SPACE RESEARCH 16 SATCOM 32 AERODYNAMICS 12 Can ISS whet investor appetites? Pentagon eyes private satellites Applying shape-memory alloys N O F E A R Once the bane of airports, drones are increasingly welcomed. Learn why. PAGE 24 NOVEMBER 2017 | A publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics | aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org 8–12 JANUARY 2018 KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA Seizing the Next Digital Transformation Our profession is changing. Disruptions in business markets, the dawn of digital engineering, a profusion of data, human–machine teaming, and the latest innovative technology are all shaking up the status quo and driving the evolution of aerospace. A diverse group of expert panelists will engage the audience in spirited discussion on what the fourth industrial revolution means for the aerospace enterprise. ~~ PLENARY AND FORUM 360 SESSIONS • Digital Enterprise Business Models—Their Impact on • On Demand Mobility—Enabling Technologies the Aerospace Industry and Capabilities • The Dawn of Digital Engineering • On Demand Mobility—Regulatory and Operational Challenges • Digital Transformations Disrupting Aerospace Business Models • Welcome to the Holodeck • Data, Data Everywhere—the Power & Potential • Prizes & Challenges—How Crowdsourcing Can Help Solve Technology Gaps • Data, Data Everywhere—the Devil in the Details • Human–Machine Teaming • Digital Natives Leading the Digital Transformation in Design and Knowledge Environments • Serving Our Robot Overlords • Dude, Where’s My Flying Car? ~~ TECHNICAL PROGRAM More than 2,700 papers from 43 countries, giving you extensive access to a wide range of the latest research and development, not just in your own areas of expertise, but across technological boundaries.  LEARN MORE scitech.aiaa.org/forumschedule FEATURES | November 2017 MORE AT aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org 24 16 32 International Space Managing military Station’s fi nal push broadband satellite Reconsidering Pharmaceutical and materials The U.S. Air force and a host of drones experiments in the last years of the interested parties are analyzing orbiting lab could determine the how much of the military’s long- future of such space research. term demand can be satisfi ed by Airlines and airports are discovering commercial players. that small unmanned aircraft can help By Adam Hadhazy with safety and maintenance tasks and By Tom Risen possibly save money. By Joe Stumpe On the cover: Photo illustration of a drone superimposed on a runway at Hartsfi eld-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Image credit: Michael Baker International, Canard Drones aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org | NOVEMBER 2017 | 1 8–10 MAY 2018 LAUREL, MD CALL FOR TECHNICAL BRIEFINGS The AIAA Defense and Security Forum (AIAA DEFENSE 2018) brings together the contractor, acquisition, and R&D communities for classified and unclassified discussions of critical technical, programmatic, and policy topics in a SECRET/NoFORN unbiased, nonpartisan environment. TOPICS INCLUDE Robotic and Unmanned Weapon Systems Advanced Prototypes Space Systems Aerospace and Defense Computing Systems Strategic Missile Systems – Ground and Sea Based Countermeasures Survivability Directed Energy Weapons Systems and Decision Analysis for National Security Estimation, Guidance, Navigation and Control Tactical Missiles Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Weapon System Performance Analysis, Modeling Innovative Concepts and Technologies and Simulation Missile Defense Weapon System Test and Evaluation SUBMIT YOUR UNRESTRICTED ABSTRACTS TODAY! Abstract Deadline: 30 November 2017 defense.aiaa.org AEROSPACE ★ ★ ★ A M E R I C A ★ ★ ★ NOVEMBER 2017, VOL. 55, NO. 10 IN THIS ISSUE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ben Iannotta Keith Button [email protected] ASSOCIATE EDITOR Keith has written for C4ISR Journal and Hedge Fund Alert, where he Karen Small broke news of the 2007 Bear Stearns scandal that kicked off the global [email protected] credit crisis. STAFF REPORTER PAGE 12 Tom Risen [email protected] EDITOR, AIAA BULLETIN Adam Hadhazy Christine Williams Adam reports on astrophysics and technology. His work has appeared in [email protected] Discover and New Scientist magazines. EDITOR EMERITUS Jerry Grey PAGE 16 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Keith Button, Henry Canaday, Joe Stumpe Adam Hadhazy, Robert van der Linden, Joe Stumpe, Debra Werner, Frank H. Winter A freelance reporter based in Wichita, Kansas, Joe has written for The New York Times, Agence France-Presse and The Huffi ngton Post. James “Jim” Maser AIAA PRESIDENT PAGE 24 John Langford AIAA PRESIDENT-ELECT Sandra H. Magnus PUBLISHER Rodger S. Williams DEPUTY PUBLISHER ADVERTISING Debra Werner Joan Daly, 703-938-5907 [email protected] A frequent contributor to Aerospace America, Debra is also a West Coast correspondent for Space News. ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN PAGE 64 THOR Design Studio | thor.design MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTION Association Vision | associationvision.com DEPARTMENTS LETTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE Ben Iannotta, [email protected] TRENDING Stratolaunch designers rely on software developed 8 by NASA as they prepare their massive aircraft for its fi rst fl ight. Aerospace America (ISSN 0740-722X) is published 4 Editor’s Notebook 10 12 monthly by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., at 12700 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 200 Reston, VA 20191-5807 [703-264-7500]. Subscription rate 7 From the Corner Offi ce Q & A Engineering is 50% of dues for AIAA members (and is not deductible Transportation attorney Notebook therefrom). Nonmember subscription price: U.S., $200; Mary Schiavo on safety and foreign, $220. Single copies $20 each. Postmaster: Send 43 AIAA Bulletin Teaching a shape memory address changes and subscription orders to Aerospace autonomous fl ight alloy a new trick America, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, at 12700 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA, 20191-5807, 58 Career Opportunities 38 64 Attn: A.I.A.A. Customer Service. Periodical postage paid at Reston, Virginia, and at additional mailing offi ces. Copyright 2017 by the American Institute of 62 Looking Back Opinion Trajectories Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., all rights reserved. Former U.S. offi cial gives her Mike Lewis on how he became The name Aerospace America is registered by the AIAA in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offi ce. take on Kazakhstan’s bid to NanoRacks’ chief technology compete in aerospace market offi cer and chief engineer aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org | NOVEMBER 2017 | 3 EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK AIRCRAFT SAFETY e asyJe t Aviation made easy This month’s issue reminds me how diffi cult it is to prognosticate wisely about the EasyJet is testing an inspection drone future of aviation. Assessing whether an idea is technically feasible is probably to detect damage the easy part, but even then, emotion can temporarily cloud one’s judgment. Two on its airliners from years after the famous fi rst fl ight, Wilbur Wright reportedly confessed that in 1901 lightning strikes and he told Orville that “man would not fl y for 50 years.” other hazards. Technologists pride themselves on following data and reason, and more times than not, that culture prevails. Wilbur and Orville did not give up. Far trickier is to predict or motivate a specifi c consumer behavior, especially when safety and dollars are involved. Will transportation consumers someday accept a fully automated aircraft without a hu- man pilot aboard? The answer won’t “depend on the regulators, it’s going to depend on public perception,” says air safety advocate Mary Schiavo in this month’s Q & A on Page 10. Safety will be part of that perception, but it’s not the whole story. Richard Thaler, the 2017 winner of the Nobel Prize in economic sciences, has long said that if you want to motivate someone to act, you need to “make it easy” to do so. We’ve probably all seen fi rsthand what he means. Some years ago, when my beat was military intelligence, an offi cer at the annual Geospatial Intelligence symposium told a roomful of technologists that their computers and software often sat in unopened boxes. Troops didn’t have time to fi gure them out. They preferred their intuitively designed smartphones. One can see that kind of intuitive ease-of-use in the small drone market. As our cover sto- ry points out, not that long ago, the thought of 1.1 million small drones in the hands of con- sumers sparked nothing but fear in the air travel industry. What if a drone got away from its operator and was sucked in by an airliner’s engine? Safety remains a valid concern, but it’s no longer the whole story. Today, drones have safety features and an ease of use that make them attractive for professionals who need to inspect runways or passenger jets in their hangars. Drone designers have made it easier for hobbyists and professionals alike. That’s a good lesson for nearly any fi eld. ★ Ben Iannotta, editor-in-chief, [email protected] 4 | NOVEMBER 2017 | aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org LETTER TO THE EDITOR Missing ingredient in deep space plan An agreement in principle was signed NA S A between NASA and Roscosmos (the Russian Space agency) on Sept. 27, 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. The two major space agencies made a commitment to cooperate within the framework of an international level to set up the Deep Space Gateway, standardize equipment and techniques, and act in the continuity of the current exchanges on the International Space Station. The Russians will bring their know-how in particular regarding interfaces of mooring and inhabited airlocks, and will study the possibility of using Russian launch- ers such as Proton and future Angara A5. However, there was still no signing of an international agreement such as that of Jan. 29, 1998, at the European Space Research and Technology Cen- In an artist’s render- for ISS. The real signal will be the allowance of ter in Noordwijk, Netherlands, in December 2017. ing, the European Space Agency’s service budgets for construction of fi rst elements of the More information is available here: http://exploration. module is beneath DSG. esa.int/moon/59376-call-for-ideas/★ NASA’s Orion space- The European Space Agency, or ESA, invited mem- craft. ESA describes the bers of the scientifi c community in Europe to propose Philippe A. Mairet mission as a “vision” ideas for the research that could be made aboard the Toulouse, France that will help to build a Deep Space Gateway. DSG. ESA will indeed hold a workshop on this matter AIAA senior member News from Intelligent Light Put our experts to work for you. Creating complex workflows with UQ and design evaluation, especially for unsteady cases is complex. We’re continually adding to our team and technology to help you get the most out of your commitment to CFD. We’re welcoming two new experts to our team: Dr. Steve Makinen, Custom Engineered Solutions (CES) team, brings a wealth of knowledge and experience shaping Flight Sciences technology: • coupled computational fluid/structural dynamics analysis for rotorcraft • supporting wind tunnel tests • development of HPC facilities • notable contributor on many Army and DARPA contracts for next generation aircraft Seth Lawrence, Applied Research Group (ARG), recently presented his research on Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) at the ASME V&V symposium that combined CFD and UQ analysis (ASME VVS2017-4033). Let us put our technologies and experts to work for you. Intelligent Light Advancing CFD, Contact our team: [email protected] Advancing You. For More: www.ilight.com FieldView image courtesy of Prof. James G. Coder, University of Tennessee, Knoxville aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org | NOVEMBER 2017 | 5 Continuing Education Offerings at AIAA SciTech Forum 812 JANUARY 2018 KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA Stay at the top of your game with AIAA’s continuing education offerings. You will leave with invaluable knowledge and solutions that you can put to immediate use. Introducing fi ve new courses and one new workshop! Early-bird member rate available. Courses Aircraft and Rotorcraft System Identifi cation NEW! Stochastic Mechanics of Materials and Engineering Methods for Manned and UAV Structures Applications with Hands-on Training using CIFER® 6–7 January 2018 6–7 January 2018 This course presents an array of methods to study mechanics of spatially random material microstructures involving several scales. NEW! Large Eddy Simulation of Turbulent Combustion: Theory, Modeling and Practice NEW! Missile Guidance 6–7 January 2018 6–7 January 2018 This course introduces the large eddy simulation (LES) approach This course provides a system-level, integrated method on missile to modeling complex reacting fl ows. guidance design, development, and system engineering activities. NEW! Introduction to Software Engineering NEW! Aeroelastic Wind Tunnel Testing and 6–7 January 2018 Aeroelasticity Considerations for Non- Aeroelastic Tests This introductory course to software engineering includes all aspects of professional software production, and is especially 7 January 2018 important for safety-critical and mission-critical software. This course is specifi c to aeroelasticity concerns and wind tunnel testing with an emphasis on the testing of aeroelastic models. Workshops Future CFD Technologies Workshop NEW! Space Standards and Architectures Workshop Bridging Mathematics and Computer Science for Advanced Aerospace Simulation Tools 7 January 2018 6–7 January 2018 This workshop is intended for individuals and organizations that desire to increase their teams’ understanding of the benefi ts and 5th International Workshop on High-Order usability of Space Standards and Architecture Framework. CFD Methods 6–7 January 2018 Learn more at scitech.aiaa.org/CoursesWorkshops FROM THE CORNER OFFICE AIAA Engage: AIAA’s New Online Community Platform It is an exciting time at AIAA. The Institute is becoming • Enable connection between job seekers, mentors, and more agile, better able to respond to new ways of commu- mentees. nicating and collaborating. One of the ways we are doing • Allow for search and connect with other members based so is by introducing a comprehensive online community on location, alma mater, or employer. system—AIAA Engage—from a company called Higher Logic. It is currently in beta testing, but I am excited by the potential of When is it happening? this new platform, and want to give you a sneak peek before its Our phased rollout started a few months ago with selective, but rep- offi cial debut in January. resentative, test groups: a technical committee, young professional We all know the value of teamwork and understand the practical committee, and our section leadership. We all learned how to use benefi ts of having a collaborative space for information sharing, the platform as we went, improving our processes along the way. idea exchange and discussion. To date this has been accomplished We also stood up a new Community of Interest (CoI) that had via AIAA forums, events, publications, and email. But many of you emerged organically from conversations based on the program- have told us that you want a better “virtual” way to connect, more ming at the 2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum. AIAA Fellow Rich Wahls than static online committee listings and calendars of upcoming and a dozen others agreed to test the Higher Logic platform as a events. And so, after much research, we are introducing AIAA collaboration tool. Their working group is exploring the safe effi - Engage—to further improve your member experience. ciencies that may be captured if aircraft certifi cation moves from ground testing to adaptive modeling. The members of this group What is it? span a wide range of technical disciplines and perspectives. This If you are familiar with Reddit, LinkedIn bulletin boards, or chat collaboration would have been diffi cult to fi t into our previous rooms, you understand the idea of online communities. AIAA organizational confi guration, so it is exciting to think that their Engage will be our moderated, limited-access version with sim- work is being supported by AIAA Engage. For the fi rst time, we ilar discussion formats to these other platforms—but with far have been able to provide a platform for interest groups within a more robust functionality, and focused specifi cally on the global matter of months, rather than years. As Rich Wahls said himself, aerospace community. “This is the beginning of something big. I feel it.” It is indeed just the beginning. We anticipate launching the What can you do with it? platform to our full membership in January after the 2018 AIAA Of course, we will use it to manage the basic, yet important, SciTech Forum. administrative tasks surrounding existing committees and sec- tions such as maintaining fi les and rosters, but the exciting part What does it mean? concerns what the platform will do beyond that. We envision that AIAA Engage will become the place where our com- • Share individual member profiles with as much—or as munity comes to collaborate and connect. We will explore the new little—as members like about themselves and their work. frontiers of innovation and fi nd the connections that will catapult us • Establish a feature “Ask Me Anything” consisting of online into the future. Members will have control about what information Q/A sessions with forum speakers, notable authors, and is shared and frequency of engagement. For those already familiar other experts in the fi eld. with social media the learning curve will be gentle. • Host continuing education seminars and have follow-up We are excited about the potential of this platform, and we invite discussions based on what members are learning. all AIAA members to Engage with us and with each other. • Highlight breaking news items, linking photos, videos, Details to follow. ★ and fi les. • Host discussions of the latest research coming out of the forums as specific as a certain paper, or as broad as a new vision. • Allow collaboration on design competitions and sharing of those experiences. SSSSaaaannnnddddrrrraaaa HHH... MMaaggnnuuss,, AAAAIIIIAAAAAAAA EEExxxeeecccuuutttiiivvveee Director aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org | NOVEMBER 2017 | 7 TRENDING AIRCRAFT DESIGN The team building the Stratolaunch tested its six Pratt & Whitney engines in September at the company’s Mojave, California, site. S trato lau n ch HyperSizing the S largest aircraft trato lau n ch S ystem BY HENRY CANADAY | [email protected] s C o rp . The designers of Stratolaunch faced a daunt- from designs done without HyperSizer. A HyperSizer analysis ing task six years ago when they set out to “As fl ight testing begins and small improvements of part of the all- composite Stratolaunch conceive an aircraft that could fly to the to the airframe are made, HyperSizer will continue was displayed on a stratosphere and release a reusable rock- to be used,” Collier says. computer screen while et that would blast into orbit payloads weighing Stratolaunch was a distinctive challenge partly one of the aircraft’s two up to a combined 250,000 kilograms. They need- because its 117-meter wingspan made it the biggest fuselages (below) was ed to ensure that the design of the plane’s massive airframe HyperSizer has been applied to, Collier says. under construction. wings and fuselage weighed no more than necessary The magnitude of loading resulted in thick laminates to meet safety and manufacturing requirements. and a high count of plies, says Collier. “For the mas- They’ll soon fi nd out whether any adjustments sive Stratolaunch wing, defl ection limits were a sig- might be required. Stratolaunch Systems, based in nifi cant factor to be taken into account,” he adds. Seattle and backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Defl ection limit is the maximum degree a wing can Allen and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan, be bent without risking failure. No other aircraft has is ground-testing the plane’s six Pratt & Whitney ever reached even 100 meters in wingspan. PW4000 engines in anticipation of a fi rst fl ight over Scaled Composites’ stress team consulted Hyper- Mojave, California, in a few months, followed by a Sizer’s comprehensive set of automated failure anal- fi rst space launch planned for 2019. yses that included rapid free-body analysis and dis- Mojave-based Scaled Composites, which is build- crete laminate sizing. ing Stratolaunch, began using Collier Research While having convenient features such as the Corp.’s HyperSizer design software at the start of ability to upload data from Excel software, the core design in 2011. Craig Collier led the NASA team that of HyperSizer’s approach is Finite Element Analysis. developed HyperSizer starting in 1988. The software The software simulates the behavior of engineering was commercialized in 1995. Scaled Composites structures and components under a variety of con- licensed the software, and its stress-team engineers ditions to demonstrate stress, strain, the infl uence used it. Government and industry engineers have of temperature and pressure, and other factors. applied it to some big-name projects, including the Collier says that HyperSizer applies the same an- design of NASA’s now-defunct Ares 5 rocket, the heat alytical methods in optimization that are used for fi nal shield of the Orion crew module and the Spirit Aero/ certifi cation. “This produces optimum designs that Bell Helicopter V280. Now president of Collier Re- do not have to change later as design matures from search in Virginia, Collier says the software typical- preliminary to fi nal. And it allows analysis certifi cation ly reduces weight of structures by 20 to 40 percent reports to be generated at any time during design.”★ 8 | NOVEMBER 2017 | aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org