June 2016 – Leonardo Times

Airfoil Design for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

27Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Airfoil Design for a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

With the depletion of fossil fuels, increasing emissions, and the inevitability of global warming, the interest in renewable energy grows. Conventional solutions, like horizontal axis wind turbines, are reaching the limits of their capabilities. Therefore, there is renewed interest in other models, such as the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). While there are multiple variations on the VAWT, the most viable one is the Darrieus turbine, patented in 1932 (Darrieus, 1931). This turbine operates on the principle of aerodynamic forces acting on vertically placed blades, spinning around an offset center. When enough torque is generated, power is produced. The advantages of this configuration are that it is easily scalable, will not suffer from gravitational loads and ha...

24Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, Operations

The Bombardier CSeries – A Review

There is a new aircraft on the block: the CS100. The CS100 and its sister aircraft, the CS300, are part of the CSeries aircraft family by Bombardier. These narrow bodies were designed to compete with the biggest best sellers: the A320 and B737 series. In the aerospace industry this is possibly one of the hardest challenges. Only one company has ever managed to do it: Airbus. It was back when Boeing had total hegemony over the market and did not take Airbus seriously. What a huge mistake that was- Airbus managed to sell its aircraft and thirty years later, it is now selling more narrow bodies than Boeing on a yearly basis. Airbus having the experience and Boeing having been duped already once, both companies are not about to let Bombardier off the hook so easily. The CSeries ...

NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge: Interview with Jason Kessler

20Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Astronomy and planetary sciences, Interview, Space engineering, Space flight, Specials

NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge: Interview with Jason Kessler

The narrative around asteroids has largely been one of ‘Impact-Threat Science’. The concept that asteroids are a threat has lead to a push in reconfiguring astronomy as ‘interventionist science’, ultimately suggesting militaristic endings. Many other asteroid scientists suggest contrasting innovative solutions. We caught up with Jason Kessler, Program Executive of NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge at the Border Sessions Festival in The Hague, where he was one of the speakers. NEOO, ARM and AGC: In 1998, NASA initiated Near Earth Objects (NEO) Observations programs with the aim to discover 90% of the NEOs larger than one kilometer in diameter and in 2005, Congress extended that goal to include 90% of the NEOs larger than 140 meters. The programs have been remarkably successful at achiev...

Emerging Victorious: The LISA Pathfinder

8Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Astronomy and planetary sciences, Space engineering, Space flight

Emerging Victorious: The LISA Pathfinder

The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) Pathfinder is a research spacecraft of the European Space Agency (ESA) and was launched in December 2015. The main purpose of the LISA Pathfinder mission is to test certain technologies for future space observatories to detect gravitational waves from large astronomical bodies (e.g. stars) around us. The LISA Pathfinder uses extremely sophisticated technology to observe the "path" taken by two cubes located in the heart of the spacecraft when subjected to pure gravitational free-fall. It is also ensured that the cubes act under the influence of gravity alone and hence, the LISA Pathfinder shields these two cubes from external disturbances like solar wind and/or pressure. Therefore, you have two cubes in pure gravitational free-fall insid...

Supersonic Commercial Travel: the Past, the Present, and the Future

7Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, Operations, Specials, Time Flies

Supersonic Commercial Travel: the Past, the Present, and the Future

The Concorde is a widely recognized plane, perhaps even more than the Boeing 747. To this day, it remains the only supersonic plane that operated commercial flights, despite a disastrous attempt from Tupolev to imitate the Anglo-French plane. Since its last flight in 2003, no commercial passenger has flown past the speed of sound. This could all be changing in the coming years as more and more private companies are investing in supersonic private jets, along with NASA’s recent announcement. Gone are the days where any passenger could travel from Paris or London to New York in a little over three hours. These days, any traveler will have to take anywhere between five and a half and over nine hours. Whether you blame it on FAA noise regulations or the economy, the final outcome re...

Airbus Pushes Towards High-Speed Compound Helicopter

6Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Aviation, News, Operations, Propulsion

Airbus Pushes Towards High-Speed Compound Helicopter

Helicopters are fantastic. They can easily access remote areas, and are capable of vertical takeoff and landing. However, what they seem to be lacking is speed when in forward flight. A few aerospace companies have taken to combining the VTOL capabilities of rotary aircraft, with the the forward speed that turboprop airplanes offer. Although there are many challenges, one of the biggest is keeping the price down . Three years after ending flight tests of its X3 high-speed demonstrator, Airbus Helicopters has been putting the final touches on a new compound helicopter design that could pave the way for a high-speed rotary-wing aircraft product in the 2020s. The company has completed wind-tunnel tests on the compound helicopter architecture, developed as part of the company’s contribution...

1Jun

By LeonardoTimesNo Comments

Astronomy and planetary sciences, Space flight

How Are Supermassive Black Holes Born?

It is believed that black holes are formed from ‘black hole seeds’ that grow out of smaller black holes. These seeds then grow by consuming the gas from their surroundings and merging with other small black holes. This process, however, is slow and fails to satisfactorily account for the rapid development of black holes. Now, an Italian group of scientists has identified two objects in the early universe which could be suitable candidates to be black hole seeds. Seen less than a billion years after the Big Bang, these ‘seeds’ weigh 100,000 times the mass of our Sun. These seeds are formed directly when a massive cloud of gas collapses onto itself, according to new findings. The Italian team’s new research points towards a theory that black holes start big and proceed to...