Month: May 2016

Internship: Discovering and Improving The BAC Mono
Internship, Specials

Internship: Discovering and Improving The BAC Mono

In October 2015 I started my six month internship at Briggs Automotive Company (BAC) in Liverpool. BAC was founded in 2009 by the brothers Neil and Ian Briggs and is the manufacturer of the BAC Mono, a single seater road legal sports car, inspired to bring the Formula 1 experience to the road. The Mono is lightweight, under 600kg, due to the tubular space frame chassis and carbon composite body panels. The sequential Hewland gearbox, directly derived from Formula 3, is a structural component, bearing all rear suspension loads. The 2,5L four cylinder Mountune engine delivers over 300bhp, making the Mono both quick (0-60mph in 2,8s) and fast (top speed of 170mph). This all combined with the central seating location and low center of gravity makes for a unique experie...
Aviation, News, Operations

Embraer’s E190-E2 Takes to the Skies

Last week, Embraer’s E190-E2 took to the skies several months ahead of the internal schedule, making it the only new airplane program in recent history to be significantly ahead. The E2 is Embraer’s entry into the next phase of the E-Jet development being powered by Pratt & Whitney's GTF engines. A gearbox located within the shaft of the engine permits the compressor to run at a different regime than the fan. Conventional turbofans have both components attached to each other, and hence, running at the same velocity. The GTF engine allows for them to be dissociated and operate at their optimal speeds. Consequently, the turbofan consumes 15% less fuel, pollutes less, and is 75% quieter. In addition to its propulsion system, the airplane has new wings, a new empennage, enclosed main gear,...
News, Space engineering, Space flight

Galileo 13 & 14 Launched and In Orbit

    Galileo 13 & 14 have successfully been delivered into space, via a good old Soyuz 3-stager. The Galileo program is ESA’s 24-satellite constellation aimed at delivering a global satellite positioning system to Europe. The program started as a response to the Selective Availability (SA) of the Global Positioning System (GPS), meaning that the Unites States, who control the GPS network, can reduce the accuracy and precision of their positioning system selectively. Although SA was abolished in 2000, the European Union wanted a neutral platform that would be available to anyone, with improved precision and reliability. This week’s launch marks an important milestone, as half of the satellites needed for the system to be complete are placed in orbit. The service wi...
News, Space engineering, Space flight

NASA’s Space Balloon is Ready For Deployment

  In a 4-hour process that will broadcast live from the ISS on the morning on May 26th, NASA’s astronauts will begin to deploy the ‘BEAM’. Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, is essentially an inflatable room. It is designed such that it takes up less room to be transported and can then expand to 5 times its original size when inflated. Roughly the size of a small bedroom, this module will be accessible from the ISS’s Tranquility module. Inflatable rooms are thought to play a key role in future space missions to Mars & beyond. The ISS astronauts are first scheduled to enter the module on the 2nd of June 2016. However, they will not stay inside for extended periods of time as BEAM’s viability has to be analyzed first. BEAM is planned to stay deployed at the IS...
Exploring Human-like Automation in Air Traffic Management
Aviation, Operations

Exploring Human-like Automation in Air Traffic Management

Would you prefer to work with automation that solves problems just like yourself? Would such individual-sensitive automation be able to overcome the acceptance issues observed with the introduction of new decision-support automation? This PhD research aims to find out. In the Air Traffic Management domain, automation is expected to enable the necessary traffic capacity that is needed to meet the future demand for air travel. However,  introduction of increasingly sophisticated automation is at risk of being rejected, and threatening the required growth. This article discusses ongoing PhD research that is exploring the benefits of individual-sensitive automation capable to solve conflicts between aircraft as intelligently as an air traffic controller. Exploring automation bias We have re...
Boeing signs $11.3B contract with VietJet Air
Aviation, News, Operations

Boeing signs $11.3B contract with VietJet Air

  Just as the speculations were getting heated about Boeing’s stocks falling in value, the American multinational corporation signed an $11.3B contract with VietJet. The Vietnamese budget airline VietJet Air is looking for a replacement for its aging fleet, mostly comprised of refurbished old Airbus A320 variants. They are also awaiting 85 more deliveries from Airbus, altogether leading to a diverse fleet. Boeing 737 Max 200 was the aircraft of choice for VietJet, with a single-class configuration that seats up to 200 passengers, these birds (100 of them, to be precise) will provide a solid fleet for the low-cost operations. The contract was signed during President Obama’s visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, and the deliveries are expected to roll in from 2019, up until 2023. The Max 20...
A Floating Wind Farm
Aerodynamics and wind energy, Aviation, News

A Floating Wind Farm

With a focus shifting towards global sustainability, more effort is being put into improving the efficiency of renewable energy technologies. Wind energy is a predominant area of interest and now it takes on a new twist.   In July 2015, we published an article on the different ways to make a wind turbine float. Many pilot projects have been conducted to test which ones were the most effective. Statoil was the first company to makes significant strides in the area, and now that they have refined their design, a new project is about to set sail.   The Hywind Park has recently been approved to develop the world’s first, and largest, floating wind farm. The ocean off the coast of Scotland will soon be welcoming five floating six-megawatt turbines, anchored 24-35km from la...
Mercury’s transit
Astronomy and planetary sciences, News, Space flight

Mercury’s transit

A celestial event that will occur merely 14 times throughout the entire 21st century; it is now time for Mercury’s transit in front of our Sun. From the Earth’s perspective, only the transits of Mercury & Venus can be viewed. On May 9th 2016, Mercury could be seen as a minuscule black dot sailing in front of the Sun’s magnificent inferno. Centuries ago, it was the observation and analysis of the transit of Mercury (and Venus) that led astronomers to estimate astronomical distances. This was done by making use of the parallax effect. Astronomers would observe the transits from different geographical locations on Earth and precisely record the start and end of the transit. Thereby, the first estimates of the distance from the Earth to the Sun (1 AU) and other celestial bodies were...
Self-Destructible Unmanned Aircraft
Aviation, Manufacturing, Operations

Self-Destructible Unmanned Aircraft

Transporting supplies to emergency personnel and military teams that are based in difficult to access areas has been possible for quite some time. However, contemporary solutions require extra logistic efforts to realize the cleanup and disposal of the unmanned aircraft that accompanies the supplies. In order to eliminate this extra labor, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) initiated the ICARUS program.   Greek Mythology One might know the name Icarus (Ikaros) from Greek mythology. Icarus was the son of Daedalus, and together they escaped imprisonment by implementing the principles of flight with self-made wings. Unfortunately, Icarus flew too close to the sun, causing the wax in his wings to melt, thereby losing all the feathers attached to it. As a result...