.
why clusters?

[NRao]

Amazing footage, from an onlooker, of the entire round trip of the booster rockets - launch to full recovery. Pls watch it on the largest screen you have:



He used one of these for the lens.

[SriKumar]

Quite the video. One sees the (Rapid) depolyment of the massive landing legs just 10 seconds before landing.
The rocket engine relights are seen at 8:15 and the sonic booms heard around 8:45. AT 333 m/s speed of sound at sea level, that places the camera nearly 10 kms away. The rapidity of deployment of the landing legs belies their huge size and momentum. At 7:17, the engines are fired once and shut down....not sure why. Was it to test their ability to light upon entry into atmosphere? SpaceX must have had to test the rocket re-lights with in-rushing air at terminal velocity ~100+ mph.

[NRao]

At 7:17, the engines are fired once and shut down....not sure why

Re-entry, into the atmosphere, burn. The second burn is the landing burn.


Those cores, each, has its own avionics!!! They sport 4 grid fins to guide the massive rocket back to a 0 (?) CEP landing. You can see the fins as it comes into land. They are made of some special material to withstand the temps.

Some cool stuff for a nerd to have started a rocket company about 15 years ago.

[Singha]

He did not start with btech freshers and fx calculator
All his top people must be long time industry veterans
I think nasa also freely shared tech with pvt cos as it was moving out of shuttles

[NRao]

Freshers? lol. How about interns?

Vets? Which vets?

The now famous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nULPR9MjKNw
(literally, how wrong were these guys.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56uD6Z3EIWI

There are more vids on such vets.



Which vet has ever thought of reuse? The only topic at SpaceX.

added l8r:

Found this on teh web, from 2012 (when the consultancy I once worked for *tried* to got involved with them):

What caught our eye, though, was SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s musings about how he hopes to staff up his company going forward. Noting that the average age of today’s SpaceX employees is 30, Musk told reporters that “his management goal is melding ‘the wisdom of age with the vibrancy of youth,’” according to the Journal.

Stat from 2014. This is for "engineers". The stat for SpaceX is "employees". Not comparable.:

the average age of NASA engineers at the time of Apollo 11 was 28. Nowadays it's 47 (popularmechanics.com)

[NRao]

SpaceX aims to make history 3 more times in 2018

SpaceX may also attempt the first water landing of its fairing, Musk hinted in the press conference following the Falcon Heavy launch. We can expect it in the next six months, he said, but the problem is that it’s not a guided landing and the fairing tends to drift on its way down.

“Fairing recovery has proven surprisingly difficult. You pop the parachute and you’ve got this giant awkward thing — it tends to interfere with the air flow on the parachute,” he said. “My guess is next six months we’ll figure out fairing recovery. We have a special boat to catch the fairing; it’s like a giant catcher’s mitt in boat form.”

That would be the “Large Barge,” though it hasn’t been put into play yet. Catching a falling fairing before it hits the water would be another historic feat, further reducing the cost of launch and recovery.

The last major item planned for this year is a crewed flight of the new Dragon capsule. Musk said at the press conference that “After Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Block 5 [the next revision of the platform], it’s all hands on deck for Crew Dragon. We’re aspiring to fly a crew orbit by the end of this year. I think the hardware will be ready.”

Commercial crewed missions are the next major area of interest of commercial space industry, and SpaceX is competing with Boeing for the glory of it and, as a secondary consideration, the lucrative government contracts. But sending actual humans up in rockets that still occasionally explode isn’t an option — the reliability of the launch platform has to be rock-solid and any issues causing failures need to be addressed.

SpaceX’s record has been clear for over a year; the last real failure was in 2016, when on September 1 a Falcon 9 exploded on the pad during launch prep, apparently caused by a pressure vessel failure. In late 2017 a Merlin engine exploded during testing, but that’s kind of what testing is for. And the mysterious Zuma payload from Northrop Grumman didn’t go right just last month, but it wasn’t actually SpaceX’s fault. Again, though, actual humans will be on this. As they say, “Failure is not an option.”

Nevertheless, Musk seemed confident that they would be ready for a crewed Dragon orbit by the end of the year.

Less clear timing-wise are early tests for the spaceship section of SpaceX’s BFR project. Musk gave a few hints about this at the press conference following the Falcon Heavy launch.



“I think we might also be able to do short hopper flights with the spaceship part of the BFR, maybe next year,” he said. “By hopper tests I mean go up several miles and come down. We’ll do flights of increasing complexity. We want to fly out, turn around, accelerate back real hard, and come in hot to test the heat shield.”

“The ship is capable of single-stage orbit if you want to fully load the tanks,” he added, but real test flights probably won’t happen for three or four years. How that all will play out is very much in flux right now. And who knows when Starlink, or whatever it’s called, will happen.

[SriKumar]

Freshers? lol. How about interns?

Vets? Which vets?

Found this on teh web, from 2012 (when the consultancy I once worked for *tried* to got involved with them):

What caught our eye, though, was SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s musings about how he hopes to staff up his company going forward. Noting that the average age of today’s SpaceX employees is 30, Musk told reporters that “his management goal is melding ‘the wisdom of age with the vibrancy of youth,’” according to the Journal.

Stat from 2014. This is for "engineers". The stat for SpaceX is "employees". Not comparable.:

the average age of NASA engineers at the time of Apollo 11 was 28. Nowadays it's 47 (popularmechanics.com)

I think singha mian is more on target than he is being given credit for when he talks about NASA and other help for SpaceX.

This is not software stuff, it is hardware that is going up and launching satellites. THere is a TON of work that needs to go in to develop and qualify materials, structures, entire rocket engines. Doubtless there had to have been a LOT of tech transfer from NASA in the form of information (and maybe people too). Not just NASA, traditional aerospace companies such as Boeing etc. in the form of people (not tech.) If it was all software, yes maybe, but not flight hardware. All of this is unseen but the web has some snippets if we search for it. Here is one....
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index ... ic=42814.0

I did not bother to search more but I am sure more is there.
There's another link that shows that NASA transferred 40+ patents to SPaceX for their endeavor. But that alone is not enough....making a flyable space vehicle is for the big boys, whether they are in the front or behind the scenes.

What Elon Musk brings to the table is his interest in taking risks that govt would not take...meaning he's will to fund it inspite of the greater number of failures...which comes naturally with greater risks and fast schedule. Your own quote of Elon Musk talks about 'melding wisdom of age with youthful exhuberace or something like that'. Clearly Elon gets it that there's no getting around the 'wisdom of age' part...that's his hat tip to past knowledge that was developed outside SpaceX. (I doubt there was any 'wisdom of age' comment for paypal).

Talking about risks, if you see the first private space flight ever.... SpaceShip One of Scaled Composites (I would put them in the 'traditional space industry' category, albeit private). Rutan had built *many* planes that flew for years before he went for the space thing. His first manned rocket-ship had atleast 1 (or 2) major malfunctions during the first flight...things that could have killed the pilot. It was lucky that there was no mishap on the fist (2-3) flights. For one, the display screen went blank when the rocket motor was turned on, and the pilot had only the stick to steer the craft straight into space with a rocket motor full blast! Next, there was a snap sound heard when the craft was in space...some structure had buckled. No idea what was the outcome. Third, the feathering mechanism, critical to reenter earth atmosphere did not work when the command was given. The craft would be shredded by aero forces in such a case. FOr some reason, it worked the second time the command was given. THere did not seem to be a whole lot of redundancy...seeing that he is sending people in all his flights. Elon has more flex room that way for now since his flights are un-manned. But if Mars is his target, his systems have to improve in robustness by an order of magnitude for human flight. I do hope he has deep enough pockets to keep going. Because he is the head honcho, he is funding it and willing to take risks, he will move faster than govt....for as long as he has the $$, and is the head honcho. My 2 cents....

[NRao]

Not to drag this ................... but much to be said

I think nasa also freely shared tech with pvt cos as it was moving out of shuttle

There is a lot more to this aspect of the narrative, but that is about right.

Just as a FYI, Musk is self taught rocket scientist. Pretty good at it too (after all he was accepted at Stanford in their PhD Physics curriculum).

However,

He did not start with btech freshers and fx calculator
All his top people must be long time industry veterans

This is not right.

Musk, from day one, rejected anyone if they did not meet two criteria:
* they did nto subscribe to his reuse vision. There is really nothing out there that is so heavily based on reuse - not much expertise. And
* cost. This criteria drove him towards interns or freshers.

Recall between 2002-2008ish, SpaceX had a failure rate of 75% and if not for the very last buck flight they would have gone under.

The company I worked for then (2013-14) had very young consultants, very highly experienced ones too, but were too expensive for Musk. We would have had to come in at about 10-20% of our quotes. That much of a diff. And, in (aero)space we were doing extremely well - both to loft sats into space and manage huge amount of data.

Here are two very short vids, from SpaceX, that are worth watching:


^^^^^ 2002-24. See 6:08 and then 6:50

Earth-to-Earth

[vasu raya]

It was surreal to watch the two boosters land back, the second burn in a close up video shows firing of one engine followed by few other, not all at once.

btw, it took 5 years and more than 30 tests to have repeat successes. India only got the Prithvi to expend in such a manner.

[NRao]

Another step in "engine"s:

Rolls Unveils IntelligentEngine Digital Strategy

Engines That Can Fix Themselves?

Rolls expects the IntelligentEngine initiative to play a greater role in designing more integrated airframe-engine combinations as the industry moves towards turbo-electric and hybrid propulsion systems in the future.

As Rolls-Royce celebrates key milestones at the Singapore Airshow for the Trent XWB97 and Trent 1000 TEN programs, the engine maker is highlighting the launch of the IntelligentEngine, an all-embracing digital strategy which the company says represents a paradigm shift in the way it designs, produces and supports propulsion systems.

While elements of the digital strategy, dubbed the IntelligentEngine, have been emerging for several years as engines have become smarter and services more data-driven, Rolls-Royce says leaps in processing power, data analytics, connectivity and cloud computing have enabled a step change in the way digital technology can impact the entire engine enterprise. “We see it almost as being as big a shift as going from piston to gas turbine. It’s almost a new way of thinking,” says Rolls-Royce marketing senior vice president Richard Goodhead.

Rolls-Royce has seen the digital footprint of each successive engine generation increase in lock-step with the use of computerized design systems and the growth in operating and performance data. At the same time data from manufacturing and suppliers has increased as the services side of the engine support business has flourished. Now, with the growth of digital capability, Rolls sees an opportunity to make the whole greater than the sum of the parts. “It’s a confluence of products, services and digital coming together – so in future they will be inextricably linked,” says Goodhead.

The IntelligentEngine initiative builds on recently established links between Rolls-Royce and tech companies like Microsoft and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) that Goodhead says gives the manufacturer the ability to “supercharge the overlap of products and services.” Rolls and Microsoft agreed in 2016 to integrate advanced analytics into the engine maker’s TotalCare services system based on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Building on these links, Rolls took a further step towards the IntelligentEngine concept in June 2017 when it opened the Derby, UK-based Airline Aircraft Availability Centre as a digitally-enabled hub for engine operations, maintenance and management.

The value of the Availability Center has become widely apparent to Rolls in recent months as the company tackles the Trent 1000 fleet issue concerned with the widespread replacement of prematurely corroded intermediate pressure turbine blades. Although Rolls acknowledges the issue has been more disruptive than it hoped, Goodhead says the ability to accurately model and predict corrosion rates and the remaining service life of blades has helped minimize downtime in most cases. “In the old world, we would have just had to take the engine off wing. If ever a cloud had a silver lining it has allowed us to say this is the kind of thing we can do with this technology.”

In December Rolls also launched the R2 Data Labs organization aimed at using advanced data analytics, industrial Artificial Intelligence and machine-learning techniques to develop new design, manufacturing and operational efficiencies. Based around a series of Data Innovation Cells housing teams of data experts, the Labs are designed to promote data innovation and build on a digital platform developed in partnership with TCS. Complimentary to the Microsoft system, Rolls says the Tata platform enables data to be captured, shared and analyzed more easily across the entire company.

“We are moving towards a world where engines will be connected (to Rolls-Royce and the airline infrastructure), and are contextually aware,” says Goodhead. “In the past, we’d have known what was happening inside the engine, but with the advent of all this data we can access now, we know much more about where the engine is going and how it is being used. That provides insights into how we can optimize the efficiency, durability and availability of the engine.”

“The engine is also becoming much more self-aware through artificial intelligence and machine learning. Ultimately we could see examples of where it has diagnosed an issue and is able to fix itself, perhaps through smart snake robots or a swarm of robots – that’s the pinnacle,” he says.

The Rolls initiative comes as arch-rivals General Electric and Pratt & Whitney make similar moves. GE, and its CFM joint venture with Safran, is developing the ‘digital twin’ concept to reduce unplanned engine downtime. The initiative is part of GE’s drive to become a digital manufacturing company and builds on its Predix software platform for the Industrial Internet. Pratt & Whitney, currently introducing its more sophisticated geared turbofan, has introduced the eFAST data ecosystem to reduce operational disruptions and increase utilization. P&W parent company UTC is currently investing $300 million in its Digital Accelerator business

[NRao]

Data point on Light:

Will USAF Actually Buy A Light Attack Aircraft This Time?

For those advocating the U.S. buy a light attack aircraft to fight terrorists in the Middle East, news that the U.S. Air Force has decided to skip a combat trial of the two top contenders and move straight into developing an acquisition strategy seems like a good sign.

The Air Force last summer brought four off-the-shelf aircraft – Sierra Nevada/Embraer’s A-29 Super Tucano, Textron’s AT-6, Textron's Scorpion jet and L3-Air Tractor's AT-802T Longsword – out to Holloman AFB, New Mexico, for a series of experiments designed to test their suitability for low-end combat. Since then, Air Force Leaders have repeatedly said that, if the experiment was deemed successful, the next step would be taking the top contenders downrange for a combat demonstration.

The service is now claiming that decision-makers have enough information to move forward with a potential light attack program without conducting a combat trial. What changed between then and now? Surely the Air Force would want to do a trial run in a realistic combat environment at some point before actually buying an off-the-shelf aircraft for the critical mission of protecting soldiers on the ground.

[vasu raya]

The digital twin concept is interesting, and Safran is a partner in this …hmm, so how intrusive is the sensor placement, the ones on test bench on one extreme with all those dangling wires and harnesses and the FADEC on operational engines being the other extreme by being part of the engine. Obviously they are targeting operational engines but does it need more info than what FADEC already provides?

[NRao]

so how intrusive is the sensor placement,

1980ish, Audi faced a strange problem: a knocking sound in its engines. This made buyers suspicious and it came after the "sudden acceleration" problem - which tanked sales (by about 85%)(in the US). Audi designed and introduced a mic inside each cylinder in the engine. And, then (much like the recent diesel problem) they wrote code to get rid of the "knock".

On the modern civilian engine, sensors are very intrusive. They provide real-time data, which are transmitted to ground every 15 minutes. What they are suggesting or gravitating towards is that the engine itself solve the problem - instead of engineers on teh ground. They have so much experience and thus confidence, that they are willing to relegate the task of finding a solution to software.

However, that is not of importance to India. It is that the code written for most of such situations is done in India!!!! IoT. As I have been saying for some time now, India has about a 500,000 (my estimated #) in the fields of AI and IoT. However, they all work for a foreign nation/company. That is the key: # + foreign.

One more quick observation: companies like GE Engines or the crafts like the F-35 are seen as "platforms" and more granularly as Software Platforms.

[vasu raya]

With the issues IAF has with the MKI engines, they would want such analytics available to them, they can always separate classified and non-classified sorties and then secure messaging with AFNET?

Safran assisted Kaveri being a new one will reduce many anxious moments with this feature.

Preventive maintenance is an issue even in the automotive field. To create local opportunities all GoI will have to do is mandate pollution monitoring at the source which covers all heavy vehicles. The downside is the Volkswagon gaming the system didn't come to light until the regulator made the effort. Engineers writing code would know these things I would presume.

Then the railways, if the GE diesel locos are being made they could apply this concept on them too.

[NRao]

Safran assisted Kaveri being a new one will reduce many anxious moments with this feature.

I did underline "civilian" in an earlier post. Cannot mix civilian and military. Just too much diff in certification, etc. Not worth comparisons.

1) That article and most that appear in AWST are civilian oriented. Defense is a totally different ball of wax. They do NOT intermingle
2) As far as I know Safran has (pretty much) promised to replace the hot section of the Kaveri with one from the Rafale engine (M88?).
A) That does not mean India will have access to the technologies (materials and production). I very much doubt they will divulge those secrets. I expect Safran to build a Kaveri with their techs, test and certify it, bolt it to a LCA and prove it can fly. (I would like them to, prior to all that, send 4 engines to India and test them for a few 1000 hours, eaach at B'luru, Mumbai, some real hot place in Gujarat/Rajasthan and Leh. IMHO no use bolting it to a LCA and then we find it does not perform in Leh.Let us see what they do). (BTW, Safran had made that offer around 2009. We are already 9 years behind on a Safran based Kaveri!!!)
B ) Safran is on the down swing. Recently, even Dassualt has dropped. That just as a FYI. No sureties in this field. Best to cook your own goose.



BTW, check this out - from GE. Possible by IOT (mentioned in an earlier post):



Most of that is implemented in India.

[NRao]

ME and MRO? What gives?

Why is India not capturing these deals?

MROs Make Moves In Middle East

With an engine backlog estimated at 2,528 units by Aviation Week’s Fleet & MRO Forecast, the Middle East will see healthy activity in the next few years as new models including the CFM International LEAP-1A, GE Aviation GE9X and the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB enter the region.

However, it is in mature and current engine types such as the CFM56, V2500 and the Trent 700 where some of the region’s engine repair companies will turn their attention to.

Mansoor Janahi, deputy CEO of Abu Dhabi-based Turbine Services and Solutions (TS&S), says demand is particularly high for the V2500 and the Trent 700 models, with both engine types continuing in production past the initial manufacturing end date by the OEMs.

“Due to the market size and structure, we are seeing a very large demand for induction slots on the V2500 engines,” he says.

“Along with the induction of many V2500 engines, the Trent 700 has also been a very strong product for us, with a record number of overhauls on this line, coming from both Rolls-Royce and other customers, including SriLankan Airlines and AMMROC (Advanced Military Maintenance Repair Overhaul Center) in the past year,” he adds.

Meanwhile, for Amman-headquartered Jordan Aeronautical-Systems Company (JAC), its attention will turn to driving up capabilities in its airframe and engine offerings.

Currently providing base and line maintenance services for the Boeing 737 classic, with a number of other offerings including services for engines such as the CFM56 family and a parts sale business, JAC’s CEO Ziad Abuain says the MRO will expand to Boeing 737NG and Airbus A320 family services in the next two years.

It’s no secret that the Middle East is also attractive to non-Middle Eastern companies, a fact illustrated by various investments in capabilities, facilities and tooling by MROs looking to strengthen their presence there. European companies Lufthansa Technik and SR Technics have operations in the UAE, centered on parts supply and training respectively, while engine OEMs such as GE Aviation also run facilities in the region.

Air India’s engineering and maintenance division, which has ambitious expansion plans across Asia and the Middle East, is looking to grow its line maintenance presence in the region, as detailed in an October 2017 interview with Inside MRO.

Russia’s Volga-Dnepr meanwhile, which runs its VD Gulf business out of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, has focused heavily on growing its presence as an airframe MRO provider in the region.

[NRao]

Civilian.

7 electric aircraft you could be flying in soon

One of them looks very familiar .......................

Zunum Aero

US multinational Boeing has invested, together with Silicon Valley's JetBlue Technology Ventures, in Seattle-based startup Zunum Aero.

Zunum's hybrid-electric aircraft promises something akin to door-to-door air travel, flying quietly and economically to thousands of underused local airfields and bypassing more inefficent and often congested larger airports.

The initial concept will be able to carry 12 passengers up to 700 miles, but it's been designed with scalability in mind. The idea is to develop a family of aircraft of increasingly larger size and longer range.

Although it starts as a hybrid, its design allows for a smooth transition to full electrical propulsion when new battery technology becomes available.

[brar_w]

[brar_w]

US Navy contracts Boeing to begin conformal fuel tank work for Super Hornet Block 3 ; Jane's International Defence Review ; 15-Feb-2018

Boeing has been contracted to design, develop, test, and integrate conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) for the US Navy’s (USN’s) fleet of F/A-18E/F Super Hornet combat aircraft.The contract, announced by the Department of Defense (DoD) on 14 February, is valued at USD219.6 million and will run through to July 2022.

Boeing first touted ‘shoulder-mounted’ CFTs as one of the features of its Super Hornet International Roadmap in 2011 and of its Advanced Super Hornet concept in 2013. These CFTs have now been rolled into the USN’s Super Hornet Block 3 upgrade, which should begin entering service in the early 2020s.

The two CFTs previously revealed sit flush on the upper fuselage where the wings meet the aircraft body, and provide an additional 1,369 litres (3,000 lb) of fuel to add to the 7,798 litres of the internal tanks and the 1,817 litres carried in each of the two external drop tanks that are typically hung from the underwing hardpoints. Any drag is more than offset by the additional aerodynamic lift that the CFTs create, the company has previously noted, and the tanks increase the aircraft’s 2,361 km range by about 10%.

With a programme of record of 568 Super Hornet strike fighters and 160 EA-18G Growler electronic warfare (EW) aircraft, Boeing is rolling out new airframes at a rate of about two per month. From about 2020 (subject to the required budgeting being allocated) the company will begin retrofitting the Block 3 enhancements, which as well as the CFTs will include upgrades to the Raytheon AN/APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar; an Elbit Systems large area display (LAD) 'glass' cockpit and next-generation avionics; an infrared search and track (IRST); Integrated Defensive Electronic Counter Measures (IDECM); and new General Electric F-414-400 enhanced engines.

Running parallel to the USN’s Super Hornet Block 3 effort is its Advanced EA-18G Growler programme. With both platforms being based on the same design, many of the Super Hornet features will be cross-decked over to the Growler. These will include AESA upgrades; open architecture advanced computing; advanced cockpit; CFTs; Next-Generation Jammer; Advanced Tactical Datalink; and the enhanced engines. The Growlers will also receive AN/ALQ-218 electronic support measures upgrades.

The Advanced EA-18G Growler effort will follow the same timelines as that for the Super Hornet Block 3.

[Rakesh]

^^^^
Of all the fighter in service, the F-18 by far has the most beautiful set of CFTs ever seen. An amazing job by Boeing.

US Navy funds CFTs for Super Hornet
http://www.combataircraft.net/2018/02/1 ... er-hornet/

[brar_w]

^ Those CFTs are designed and were fabricated by Northrop Grumman..

[Rakesh]

Then an amazing job by Northrop Grumman

[brar_w]

Elon Musk Explains Why SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Core Booster Crashed

"Not enough ignition fluid to light the outer two engines after several three engine relights," Musk wrote. "Fix is pretty obvious."

[NRao]

@FortuneTech
7 Dec 2017

Boeing CEO: We’re Going to Beat Elon Musk to Mars http://for.tn/2j3ZPXX

Elon Musk‏Verified account
@elonmusk
Replying to @FortuneTech
Do it

9:05 AM - 7 Dec 2017

Boeing CEO: We're Going to Beat Elon Musk to Mars

By ARIC JENKINS December 7, 2017

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg made a bold claim about his company’s chances to put a human on Mars before Elon Musk, who has high-profile plans of his own with SpaceX.

On CNBC Thursday morning, host Jim Cramer asked Muilenburg whether he or Musk would “get a man on Mars first.”

“Eventually we’re going to go to Mars and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket,” Muilenburg responded.

Ahead of that statement, he briefly outlined the buildup to Boeing’s Mars mission.

“We’re working on that next generation rocket right now with our NASA customers called ‘Space Launch System,'” Muilenburg said. “This is a rocket that’s about 36 stories tall, we’re in the final assembly right now, down near New Orleans. And we’re going to take a first test flight in 2019 and we’re going to do a slingshot mission around the moon.”

This is not the first time Muilenburg has challenged Musk’s plans to initiate human travel to Mars. At a tech conference last year in Chicago, Muilenburg echoed a nearly identical sentiment. “I’m convinced that the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding on a Boeing rocket,” he said, according to Bloomberg.

In recent years, Musk has generally been recognized as the face of mankind’s goal to colonize Mars due to his celebrity status. He presented an update on his Mars plan as recently as September in a speech at the International Astronautical Congress called “Making Life Multiplanetary.” According to Musk, SpaceX could begin its mission to Mars by 2022.

“I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars,” Musk said at the time.

THE problem? SpaceX BFR is expected to cost around $150 million. Boeing's SLS is around $1 billion.

SpaceX is expected to send a capsule to Mars in 2022 nd then again in 2024.

Boeing is expected to test the first rocket in late 2019. Plans to Mars I have not seen. Maybe I missed them.

But interesting times.

[NRao]

As a place holder.

NASA's Flagship Rocket Faces Yet Another Delay

NASA is tentatively delaying the maiden voyage of its much ballyhooed Space Launch System (SLS) for the second time this year, saying it will not be ready for takeoff until perhaps 2020.

The SLS has been in development since 2011. A heavy-lift rocket in combination with a crew capsule called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the SLS lacks for nothing in ambition. NASA plans to the SLS to be 385 feet tall with it a liftoff weight of 6.5 million pounds. Its four RS-25 engines would provide enough power to keep eight 747s aloft, and at liftoff it would produce a thrust equivalent to 160,000 Corvette engines—15 percent stronger than the famed Saturn V that took Neil Armstrong to the Moon.

The SLS has come to take up roughly half of NASA's budget devoted to space exploration, the other half going towards maintaining the International Space Station. A single SLS launch will cost $500 million. For comparison, a SpaceX Falcon 9 costs only $62 million to launch, although it can only lift around 18 percent of the mass. NASA was hoping that by getting the SLS' first unmanned test flight off the ground by late 2018 would show that rocket had earned its price tag.

Numerous problems resulted in the agency moving the launch date of Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) to 2019 in April. The technical problems, discussed in a Government Accountability Office report issued in April, highlight the difficulties of building a giant rocket ship. One issue: welding on the rocket's core stage, which acts as the SLS’s fuel tank and structural backbone, was found to be unacceptably weak. The European Service Module, built by the European Space Agency to maintain life support inside the Orion, is late. Throw in a February tornado that damaged the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where the SLS core is being built and the entire project hit a snag.


The Space Launch System (SLS) core stage pathfinder, which in size, shape and weight resembles the actual 212-foot-tall core stage.
NASA/MSFC/MAF/STEVEN SEIPEL

Now NASA is hedging its bets and saying that 2020 looks more likely, according to SpaceFlightNow. Says acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot:

“While the review of the possible manufacturing and production schedule risks indicate a launch date of June 2020, the agency is managing to December 2019. Since several of the key risks identified have not been actually realized, we are able to put in place mitigation strategies for those risks to protect the December 2019 date.”
Despite the ongoing delays and problems, there is an overall confidence in both NASA and its contractors at Boeing that the rocket is on course for an eventual liftoff from Cape Carnaval.

"The big items are done, and the team is focused on the intricate details of outfitting the flight hardware to perform specific tasks for the most powerful rocket in the world," said Chad Bryant, an SLS core stage manufacturing lead, in September. “When assembled, the core stage will stand taller than a 20-story building and include hundreds of cables for everything from data collection to propulsion systems.”

[brar_w]

[NRao]

SpaceX is about to launch two of its space internet satellites — the first of nearly 12,000

Sending up these two test spacecraft — named Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b — is a big first step in SpaceX’s long-term plans to create satellite internet. The company wants to create a giant constellation of nearly 12,000 satellites that will orbit in a synchronized dance above Earth, beaming internet connectivity to antenna receivers on the planet’s surface. One set of 4,425 satellites will sit about 700 miles up, while 7,518 satellites will sit about 200 miles up and operate on a different radio frequency. Such a massive satellite fleet will be constantly in motion around the planet and will supposedly be able to provide coverage to basically any spot on Earth at all times.

SpaceX joins race to make web truly worldwide

[NRao]

Somewhere here we had touched on embedded sensors. Watch this vid just to get a grasp around the techs and associated stats.

[Rakesh]

Original article is in French. Translated courtesy of Google Translate...

Rafale in Egypt: the United States blocks
https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-fi ... 68856.html

Negotiations for the sale of additional Rafale between France and Egypt are hampered by the United States. Washington refuses to export an American component aboard the Scalp cruise missile that Cairo wants to acquire. Its stuck seriously in negotiations between Paris and Cairo for the sale of additional Rafale (12 fighter jets) to the Egyptian Air Force, according to concordant sources. And this is not a funding issue as in the past. According to these sources, France is currently unable to deliver scalp cruise missiles manufactured by MBDA to Egyptians because of an American component. Contacted by La Tribune , Dassault Aviation and MBDA declined to comment.

Paris had given the green light to export the Scalp missile after its passage before the inter-ministerial commission for the study of exports of war materials (CIEEMG), but the United States blocked the sale. Washington follows the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Good war for the Americans. But this situation greatly irritates both the Egyptians, who absolutely want Scalp missiles, and Dassault Aviation, who does not want to miss a new Rafale sale.

Towards a new Franco-American arrangement?

If the supply of Rafale is not in danger, one explains to the Tribune, this operation is clearly slowed down in spite of the frequent comings and goings between Paris and Cairo of the Egyptian and French negotiators these last weeks. And all the pressure is on MBDA, which is in the sight of the Egyptian authorities, very up against the missile. So much so that Cairo wants the Scalp for free. What MBDA refuses. However, by the end of 2017, everything seemed to be in place for a signing between Cairo and Dassault Aviation at the beginning of this year at the time of a visit by Emmanuel Macron. It missed.

Either MBDA changes this component, or France and the United States find an arrangement at very high level. At the invitation of Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron will also visit the United States on 23 and 24 April. It should be remembered that François Hollande's visit to the United States in February 2014 had already settled the sale of two spy satellites in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The United States then refused to export some of the "made in USA" components needed to manufacture these two satellites.

[NRao]

The Winners Of Trump’s Pentagon Budget—And A Few Losers

http://aviationweek.com/site-files/avia ... inners.jpg

The Navy took advantage of the defense windfall to boost its aviation accounts, asking for 120 new aircraft this year alone. The seafaring service has made it clear they want more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets—a lot more. Reversing the previous administration’s plan to phase out the Boeing fighter in favor of the F-35C, the Navy is now planning to buy 110 additional Super Hornets over the next five years.

The Air Force’s research and development budget is set to explode in fiscal 2019, eclipsing even the requested procurement funding. Some of the money will go toward big-ticket modernization items, such as the B-21 bomber and the Next-Generation Air Dominance family of systems, which could include a next-generation fighter to replace the F-35, Lockheed’s F-22 air superiority fighter, or both. But with China emerging as the Air Force’s primary competitor, it will also be used to develop “game-changing technologies,” such as hypersonic aircraft and missiles, directed energy, unmanned autonomous platforms, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.

The Navy in particular is putting money toward developing high-energy lasers, asking for $299 million for the Navy Laser Family of Systems, a rapid prototyping effort that aims to provide near-term ship-based laser weapon capabilities. The service plans to develop and install a number of prototypes in fiscal 2019. Meanwhile, the Air Force is continuing its investment in fielding a high-energy laser on a fighter.

The Air Force and Navy are committed to sustaining their fourth-generation fighters, with both services increasing funding for aviation readiness through their operations and maintenance accounts. Meanwhile, both are investing in modernization as well. The Navy is continuing an effort to extend the life of its legacy McDonnell Douglas F/A-18A-D Hornets, including an airframe extension, new conformal fuel tanks to extend range, a more powerful computer and advanced cockpit displays. The Air Force, after floating the possibility of retiring its McDonnell Douglas F-15C/D Eagles in favor of upgraded General Dynamics F-16s, is now investing millions to upgrade all of its legacy fleets: the F-15s, F-16s and A-10 Warthogs.

With the defense spending windfall, many observers expected Trump’s Pentagon to ramp up purchases of Lockheed Martin’s F-35. But instead, the Pentagon has actually cut planned buys of the fighter in the short-term compared to the previous administration’s road map. The decrease is not a huge reduction—329 F-35s from fiscal 2018-21 versus 341—but it is significant given the increase in defense funding. Until recently, Air Force and Marine Corps leaders repeatedly made the case to Congress that more F-35s, and faster, will allow them to rejuvenate aging fleets while bringing production costs down. Meanwhile, the Air Force is investing $9.89 billion over the next five years to develop an “integrated family of systems and technologies” to ensure air superiority well into the decade, which will likely include a next-generation fighter.

[brar_w]

With the defense spending windfall, many observers expected Trump’s Pentagon to ramp up purchases of Lockheed Martin’s F-35. But instead, the Pentagon has actually cut planned buys of the fighter in the short-term compared to the previous administration’s road map. The decrease is not a huge reduction—329 F-35s from fiscal 2018-21 versus 341—but it is significant given the increase in defense funding. Until recently, Air Force and Marine Corps leaders repeatedly made the case to Congress that more F-35s, and faster, will allow them to rejuvenate aging fleets while bringing production costs down. Meanwhile, the Air Force is investing $9.89 billion over the next five years to develop an “integrated family of systems and technologies” to ensure air superiority well into the decade, which will likely include a next-generation fighter.

Aviation Week has lost a lot of talented folks but it would have been important to tell its readers how the US process usually works (budgets) and how the services tactically device a strategy to fill in the various buckets of their budgets. The President submits a budget request, the Congress authorizes the spending while usually making changes to what the President requests, and finally o the appropriators, provide funding to execute that.

Even a cursory look would show that the Congress has been authorizing and appropriating for more F-35s per year than what the President's budget has been asking for. IIRC in FY17 this was +15-20, while in FY18 it is expected to be +11. There is no reason to be believe that in FY19, and beyond, this trend would not continue. That 329/341 will look north of 360 by the time those budgets are actually enacted.

The services know how to play this game..they know that if a particular program has good levels of support in Congress they slightly under fund it while funding other priorities, new starts etc knowing that the Congress will go and top it up. For refrence, the Congress post the agreement and the 2-year budget deal will have to add $28 Billion to Trump's 2 budgets because that is by how much the deal extends spending by vs what Trump put out. Congress very rarely adds a lot of money in R&D accounts since they do not generate jobs..it is the procurement accounts that will get most of this $28 Billion so expect more F-35s, and possibly more F-18s as well in addition to other gear. The services know how to send just the right signals to congress in Congressional hearings and in the media...Here is one from the USAF following this budget release:

Gleason said this week that while a spike in annual production would be difficult for the Air Force to accommodate, if Congress provided the funding to cover all of the costs associated with an increase, the service would find a way to make it work. LINK

But the major theme which I had pointed to as well on budget day is that the USAF is betting big on future Research and Development in Next Generation Tactical Fighters (what comes after the F-35 and F-22), Hypersonic Weapons, AI, autonomy and Distributed sensors and command and control. One would have to go a long way back to find a budget where the USAF had requested more in R&D than procurement. . Tactical fighter program and associated accounts have likely not seen this level of windfall (pre program) since pre Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) days. It is pretty remarkable that the USAF is requiring/projecting 80% of the B-21's (a sanctioned, known program of record) R&D funding in 2021 for Air-Superiority portfolio where there is no publicly known sanctioned program. There is only one way to rationalize this spike - Expect a couple of X plane demonstrators and tech. development feeding a program that starts in the early-mid 2020s (2023-2025).

Air Force's five-year spending plan more than doubles funding for NGAD [Next Generation Air-Dominance]

The Air Force's budget outlook for Next-Generation Air Dominance has nearly doubled in its fiscal year 2019 funding request, which proposes $9.8 billion over the next five years to support continued experimentation and risk reduction for a new air dominance family of systems.

The budget request, released this week, proposes $503 million for the effort in FY-19 -- a slight drop from the $507 million projected in last year's request -- which would more than double in FY-20 to $1.3 billion. Funding would grow to $2 billion in FY-21, $3.1 billion in FY-22 and $2.8 billion in FY-23 under the Air Force's plan.

The increase in projected funding comes after last year's budget request programmed about $4.5 billion for NGAD across the future years defense program -- a steep jump compared to previous projections and an indication the service is eyeing contracts for risk-reduction and experimentation work. The FY-17 budget request called for just $20 million for NGAD and projected it would require only $12.8 million in FY-18 and FY-19.

One can see that sometime in late 2016 and 2017, the USAF gave a green light to begin heavy investment in the F-X technology maturation, and have aggressively added money to support that.

[Rakesh]

Good post Brar Saar. You give a good insight.

[brar_w]

JOTT conducts F-35 pre-IOT&E cold weather testing at Eielson

n April 2016, the Air Force made an announcement that would change Eielson AFB history. After a lengthy analysis of the installation’s operations, environmental factors and cost, the Secretary of the Air Force selected Eielson AFB to be the first operational USAF location outside the contiguous United States to receive the F-35A Lightning II.

In preparation for the arrival of the Department of Defense’s newest fifth-generation fighter, the installation has seen growth and changes. At the same time the Joint Strike Fighter Operational Test Team (JOTT) recently completed testing to determine whether all three variants of the F-35 are suitable and able to operate in the frigid weather of interior Alaska.

There is no question the F-35, which already completed developmental testing in sub-zero temperatures, will be coming to Alaska in 2020.

“The decision to station the F-35 here has been established,” said Robert Behler, Director, Operational Test & Evaluation Office of the Secretary of Defense. “We’re not trying to prove or disprove anything. We’re just trying to make sure this weapon system has the operational capability it needs to function in this environment.”

Due to its location, Eielson will be one of the harshest environments in which the aircraft will be stationed. It also makes it an ideal location for testing the F-35 in a cold weather environment for this pre-Initial Operational Testing & Evaluation (IOT&E) test event. The F-35 IOT&E, which is scheduled to formally start in the fall of 2018, will inform the warfighter and Congress on the aircraft’s overall effectiveness to conduct designed missions and the suitability of the weapon system. Additional pre-IOT&E test events will be permitted in coming months, before all necessary test readiness entrance criteria for the formal start of IOT&E are met in the fall of 2018. These additional events include mission scenarios for strike coordination and reconnaissance, aerial reconnaissance and close air support, along with weapons testing.

“We’re here at Eielson to prove the capability of the aircraft to operate under extreme conditions of cold weather,” said Behler, a former experimental test pilot who flew more than 65 aircraft types. “Being here and showing the aircraft’s ability to operate in this environment will tell a lot of people we have a credible weapon system.”

“It is a requirement of this weapon system to be able to operate in cold weather conditions,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew Molloy, the Air Force Operational Testing and Evaluation Center commander. “We are up here characterizing what that performance looks like and we will feed this information to not only decision makers, but also to the warfighter.”

Although the decision to base the F-35s at Eielson was made more than a year ago, the continued testing of the aircraft will ensure the DOD is delivering the most capable aircraft to the joint force.

“The whole objective of operational test and evaluation is to deliver a weapon system for our warriors that’s combat credible,” said Behler.

By combining Eielson’s advantageous location with the Joint Strike Fighter, the Icemen team will continue to provide stability in the Indo-Asia Pacific region for decades to come.

[vasu raya]

The Valor is making fast progress even with one prototype, don't know why the video was removed.

[brar_w]

This is technically a Tech demonstrator and not an FLV prototype (those will come a decade or so down the road). Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvfCMZN910U

[Rakesh]

https://twitter.com/sjha1618/status/965119100409303040 ---> Of course they are. Because while India will be given tosh about 'natural alliance of democracies', the 'socialist' totalitarians will be given the technology to deliver the goods. G-2 strategizing 101.

Rolls Royce chairman predicts: Chinese-made jet engines coming soon
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/18/rolls-r ... r=sharebar

- Rolls Royce expects China to begin engine manufacturing for jumbo jets, company Chairman Ian Davis said at the Singapore Summit.
- "It makes sense for industrialized countries to start doing so," he said.

[Cain Marko]

Indonesia buys 11 su35 for 11 billion USD.

price is reasonable, to be paid with coffee, tea and Palm oil. Indonesia wants to capitalize on international sanctions on Russia according to one report. Quick deliveries in 6, 18 and 23 months, entire order in less than two years. Nice.

And it took desh only 20 years to get 36 Rafale. Worst procurement system by far