No presentation: December 2014

Due to fewer meetings being scheduled in December and other scheduling difficulties, there was no AE presentation given in Squadron 80 for the month of December.

Presentation: November 2014

This  months's AE presenter: David Hartman
Date of presentation:  17-November-2014
Subject: the Rosetta Mission
Description: Provided a brief status of the Rosetta mission and Philae probe.
The Rosetta mission reached its goals of intercepting 67P and landing Philae probe on its surface. This was an 11 year mission, and included fly-bys of earth and Mars.  The lander was successful in photographing the surface, but it came to rest in the shadow of a cliff. Lack of power from its solar cells eventually resulted in loss of contact with the lander. The AE presentation included details of he mission including efforts to recover the lander. Photos of the comet were displayed and discussed.

Presentation: October 2014

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 20-October-2014
Subject: The Lockheed Vega - History Comes To Life
Description: Jeff's October 2014 presentation talked about the Lockheed Vega, a record-setting airplane from the 1920s and 1930s, its history, significant accomplishments, and the efforts made by one man to restore the last one still flying to its original condition.

Most of the information and images were taken from Air & Space / Smithsonian Magazine, Oct/Nov 2014 issue, a corresponding article on their website, and the Wikipedia article on the Lockheed Vega.

Download a zip file containing both a PDF file of this presentation and the accompanying video that should (but doesn't) display as frame #2 in the presentation (1220 KB).

Reports: 2014 2nd Half AE Report and 2015 POA

Two PDFs were submitted to the group AEO on 14-Oct-2014, one containing the squadron's second half ("h2") of 2014 AE report, and one containing the squadron's 2015 AE POA.

These had to be sent out in October rather than January in order to meet the new requirement to switch to the fiscal year rather than the calendar year for such things, and to submit these reports by 15 October.  Therefore the h2 report only covers the period from July - September 2014 despite the "July to December" box being checked.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 6 Oct, David gave an update on the Cessna/Textron Scorpion jet. The Scorpion is designed as a light attack and reconnaissance aircraft.  The news is that Textron is actually flying prototypes at airshows. It was demonstrated at Farnborough Airshow last summer. Textron plans this as an export fighter, so focus is on demonstrating it in Europe.

Presentation: September 2014

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 15-September-2014
Subject: The B-58 Hustler
Description: the B-58 Hustler was important for several reasons. It was the first supersonic strategic bomber, capable of speeds in excess of Mach 2. It pushed the state of the art for aerospace engineering, with its first flight in October of 1959.  Finally, it was an icon of the Cold War and nuclear deterrence. It was a delta winged aircraft and required a crew of three. A single thermonuclear bomb and extra fuel was carried externally in a weapons pod. The program was canceled in 1969 due to concerns over cost.

Aerospace Excellence Program

David contacted a Mr Williams, a science teacher at his son's school, to follow up on the Aerospace Excellence program. An email was sent containing information and links, and an offer to help him get started if he is interested in incorporating this into his science curriculum.

Presentation: August 2014

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 18-August-2014
Subject: ESA - The Rosetta Mission
Description: Jeff gave his August presentation on the Rosetta Mission, a project launched in 2004 by the ESA (European Space Agency).  Rosetta is a mission to rendezvous with, and enter orbit around, the Jupiter-family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and to perform observations of the comet's nucleus and coma.

An important milestone for this mission was met very recently on 6 August, when the Rosetta craft entered orbit around the comet.  It is expected that the Philae lander will land on the comet's surface in November.

Most of the information and images were taken from the Rosetta Mission's page on the ESA website.

Download PDF file of this presentation (376 KB)

Presentation: July 2014

This month's AE presenter: David

Date of presentation: 14-July-2014

Subject: An Introduction to the Concorde

Description: David gave a presentation that covered the science behind Super Sonic Transports (SST), the international relationships that made the project possible, operations and scheduled flights, and the end of the program. The Concorde was designed with a narrow delta wing to provide better performance and control during transonic and supersonic flight. Britain and France partnered to share the program costs in the 1960's. The program was an international effort which promoted national pride, on the scale of the US space program. British Airways flew twice-daily flights between London and New York. Air France flew once-daily flights between Paris and New York. The final flight was 26-November-2003. The program was ended largely due to lack of financial viability.

Presentation: June 2014

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 16-June-2014
Subject: The Great War Gallery
Description: Jeff put together a picture show of sorts illustrating the state of military aviation during "the Great War" (World War I).  Since aviation in general was still in its infancy at the time, a wide range of wildly divergent aircraft was used, ranging from lighter-than-air craft used for observation and, well, spying (with a high mortality rate for the observers, given the wicker baskets and flaky parachutes) to huge biplane bombers that took 23 minutes to climb to 5,000'.

Most of the information and images were taken from an article in Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine about the book "The Great War: A Photographic Narrative" by Mark Holborn and Hilary Roberts (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 10/29/2013).

Download PDF file of this presentation (9.1 MB)

Aerospace Minute by David

On 2 June, David talked about competition in the market of commercial satellite imagery. Digital Globe currently sells images with a resolution of 50 cm, or about 20 inches. Airbus is selling images with better resolution. They have petitioned for permission to sell images with better resolution and are launching a satellite in August capable of images with 31 cm , or 12 inch resolution. Another challenge for Digital Globe is Skybox. Skybox is a startup that plans to launch 24 low cost, low resolution satellites in low orbit, each satellite about the size of a dorm room refrigerator. Through the use of scale out compute clusters and technologies such as Hadoop Map-Reduce, they are able to create high resolution images by stacking multiple low resolution images. This is a similar technique to stacking photos for astro-photography. It is rumored that Google is eyeing skybox for purchase, we could soon have Google Satellites.

Presentation: May 2014

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 12-May-2014
Subject: Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne
Description: In February, David talked about the career an accomplishments of aviation pioneer Burt Rutan. May's presentation was a in-depth look at his crowning achievement, SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne is the first privately funded manned spacecraft. Tech mogul Paul Alan funded the project, the objective wast to compete for the Ansari X-prize. The spacecraft successfully crossed the recognized threshold of space, 100km, two times in two weeks carrying a pilot and sandbags to simulate two passengers. Innovative technology was used including wings and engine. The wings folded upwards to 65deg to allow for a slow, controlled re-entry. This negated the need for extensive heat shielding. The engine was a hybrid, with liquid oxygen as the oxidizer flowing over a core of solid rubber as the propellent. This combined solid rocket motor stability and safety with the ability to stop and restart normally associated with liquid fuel motors. SpaceShipOne made three flights, and now hangs in the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.

No Presentation for April 2014

Due to other activities at Squadron 80 during the month of April 2014, there was no Aerospace Education presentation given at the squadron during that month.  This is not to say that AE as a general area of discussion was neglected, but no specific presentation was given.

Aerospace Bulletin Board

On 14-Apr-2014, David set up an AE bulletin board with a display on Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne. The display highlights the record breaking flights and emphasizes the spacecraft's innovative technology.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 31 March, David talked about the Air Force's efforts to save fuel through formation flying. Birds fly in formation to save energy, same concepts can be applied to aircraft. The Air Force found that C-17s can save about 10% on fuel consumption by flying level with the lead aircraft, 140 feet to either side, and 7000 ft spacing. Two test flights from Hawaii to the mainland resulted in the saving of 7000 lbs of fuel. Use of this technique requires relaxing delivery schedules so multiple aircraft can be flown at once. Also, additional avionics will be helpful. Aircraft considered for this program include the C-17,KC-135, KC-10, C-130, C-5, and F-16. Of special interest is flying fighters in close formation with their tankers on long ferry missions.

Presentation: March 2014

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 24-Mar-2014
Subject: Aerospace Education Quiz Night
Description: Jeff put together a short, 12-question quiz of items (trivia) related to Aerospace Education.  Each question preceded a brief discussion of the item concerned.  Following the rather lively quiz, he also showed a short comedy video of how NOT to run a helicopter ride operation (hint: don't show up drunk!).

Click here to view quiz online.

Presentation: February 2014

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 24-Feb-2014
Subject: Burt Rutan
Description: David's presentation for February was a discussion of the life and achievements of legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan.  He began with biographical information about how Mr. Rutan got started in the design field, then discussed a number of his most significant aircraft designs.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 27 January, David talked about the SR-72, a new spy plane proposed by Lockheed Martin. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology (AW & ST), the SR-72 will be a high altitude, high speed UAV similar in concept to the SR-71. The article pointed out that the trend in combat aircraft is back to "high and fast". McNamara had changed strategy from high and fast to low altitude and stealth when Gary Powers was shot down. This was based on fear of the SA-200 and Mig-25. This resulted in chines added to the SR-71, canted vertical stabilizers, and radar absorbing paint. The fears were unfounded due to ineffectiveness of the USSR's defenses. Primary focus of the F-22 is speed, altitude, and air combat with stealth a secondary objective. In the same spirit, the SR-72 will focus on altitude and speed, with stealth a secondary objective.  Note that this article in AW & ST was an editorial, so opinions here may have been highly subjective!

Contacted Local School to Promote AEX Program

On 26 January, David contacted the science teacher at a local grade school, CAS, about participation in CAP's AEX program. The teacher was enthusiastic about participation, indicating that it might be a good fit for the physics curriculum. He would include this in the lesson plans for next year. David also discussed the fly-a-teacher program, but he was not interested in that activity. Next Steps: Collect links describing the AEX program and email to the teacher.

Presentation: January 2014

This month's AE presenter: Jeff
Date of presentation: 13-Jan-2014
Subject: Ten Billion Miles From Home: The Voyager Probes
Description: Jeff talked about the status of the Voyager missions 1 and 2, 35 years after their launch date.  He discussed a number of aspects to the missions, including: their location with respect to the solar system; where in the sky they could be found if one had a powerful enough telescope; Voyager 1's status as the most distant man-made object in existence; the 1970s technology used to build and monitor the probes; the trillions of bits of data they have sent back to Earth over their lifetimes; the faintness of their signals; their present condition; and finally, the imminent end to their transmissions (and therefore their missions) due to weakening of their nuclear power sources.

Download PDF (144kb)