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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 1978.PDF
TECHNOLOGY AERODYNAMICS MICHAEL PHELAN / LONDON AWIATOR partners eye improved wing Wide-ranging programme will focus on cutting fuel consumption while reducing noise and aircraft wake Airbus is aiming for significant drag reduction and acoustic improve ments on wings for its future trans port aircraft through participation in a European Union (EU)-funded technology effort. The €80 million ($79 million) Aircraft Wing with Advanced Tech nology Operation (AWIATOR) pro gramme will focus on reductions in drag, noise and aircraft wake, and improved fuel consumption. It brings together 23 European manu facturers, universities and research institutes, including EADS, GKN Aerospace, Israel Aircraft Industries and Sonaca; aerospace research institutes Cerfas and ONERA of France, DLR in Germany, INASCO in Greece and NLR in the Netherlands; and universities in Athens, Lausanne, Lisbon and Marseilles. Programme targets include a 5-7% drag reduction, a 2% cut in fuel consumption over long-range routes, noise reduction of 2EPNdB and wake vortex strength reduc tion, which will allow a possible lnm (2km) decrease in separation distance behind large aircraft. The four-year study will encom pass changes to airbrake design, studies of very large wingtip devices and new flight control laws. In addition, Airbus says it will investi gate flow-control devices and "adaptive elements" on the flaps, as well as noise reduction technology. The proposed changes will be tested on Airbus's original A340- 300 (MSN001), retained as a flight- test aircraft, during lOOh of sched uled tests next year and in 2005. AWIATOR, which is 50% funded by the EU as part of the Fifth Framework effort, will contribute to the more ambitious European Aeronautics: Vision for 2020 pro gramme, which aims to achieve a 50% reduction in fuel consump tion and aircraft noise by 2020. ENGINE Hitch puts XCOR rocket to test XCOR Aerospace demonstrated two key aspects of its reusable rocket engine technology in two flight tests of its modified Rutan Long-EZ kit- plane testbed - one deliberately and one inadvertently. The 11th test flight of the EZ-Rocket on 27 June was cut short by an electrical problem which prevented shutdown of one of its two rocket motors. But XCOR says its "fail operational" design gave pilot Dick Rutan time to turn the engine off manually, jettison liquid oxygen and conduct a dead-stick landing at Mojave Airport, California. The EZ-Rocket is testing technology for a low- cost reusable launch vehicle (RLV). "With our approach, an electrical problem leaves the engine running and the pilot has a redundant manual- valve to shut the engine down," says chief executive Jeff Greason. The aborted flight lasted 2min 24s -the engines burn for around 3min. On the 10th flight two days earlier, the EZ-Rocket became the first rocket-powered aircraft to conduct a touch-and-go. After shutting down engines in flight, Rutan made a power-off landing, the aircraft touching down and rolling along the runway for some distance before he reignited the engines and took off. The flight lasted 7min 47s. "Performing a touch- and-go demonstrates safe and routine rocket-powered vehicle operation," says Greason. "You need to be able to safely abort a landing." The ability to reignite the engines and change the landing increases RLV safety, he adds. SATELLITE NAVIGATION ESA awards Galileo deal Galileo Industries has won a con tract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop the first version of the Galileo System Test Bed (GSTB-V1) for the European satellite navigation system. The €10-20 million ($9.8-19.6 million) contract is the first development deal awarded for Galileo, which the European Union is developing at a cost of €3 billion as a European equivalent to the US global posi tioning system. The 30-satellite system is intended to be operational by 2008. The testbed will be delivered to the ESA at the end of next year for 30 months of testing, says Philippe Aucher, director of Alcatel Space's Galileo division. It will validate Galileo system concepts, including navigation processing algorithms and integrity solutions. GSTB-V1 will use the ground infra structure of the European Geo stationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) - Europe's first sa tellite navigation system - to col lect satellite data, evaluate available performance and determine perfor mance criteria for Galileo. Galileo Industries was establ ished in 2000 by Alcatel Space of France, Alenia of Italy, Astrium of Germany and the UK, and a con sortium of Spanish space and com munication companies. It is seek ing to be Galileo prime contractor. DIRIGIBLES High-altitude airship soars to meet 21st-century challenge Canadian research and development company 21st Century Airships launched its experimental airship on a high-altitude flight on 2 July. The flight is part of a programme designed to gather data for the use of such airships for telecommunications, environmental monitoring and surveillance technology in the stratosphere, at 60,000-68,000ft (18.300- 20,700m). The 18.3m-diameter helium-filled airship, which is powered by turbo diesel engines and a hybrid electric system driving large propellers, flew to 18,000ft - four times higher than the level at which a traditional air ship flies. Two flights lasting more than 16h were conducted, says chief executive Hokan Colting. The Ontario-based company plans to develop a larger airship almost 40m in diameter by year-end to conduct a series of flights at altitudes up to 45,000ft. The initial flight test was manned, but in subsequent tests the airship will be remotely controlled. The spherical airship has no external gondola for crew, but instead the pilots sit in a cabin inside the sphere. 26 9-15 JULY 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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