The Mars helicopter team is awarded the Collier Trophy for being the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flies with electric motors from the Swiss company maxon, a provider of precision drives. This prestigious award was presented on June 9th in Washington DC by the National Aeronautic Association…
Flexible rotary shafts to power Delta Airlines’ engines powering their first Airbus A321neo aircraft
Provider of flexible shaft products, S.S. White Technologies is supplying flexible shafts that transmit power to the hydraulic-activated Thrust Reverser Actuation Systems (TRAS) on Delta Airlines’ Pratt & Whitney GTF turbofan engines to power their first Airbus A321neo aircraft. Delta is committed to purchase a total of 155 Airbus A321neo platforms through 2027. S. S.…
Ontic acquires Servotek and Westcon product lines from Marsh Bellofram
Ontic, aerospace industry provider of ‘Extended Life Solutions’ for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) legacy and non-core products, has acquired electromechanical product lines from Marsh Bellofram. The products include Servotek TachSyn brushless DC tachometer and commutators, instrument-grade DC tachometers and rotary encoders. The products are on a variety of industrial and aerospace applications. Westcon AC/DC tachometers…
Flexible rotary shafts support thrust reverser on 150 LEAP 1-A turbofan engines
S.S. White Technologies is supplying the flexible shafts that transmit power to activate and synchronize the deployment of the Thrust Reverser Actuation Systems (TRAS) on 150 CFM International LEAP-1A turbofan engines that have been selected to power UK based Jet2’s latest order for up to 75 Airbus A321neo aircraft. The CFM LEAP-1A turbofan engines incorporate…
Drone-mounted inspection breaks barriers for F-35
By Dr. David Rizzo The F-35 Lightning II is an all-weather stealth combat aircraft built to perform warfare strike missions and electronic surveillance capabilities at speeds up to 1.6 Mach. Composites comprise 35% of the airframe weight, with the majority being bismaleimide, as well as some carbon nanotube-reinforced epoxy — which has a tensile strength…
TriStar, a misunderstood failure of design
By Charles Tschaggeny, Tschaggeny Design In 1984, Lockheed ceased production of the L1011 TriStar airplane and exited the world of commercial aircraft for good. For Lockheed, its latest passenger jet had been heralded as a technological marvel but was, in fact, a business disaster. The TriStar is a fascinating story that clearly illustrates fundamental concepts…
How drones are advancing metrology for fighter jets
The F-35 Lightning II is an all-weather stealth combat aircraft intended to perform warfare strike missions and electronic surveillance capabilities at speeds up to 1.6 Mach. Composites comprise 35% of the airframe weight, with the majority being bismaleimide, and some carbon nanotube-reinforced epoxy — which has a tensile strength of approximately 100 times greater than…
Nye Lubricants’ Pennzane Oil to launch on James Webb Space Telescope
Nye Lubricants will take part in its second high-profile NASA mission in 2021 with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch on December 24 from French Guiana. This infrared telescope, developed in conjunction with the European Canadian space agencies, will be used to study and compare the evolution of exoplanets to planets in…
Vibration tests boost NASA’s electric aircraft project
To ensure NASA’s new X-57 “Maxwell” electric aircraft would be energy efficient and safe for use, NASA carried out extensive ground vibration tests, simulating the stresses it would experience during a real flight. With the increasing demand for electric-powered ground transportation, NASA wanted to prove that an aircraft could also be electrically powered. The result…
AstroAccess completes ZERO-G Parabolic flight with crew of 12 disability ambassadors
AstroAccess, an initiative dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in space exploration, and Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) successfully completed a parabolic flight with a crew of 12 ambassadors with mobility, vision and hearing disabilities on Sunday, October 17. On Sunday, the ZERO-G aircraft ascended to an altitude of 32,000 feet, at which point the vehicle commenced…
Ruggidized modular computers come in small form factor
The DAGRX and SAYBRX small form factor (SFF) line replaceable unit (LRU) computers featuring Intel processors and flexible I/O deliver high performance in a compact package. The modular I/O approach in both rugged and lab variants empower users to select what is necessary for the application, optimizing size, weight and power (SWaP). The DAGRX and…
Custom hose design helps aerospace test facility
By Michael Hoffman, of Dragos and the SANS Technology Institute Few industries require more product validation and qualification than the military and aerospace sectors. Before any new technology is approved by the military’s regulatory agencies, they must undergo many levels of technology development, often in a simulated environment. This test environment is designed to push…
Build, test and repeat: Getting your hobby projects “off the ground”
Some people have a project car. Weekends and evenings are spent tuning, working Bondo and fiberglass to patch holes, cursing the frustrations of electrical work, and relishing the feeling when the engine roars to life for the first time. My ‘project car’ is actually a Rotorway JetExec helicopter. Same journey, same payoff, slightly different license…
Laird R&F Products offer innovative thermal conductivity for aerospace and defense
Laird R&F Products, a DuPont business, now offers a series of innovative thermal products that help aerospace and defense design engineers tackle rising heat loads in advanced electronics. “With more components in tighter spaces in aerospace and defense technology, design engineers need to manage more heat than ever before while protecting sensitive components from damage…
S. White Technologies rotary shafts activate thrust reverser actuation systems on Pratt & Whitney (IAE) V2500 turbofan engines
S.S. White Technologies, provider of flexible rotary shafts for the aerospace industry, is the supplier of flexible shafts that transmit power to activate the critical Collins Aerospace Thrust Reverser Actuation Systems (TRAS) on the Pratt & Whitney (IAE) V2500 turbofan engines that just passed 250 million flight hours of service. S.S. White provides a set…
Abaco Systems announces design win for Minehunting System
Abaco Systems announces a design win which supports a customer with upgrades to a Minehunting system, which is a towed sonar array that uses multiple sensors to identify and detect mine-like objects. These upgrades will provide faster processing and the latest technology which will increase safety for warfighters. This win contains Abaco’s VP780 FPGA card,…
S.S. White’s flexible rotary shafts help power engines on first flight of Boeing’s 737 MAX 10
S.S. White Technologies is the supplier of flexible shafts that transmit power to activate the critical Thrust Reverser Actuation Systems (TRAS) on the CFM LEAP 1-B turbofan engines that powered the first flight of the B737 MAX 10 aircraft. S.S. White provides a set of flexible rotary shafts per LEAP 1-B TRAS that transfer power…
Disrupting the aerospace industry
I hope you’ve been enjoying our monthly Future of Design Engineering Series of webinars as much as I have. Recently, we had an engaging talk by Charlie Light, Program Manager for the Space Based Nuclear Detonation Detection Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Light’s discussion of the aerospace/defense sector was fascinating. Once dominated by very…
How to overcome micro defects for aerospace manufacturing applications
“Measure twice and cut once” is a common expression in manufacturing, but it’s easier said than done when machining difficult materials. That’s why, when a global aerospace manufacturer sought to eliminate an entire second stage from its drilling processes while also improving hole quality, it turned to metal cutting specialists. Here, James Thorpe, global product…
Curtiss-Wright awarded contract from federal equipment company to support U.S. Navy CVN-80 and -81 Ford-class aircraft carrier programs
Curtiss-Wright Actuation Division announced that it has been awarded a contract to provide Exlar® Electro-Mechanical Actuators to Federal Equipment Company in support of their weapons elevator systems for the Ford-class aircraft carrier program. Exlar actuators are used in several other mission critical areas on the Ford-class carriers, including the Jet Blast Defector, Integrated Catapult Control…
Single board computer and Avionics I/O boards for flight-certifiable applications
Abaco Systems, Inc. announced the release of two boards, the SBC314C single-board computer and RAR15XC avionics data bus communications XMC mezzanine board, for embedded flight-certifiable applications. Previously only available as part of the FORCE2C rugged line replaceable unit (LRU), the two are now each available as separate boards. The SBC314C 3U VPX single board computer,…
Swiss precision motors handle the valuable Mars soil samples
NASA’s Perseverance rover will be landing on Mars on February 18th. Was there once life on Mars? This is the question that one of the most complex robotic systems ever built by humankind has set out to answer. Several of maxon’s electric drives are used for handling the soil samples — and to control the…
SAKOR Technologies provides new dynamometer system for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
SAKOR Technologies Inc. has announced that it recently provided a dynamometer test system to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. for use in testing starters/alternators for military remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) of the Predator class and larger. The system has a 58 horsepower (Hp) AccuDyne AC 4 quadrant motoring dynamometer and other subsystems configured for starter/generator…
Abaco wins major order to support Space Force Protected Tactical Satellite Communication Program
Abaco Systems, Inc. announces an initial award of a $900k design win, with a lifetime potential win of several million, for ground control interface supporting Space Force’s Protected Tactical Satellite (PTS) Communication Program (SATCOM). PTS serves as a next-generation anti-jamming satellite communication system to support warfighters globally. Abaco is proud to continue our strong tradition…
Sakor provides dynamometer system to General Atomics Aeronautical
Sakor Technologies Inc. announced that it recently provided a dynamometer test system to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. for use in testing starters/alternators for military remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) of the Predator class and larger. The system features a 58-hp AccuDyne AC 4 quadrant motoring dynamometer and other subsystems configured for starter/generator testing and is…