May 24, 2016

May 24, 2016

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COMMERCIAL SPACE

Enter the Dragon

By Guy Norris,Frank Morring

SPACE

Follow the Water

By Frank Morring

InsideMRO

New Landscape for Components

By Henry Canaday

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COMMERCIAL SPACE

Enter the Dragon

Los Angeles Washington With a jam-packed schedule of ground and flight testing, SpaceX is running at a gallop as preparations continue for upcoming flights to the International Space Station (ISS) with the Crew Dragon, the human-rated version of the company’s cargo-carrying Dragon spacecraft.

By Guy Norris,Frank Morring

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SPACE

Follow the Water

Washington Evidence that water flows on the surface of Mars, at least sporadically, is driving NASA’s plans for exploring Mars with humans in the 2030s, and for precursor missions to the planet in the coming decade. The next U.S. Mars orbiter may well be a large spacecraft that arrives at the planet under solar electric propulsion (SEP) and then uses its high-power solar arrays to enable a radar search for water ice near the surface that could support a “semi-permanent base” for human explorers.

By Frank Morring

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InsideMRO

New Landscape for Components

Washington Aircraft components and engines increasingly need repairs far less frequently. Moreover, carriers increasingly cover their repair needs from pools of spare components, rather than internal stocks. The net result is far fewer spare parts required per aircraft per period.

By Henry Canaday

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InsideMRO

Avionics Development

Lyon, France Progress in avionics technology used to make MRO service providers happy because it meant new opportunities to offer cockpit upgrades. That is still the case, but greater integration in avionics systems is creating a new challenge.

By Thierry Dubois

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PROPULSION

Biggest Fan

Victorville, California Designing, building and ground testing the world’s largest turbofan may seem challenging enough, but how do you safely put such a behemoth through the rigors of flight testing on the wing of an aircraft for which it was not designed?

By Guy Norris

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COMMERCIAL AVIATION

No Interference

Washington With Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) equipage on the rise and a wholesale mandate for the NextGen surveillance technology less than four years away, the FAA is getting serious about how to deal with a downside of the upgrade—radio frequency interference.

By John Croft

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SPACE

Red Planet Retro

Washington Los Angeles NASA expects to spend "on the order of $30 million" helping SpaceX send a modified Dragon vehicle to the surface of Mars in the 2018 planetary launch window, but the entry, descent and landing (EDL) data alone it may obtain in return would be a bargain at 10 times the price.

By Frank Morring,Guy Norris

MAY 23-JUNE 52016 JUNE 6-192016