Presentation: November 2018

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 19-Nov-2018
Subject: Cruise Missiles
Description: David presented a brief history of cruise missiles. Cruise missiles have had a major impact on our world today as they have often been the first weapon used in modern conflicts. A cruise missile is a unmanned aircraft, similar to a drone, except that it is typically meant to hit its target and  not return (with some exceptions). Cruise missiles differ from ballistic missiles, which have a boost phase and fall back to the target by gravity.

Cruise missiles were first conceptualized in WWI with the modification of Navy Curtis N-9 biplanes to fly into ships. The Army also developed the Kettering Bug, another pilotless biplane, to attack land targets. These weapons were too late for WWI, but the V1 Buzz Bomb was used extensively in WWII and widely regarded as the first effective cruise missile. Ground and Air launched cruise missiles culminated with the BGM-109 Tomahawk and AGM-86 ALCM missiles used today.

Event: Drone Testing

David organized a mini-event at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, CA. Several squadron members participating in our Quadcopter Kit AE Stem Project met at Baylands Park to fly the STEM Quad Lugs quadcopter. This quadcopter, built at the squadron by squadron members, was stable on the easy settings, near impossible to control on the sensitive settings. It will continue to fly in the future, and will be used at recruiting events. This successfully concludes this STEM project.

While there, the group also flew other member-owned quadcopters and fixed wing RC aircraft. The park had other RC modelers flying their aircraft, and the group spent quite a bit of time watching them as well.

Presentation: June 2018

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 4 June 2018
Subject: Delta-winged Aircraft
Description: Delta wings provide several important benefits. As triangular structures, they are inherently strong. Delta wings are streamlined. With supersonic aircraft, the leading edge of a delta wing can be angled so that the entire wing remains in subsonic air.  Delta wings have surprisingly good low speed performance due to vortex lift, or leading edge vortexes effectively creating a highly-cambered airfoil. Delta aircraft can have conventional tails or be a tailless flying wing. If the aircraft is also a flying-wing, it will have to land at high angles of attack due to limited ability to deploy flaps.

Presentation: April 2018

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 23 Apr 2018
Subject: The Stratolaunch Aircraft
Description: David gave a presentation this month on the Stratolaunch aircraft. The Stratolaunch is similar in concept to Spaceship One's mothership, the White Knight. It is a twin-boomed airplane used to carry satellite boosters to approximately 50,000 feet. The booster is then dropped for launch to low earth orbit. The Stratolaunch is the largest airplane by wingspan, with a 385 foot wing, longer than the wing of the Spruce Goose. Gross weight is over 1.3 million pounds, with a 500,000 pound payload. The airplane's six engines and many of the flight components were salvaged from two Boeing 747s. The Stratolaunch is currently undergoing high speed taxi testing. Its first flight is expected to be in 2019. 

External Activity: Supported SJSU's Reid-Hillview Open House

John Heldt and David Hartman supported San Jose State's Reid-Hillview Open House on 17 March 2018. The objective of the open house was to introduce the community to aviation and aviation-related careers. John and David talked about how aviation benefits the community, and about the CAP mission.  Squadron 80's drone, assembled from a STEM kit, was displayed and used to start conversations about CAP's Cadet Programs. The morning was successful with introducing the community, airport officials, and a community leader to aviation and to CAP.

Aerospace Minute, 12 Mar 2018

On 12-Mar, David talked about military weapons being made obsolete by newer models. Here's the gist of his talk:

Recent tensions with North Korea have lead to talk of increasing the US's nuclear defenses. Russia has responded by announcing a new set of weapons designed to defeat nuclear defenses.  Russian weapons includes a Samat ICBM launched hypersonic delivery vehicle. The Kinzhal hypersonic Kenzhal, designed to be launched from a MIG-31, was tested last week. They also announced a tomahawk-style hypersonic GLCM with a "nuclear booster", it is unclear how the booster works. A new underwater drone was announced with a 100 MT warhead and 1000 mile range, four of which can be carried on an Oscar-class sub.  The US has also announced plans for new weapons systems. An RFP for a next generation manned fighter to replace the F-22 and F-35 was announced, based on concerns over China's J-31. The B-21 program is underway to replace the B-2. It can be operated manned or unmanned. The A-10 will be replaced by a new Intelligence, Surveillance, and Light Attack (ISL) aircraft. Most likely, this will be the Cessna Scorpion, a new light jet that can be flown manned or unmanned.  Data for this came from multiple sources.

Presentation: November 2017

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 13 Nov 2017
Subject: UAS Rules and Regulations
Description: David will have to refresh my (Jeff's) memory on this one, as I'm afraid I do not recall what this presentation was.  This is due to my own questionable memory and is no fault of David's.

Activity: Quadcopter Electronics Configuration

Date of activity: 06 Nov 2017
Subject: Quadcopter Electronics Configuration
Description: Having done some experimentation at home on his own time, David brought out the software and demonstrated some basic configuration of the electronics.  The quadcopter is still not quite ready to fly, so we were unable to test that, but we could selectively run each engine separately.

Activity: Quadcopter Electronics Installation

Date of activity: 30 Oct 2017
Subject: Quadcopter Electronics Installation
Description: With the project well underway, this evening's entertainment consisted of installing the electronics that control the quadcopter.  This proved not as easy as it sounds, and was not quite completed successfully in the available time.

Activity: Quadcopter Assembly (start)

Date of activity: 09 Oct 2017
Subject: Quadcopter Airframe Assembly
Description: David led a few brave souls in beginning the assembly of the recently-received STEM quadcopter kit.  While we were not able to complete assembly in the available time, we did get quite a bit done.

Presentation: February 2017

This month's AE presenter: David
Date of presentation: 20 Feb 2017
Subject: STEM kit - Quadcopter
Description: From an email sent by David on 15-Feb:
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I finally received the "Build a Quad Copter" STEM kit.  Here is a summary of what I had put in the request for the kit:

•     Build the quadcopter with a couple senior members, include a couple cadets from Squadron 36.
•     Perform a density altitude experiment:
•  Fly in a cold environment, perhaps in a park outside in the morning. Baylands is a good park for this, Steven also suggested the RC park near Morgan Hill. Suspend a weight at the center of gravity, find the maximum that can be lifted.
•  Fly in a warm environment, perhaps the Squadron building with seats removed and the heater running. We should see that the max weight is less.
•     Give the following presentations to both Squadrons 80 and 36 as part of our AE program:
• General aerodynamics of a quad copter (Wikipedia on Vortex Ring State, Forbes article on what makes quadcopters so great for small drones).
• Use of drones, both commercial, hobby, SAR, and military.
• Effects of Density Altitude.
• (The above could be combined into one long preseo depending on the amount of content)

Thoughts on how to do this?  I can kick this off by giving a quick introduction to the project at the next Sq 80 meeting.
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Presentation: June 2016

This month's AE presenter: David

Date of presentation: 27-June-2016

Subject: The Stratolaunch Aircraft

Description: The Stratolaunch is a dual-fuselage, 6-engined aircraft designed to carry spacecraft to high altitudes for an aerial launch. It is under construction with a planned first-flight in late 2016. The all-composite aircraft's conceptual design was by Burt Rutan, and the intial project funding came from Paul Allen. When complete, it will be the largest aircraft (by wingspan) to ever fly. Engines and flight controls came from two Boeing 747's. It will be capable of launching spacecraft up to 500,000lb in weight. Potential spacecraft include the Dream Chaser IIS resupply ship.

Aerospace Minute by David

On 25 January, David talked about the Dragon 2 program from SpaceX. SpaceX is a commercial spacecraft company founded by Elan Musk, who also founded eBay and Tesla. The goal of SpaceX is to build reusable commercial spacecraft. The Falcon 9 booster has successfully launched capsules to the ISS and been recovered using rockets to soften the landing. To date, it has not successfully landed on its landing gear, but they are close to making it work. The Dragon 2 will be a manned capsule. It will also be recovered using rockets. Currently, it is undergoing testing tethered to a crane. Tests will culminate with it being dropped from a helicopter and recovered on its landing gear.

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.

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: 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.

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.