The Scaled Composites Vanguard has taken to the air, and like most designs from Northrop Grumman’s experimental division, it’s different. Small, light in weight and powered by a relatively low power jet engine, the aircraft has the look of a miniature stealth fighter plane, and can carry 2,000 pounds of ordnance, including two air to air missiles in an enclosed weapons bay. The airplane is clearly designed to have a low radar cross-section, essential for survival in any contested airspace today.

For Northrop Grumman, this may be a replay of the company’s low-cost, lightweight fighter concept, a big hit from the early 1960s: the F-5 Freedom Fighter. 

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Orbital launch services are the key to the commercial development of space. Crude flight gets the headlines, but the vast majority of launches carry communications and Earth resources satellites, and of course, military applications.

But are there too many players in the market? Space X is in the low-cost launcher, but their major market is internal, with Starlink. And with the upcoming retirement of the ISS, the market for crewed flight is uncertain. The market may bifurcate into:
(1) fewer, heavy launch providers; and
(2) multiple small sat launchers with fast reaction capability.

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As software controlling everything from video games to jet airliners has become too complex to make completely error proof, the move to increasing flight automation continues to carry risk. No one knows this more than Boeing, but the fundamental problem of systems that are too complex for humans to check means that safety may ultimately be handed over to artificial intelligence.

First, for checking human generated code, then permitting the code itself, and finally, the piloting of the airplanes themselves. 

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There is plenty of talk in the mainstream media about the technical issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, but the real engineering issue is not rooted in pressure vessels, valves or lines. It’s management.

Starliner has launched previously to the international Space Station uncrewed, so the capability for fully autonomous flight exists at Boeing. The current flight was configured for human piloting, so the obvious option for Williams and Wilmore, which is to bring them back with a SpaceX capsule, may become necessary if NASA and Boeing can’t reconfigure Starliner to work around the thruster issues.

The zero risk option? Fly the astronauts back by SpaceX, then fly Starliner back empty, fix the issues, and launch it again. If Starliner returns unharmed, the decision will look like an abundance of caution, but all concerned will come out looking good.

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Barnaby Wainfan designed a radically different lifting body light aircraft over 30 years ago, that exhibited superior performance in almost every metric: speed, lifting capacity, interior volume, stall performance and centre of gravity tolerance.

It’s also cheap and easy to build. His designs are much talked about at the annual Oshkosh fly in for aviation enthusiasts, yet major aircraft manufacturers seem to be allergic to his innovations. Despite advantages in almost every metric relevant to light aircraft design, the industry appears wedded to conventional wings and fuselage design.

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Very few technologies in manufacturing have ever offered as much as 3D printing. Additive manufacturing is revolutionary in the way that computer numerical controlled machining was 50 years ago, and for some high-value industries, it’s a standard production tool.

But it’s been around for over 25 years in usable forms, and in the high-volume mass production consumer goods that we all use, additive manufacturing has yet to emerge as a production process.

Jim Anderson spoke with industry leader Glynn Fletcher at the recent RAPID/TCT additive show in the Los Angeles about the challenge and future of additive as a production technology.

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Before there were SUVs, there were station wagons, and millions of families loved the fake wood panelling, roof rack, but importantly, a comfortable ride with plenty of hauling capacity.

In the age before the SUV, this was a hotly contested market for the Detroit Three. Ford claimed to own this segment, and a major selling feature was their innovative two-way tailgate, which flipped down like a pickup truck, or could open like a car door, courtesy of a very clever hinge and latch arrangement.

And how did General Motors respond? With a system so clever and useful, that the gimmick laden tailgates of today’s SUV’s and light trucks don’t even come close. 

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The successful launch of Boeing’s CST 100 Starliner last week is a much-needed win for the company. The launch was impressive for the trouble-free nature of the countdown. It was also surprisingly similar to the process by which we launch crewed spacecraft in the 1960s. From launchpad operations, launch and mission control rooms, to the procedures used to launch the vehicles, it doesn’t seem to have changed a great deal, despite a drastically increased amount of available automation and software control. Even aboard the spacecraft, there are steel ringed binders and paper checklists. The dream of every space enthusiast everywhere has been that spaceships would be, Starliners. Craft that you could climb into, buckle up, and fly into orbit, a little like the way we use jets and airports. Fuel the vehicle, light the engines and go. This may happen someday…but not anytime soon. 

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The invention of gigantic diecasting machines has made it possible for Tesla to cast front and rear subframe assemblies as a single unit. But the predicted move to a single large diecast chassis for the upcoming small vehicle project appears to have been abandoned, according to a recent Reuters report. 

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Technical innovation in NASCAR has been a feature of the sport since its inception in 1949. Finding a competitive edge meant pushing rules to their limits and beyond, making mechanics as much the stars of the sport is drivers. 

The post Next Gen cars in NASCAR: Something Gained, Something Lost appeared first on Engineering.com.