The Aerospace Engineering Podcast: Recent Episodes
Rainer Groh – Aerospace Engineer and Researcher
Conversations with pioneers in industry and academia about the past and future of aerospace engineering
Martin Eichenhofer is the CEO & co-founder of 9T Labs, a company that was spun out of ETH Zürich in Switzerland. 9T Labs specialises in providing software solutions and manufacturing equipment for producing high-quality and high-performance composite materials using 3D printing. By marrying the worlds of composite materials and 3D printing, 9T Labs is taking advantage of the superior material properties of composite materials and combining these with the geometric fidelity facilitated by 3D printing. As a result, components that were previously unfeasible to be manufactured using composite materials, either from a technical or cost perspective, are now within the realm of the possible. What is unique about 9T Labs is that the company combines their hardware for 3D printing composite parts with a bespoke optimisation software in order to maximise a component's performance, both in terms of structural design and manufacturing quality. Furthermore, it has been historically difficult to print continuous fibre composites at high quality with a low void content. 9T Labs, however, has patented a process that allows printing at a void content of below 1 percent, which competes with conventionally manufactured composites. So, in this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Martin and I discuss:
- his background as an engineer and how his PhD research led to 9T Labs
- the challenges and benefits of 3D printing composite materials
- 9T Labs’ unique approach to 3D printing composite materials
- some of the applications the company is currently working on
- and much, much more.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Chris Voorhees is the founder and president of First Mode, a Seattle-based company that is designing and building technology for extreme environments off and on planet Earth. Chris has decades of experience in the implementation of robotic systems for the exploration of deep space. His notable experience includes his work as a mobility systems engineer for NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers and lead mechanical engineer for NASA's Curiosity rover. For his efforts, Chris received NASA's Exceptional Achievement and Exceptional Engineering Achievement medals. Today, Chris oversees the design, development, and deployment of engineered solutions for missions around the globe and throughout the solar system. First Mode is also focusing on significant problems on Earth including the challenging issues of sustainability for the natural resources sector. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Chris and I talk about:
- his background in engineering, including his time at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- his past work on Mars rovers
- why we should go back to the Moon
- the space projects First Mode is currently involved with
- and First Mode’s growing engagement in the hydrogen sector
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Carl Copeland is the founder of Möbius Aero, an electric air race team, and MμZ Motion, a developer of custom, high-performance electric motors. Carl has built various engineering teams and led innovation in the fields of IT, mechanical, magnetic, and electrical design. He has founded four companies and holds over 25 patents, and his most recent innovation, the Field Modulation Motion System, is a novel electric motor design that is significantly lighter and smaller than established electric motors of similar power and torque ratings. The Field Modulation Motion System achieves its high performance by using 18-phase field modulation rather than the three-phase modulation used in standard motors, essentially emulating six separate three-phase motors attached to a single shaft. Carl is putting his new engine design to the test in a new air racing series for electric aircraft known as Air Race E. In contrast to typical air racing series, in Air Race E aircraft race against each other on a course rather than flying isolated time trials. In the past, air races have been an invaluable means of developing aerospace technology in a competitive setting and Air Race E is re-awakening the spirit of competition by launching the first fully electric airplane race series. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Carl and I talk about:
- his unique and auto-didactic background in engineering
- his goal of finding practical solutions to humanity's problems
- the Air Race E competition and the origin story of Carl’s racing team Möbius Aero
- the technical details and benefits of his new electric motor
- and the impact this has on airframe development
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Dr Evangelos Zympeloudis is the CEO and co-founder of iCOMAT, a company based in the UK that is developing automated manufacturing equipment for tow-steered composite materials. Fibre-reinforced plastics, such as carbon-fibre or glass-fibre composites, hold great promise for high-performance and lightweight design due to their excellent stiffness and strength properties at low material density. Traditional fibre-reinforced plastics are manufactured using straight uni-directional fibres or with straight fibres woven into a fabric. Generally speaking, a fibre-reinforced composite derives its strength by aligning the fibres with the direction of the dominant load path. The novelty of tow-steered composites is that strips of composite material, so-called fibre tows, are steered along curvilinear paths such that the fibre direction is not straight, but varies continuously from point to point. This characteristic has benefits in structural design as the reinforcing fibres can now be used to smoothly tailor stiffness and strength throughout the structure. For example, tow-steered composites can be used to curve the reinforcing fibres around windows in an aircraft fuselage in order to improve strength and facilitate net-shape manufacturing. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Evangelos and I talk about:
- his background as an engineer and entrepreneur
- the manufacturing challenge of making defect-free tow-steered composites
- the capabilities of iCOMAT’s rapid tow-shearing process
- the benefits of tow-steering for manufacturing cost and design
- and some of the projects iCOMAT is currently working on
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Disclosure: I currently work with iCOMAT on a number of projects and am a consultant to the company.
Stefan Brieschenk is the Chief Operating Officer of Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), a company in the south of Germany that is developing a low-cost launch vehicle. RFA’s vision is to drastically reduce the cost of access to space through large-scale industrialisation of their operations and manufacturing. Key to RFA's design approach is a holistic performance and cost optimisation tool that has been developed in collaboration with space industry veterans MT Aerospace and OHB. This approach has led to interesting design choices. For example, the second stage tank is based on inexpensive stainless steel construction, and in places where composite materials are being used, RFA is relying on automotive grade materials that have already been used in high-volume production. In their propulsive system, however, RFA is chasing the highest performance—a closed-cycle staged combustion engine, enabled by modern manufacturing capabilities in 3D printing and which is due to be hot-fired early next year. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering podcast, Stefan and I talk about:
- Stefan’s passion for rocketry and hypersonic flight
- his background at Rocket Lab and MT Aerospace
- the gap between the European and US space sectors
- RFA’s launch vehicle and design approach
- and Stefan’s vision for the European space sector
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Marc Ausman is the co-founder and CEO of Airflow, a California-based startup that is building an electric short-haul cargo aircraft. Marc holds a commercial pilot license, and among other endeavours, was previously the Chief Strategist for Airbus’ all-electric, tilt-wing vehicle demonstrator known as Vahana. Alongside four other former Vahana team members, Marc and the team at Airflow are building an aerial logistics network to move short-haul cargo quickly and cost effectively by using unused airspace around cities. Key to Airflow’s vision is electric short takeoff and landing (eSTOL). Airflow's eSTOL aircraft require only a few hundred feet for takeoff and landing—about the length of a football field—which means that runways can be built almost anywhere, even under existing regulations. What is more, even larger rooftops that can fit more than three conventional helipads could feasibly be used as a runway. Given the aerodynamic efficiency advantages of fixed-wing aircraft over rotary vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, Airflow have come-up with an interesting alternative concept to many other companies in the growing urban mobility sector. So in this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Marc and I talk about:
- Airflow’s vision of building the urban logistics network of the future
- some of the misconceptions of eSTOL and eVTOL
- the advantages of electric powertrains beyond reducing emissions
- the technology Airflow is developing and challenges that need to be overcome
- and striking a balance between financial and engineering incentives
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Dr John Williams is an engineer at Lumentum where he works on the extreme challenges of sub-millimetre scale photonic circuits. For the purpose of this conversation, however, we will be discussing John’s former role as a design engineer at Reaction Engines, a UK company that is developing the Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, also known as SABRE. The vision of SABRE is to build a new hypersonic engine that can operate both as an air-breathing jet engine and as a traditional rocket. This versatility means SABRE can be used as a propulsive platform for future hypersonic aircraft or to propel space planes into orbit. Furthermore, SABRE combines the unique fuel efficiency of a jet engine with the power and high-speed ability of a rocket. Having started at Reaction Engines early on when there were only two people in the design office, and later founding his own design and manufacturing company, John has many years of high-tech experience in the aerospace sector. So in this episode of the Aerospace Engineering podcast John and I talk about:
- his background as an aerospace engineer
- the benefits of an air-breathing rocket engine
- the particular design challenges in realising this type of engine
- and his lessons learned from high-tech development
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Dr Sanjiv Singh is a research professor at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University and the CEO of Near Earth Autonomy. Sanjiv has more than 30 years of research experience in the field of autonomous vehicles and has spun-out multiple companies from his university research. His current venture, Near Earth Autonomy, develops technology that allows aircraft to autonomously take-off, fly, and land safely, with or without GPS. Near Earth's goal is to develop complete autonomous solutions that improve efficiency, performance, and safety for aircraft ranging from small drones up to full-size helicopters. The team at Near Earth was awarded the 2018 Howard Hughes Award, which recognises outstanding improvements in fundamental helicopter technology, and was also a 2017 finalist for the Collier Trophy, one of the most important aviation awards worldwide. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Sanjiv and I talk about:
- his background as a researcher in the field of robotics and autonomy
- the fundamental concepts of autonomy
- the hardware and software that make it work
- the successful helicopter technology demonstrator Near Earth Autonomy has developed
- and the future of autonomous vehicles
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
In this episode I am speaking to Aaron Daniel and Peter Shpik of Alpine Advanced Materials. Alpine Advanced Materials specialises in the design and manufacture of custom-engineered parts and products for demanding aerospace and energy applications. The company is currently commercialising a high-performance material known as HX5™, which is a thermoplastic nanocomposite originally developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works® over a decade of testing and validation. HX5™ was originally developed to replace aluminum at half the weight but with the same strength and stiffness. On top of that HX5™ has excellent durability in harsh environments such as in outer space, in radioactive settings or around aggressive chemicals. As a result, this new nanocomposite material is already being used on jet fighters, high-speed helicopters, UAVs, rockets, and satellites. In this episode of the aerospace engineering podcast Aaron, Peter and I talk about:
- the importance of lightweighting in the aerospace industry
- the development history of HX5™
- what exactly HX5™ is and its unique properties
- where and how HX5™ is currently being used
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
In this episode I am speaking to Damian Jamroz and Grzegorz Marzec of the Polish NewSpace company SatRevolution. The company was founded in 2016 and specialises in real-time earth observation for civilian and military applications. SatRevolution has launched three satellites to date, with the last launch occurring at the beginning of September 2020 on an Arianespace Vega rocket, while the next one is planned for December 2020 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. These satellites are all milestones towards building an Earth-observation constellation that will be operational from 2023. Recently, SatRevolution has focused on developing the STORK platform, which is scheduled to be launched in June 2021. The goal of STORK is to develop a shared-services capability so that multiple satellites can be launched within one platform and benefit from SatRevolution's Earth-observation capabilities. Hence, SatRevolution will focus on designing, manufacturing and integrating the platform satellite, while their customers and external partners can focus on work related to development of their own technologies and experiments. In this wide-ranging episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast we talk about:
- the history of SatRevolution
- why Earth-observation satellites are such a hot topic at the moment
- the details of SatRevolution's previous satellites and the upcoming STORK mission
- how SatRevolution is using AI for earth observation
- and what the future holds for the company.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Norris Tie is the CEO of Exosonic, a California-based startup that is developing a low sonic boom supersonic passenger aircraft. Norris holds an engineering degree from UCLA, an MBA from Stanford, and before starting Exosonic worked on supersonic aircraft at Northrup Grumman, Virgin Galactic and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. What differentiates Exosonic from other upstarts in the reviving supersonic aircraft space is that the company is specifically focusing on reducing the intensity of sonic booms. Current regulation forbids supersonic flights across America to minimise noise pollution; a restriction which significantly limited the routes that the first supersonic airliner, the Concorde, could fly. To soften sonic booms, Exosonic is using a concept and technology originally pioneered by NASA known as shaped sonic booms. As a first step, Exosonic has partnered with the US Air Force to develop a supersonic executive transport aircraft that will provide US leaders and diplomats rapid transportation around the world. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Norris and I talk about
- his life-long inspiration for speeding-up air travel
- the theory behind shaped sonic booms
- what is different about designing supersonic aircraft
- and the economics of supersonic flight
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Alexander Wicks is the Chief Development Officer at the California-based startup Momentus Space. Momentus is developing the in-space equivalent of the connecting flight we all know from airline operations. To affordably launch small satellites into orbit, operators and manufacturers of small satellites are generally forced to share a ride on one big rocket. This approach is economical, but has one major downside: not every satellite on the ride share can be launched into its ideal orbit. Momentus is developing the transfer vehicle that then allows a satellite to reach its customisable orbit 10 times cheaper than booking a dedicated launch on the first vehicle. This capability essentially allows the next generation of satellites to reach previously unreachable locations more efficiently and more inexpensively than before. The transfer vehicle that Momentus is developing is powered by water plasma propulsion, and the same propulsion technology also opens the door to the next phase of space exploration. For example, missions into deep space, water prospecting and delivery throughout the solar system, in-space manufacturing, and space tourism. So in this episode of the podcast you will learn about:
- how Momentus got started
- the need and benefits of Momentus' transfer vehicle
- the principles of water plasma propulsion
- and the types of missions the technology enables
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Today I am speaking with Euan Wielewski, co-founder and CEO at Anomalous Technologies. Anomalous is a start-up based in Edinburgh, Scotland that uses the latest machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to enable better quality control of manufactured components. As aerospace engineers we know that quality control and inspection of flight-critical hardware is essential for guaranteeing safe operation of aircraft. Human visual inspection is a subjective and analogue process, which means that flight hardware is typically double and triple-checked to high levels of accuracy. This is where the AI tools developed by Anomalous Technologies are invaluable. By making inspection digital, operational traceability is immediately enhanced. Furthermore, digitisation allows the human inspection process to be accompanied by statistical tools that reduce the error rate of missed defects and improve inspection efficiency. Anomalous are already working with global aerospace companies such as Rolls Royce and Boeing, and the company is currently a member of the first cohort of the ATI Boeing Accelerator. In this episode of the podcast, Euan and I talk about:
- his broad background in aerospace engineering
- the challenges of human inspection
- how data-centric methods such as AI tools can help improve inspection accuracy and efficiency
- and how Anomalous is using their analytic tools to help out in the current Coronavirus pandemic.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Sergey Kiselev is the Head of Europe of the sustainable aviation company ZeroAvia. ZeroAvia is working on the first practical zero-emission aviation powertrain fuelled by hydrogen. Even though CO2 emissions of the aviation industry currently only account for 2-3% of the global output, passenger numbers are expected to grow continuously for the next 30 years, such that solutions transitioning to emission-free powertrains need to be formulated, tested and certified now. ZeroAvia has developed a new powertrain that couples hydrogen gas with a fuel cell to drive an electric motor that spins a propeller. This zero emission powertrain currently promises to deliver a 300 mile zero-emission range in a ten-seater fixed-wing aircraft. One of the great things about ZeroAvia is that the company is taking advantage of the economics of renewable energy sources. Due to the intermittency of solar and wind energy, there are times when the electric output from renewable sources far outstrips demand and is therefore cheaply available. It is in these times of high supply that ZeroAvia can split water into its constituents, oxygen and hydrogen. In this episode of the aerospace engineering podcast, Sergey and I talk about:
- how ZeroAvia got started and what the company is trying to achieve
- ZeroAvia’s vision of emission-free regional travel
- the ZeroAvia powertrain
- and much, much more.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Alexandra Gravereaux is a Ground Systems Engineer for the space startup Astroscale. Astroscale is a global company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with offices in the UK, Singapore and the USA, and is developing technological and regulatory solutions for space debris removal. The mission of Astroscale is to guarantee the long-term safety of spaceflight and orbital sustainability by developing end-of-life services for satellites and active debris removal. This relates to removing space junk that has accumulated due to defunct satellites and jettisoned rocket interstages; guaranteeing that regulations are in place to prevent the build-up of further space junk; and technological solutions to de-orbit defunct satellites. The company is currently designing and manufacturing its End-of-Life Service by Astroscale program (ELSA), a spacecraft retrieval service for satellite operators. The first demonstration mission, known as ELSA-d, is scheduled to launch in 2020, and will demonstrate Astroscale’s technology for debris docking and removal in orbit. In this episode, Alex and I talk about:
- her background in the space sector
- the problem of accumulating space debris and how to deal with it
- the details of Astroscale’s ELSA-d demonstration mission in 2020
- and Alex’s expertise as a ground systems engineer.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Wil Benton is the Venture & Ecosystem Director for the ATI Boeing Accelerator in London. The Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) is a UK organisation that creates the technology strategy for the UK aerospace sector and funds world-class research and development. The ATI recently launched a startup accelerator to accelerate the growth of new companies in industry 4.0 and sustainable development, with the aim of bolstering the growth and competitiveness of the UK aerospace industry. The programme is designed to help startups establish commercial relationships with global aerospace companies, like Boeing and GKN Aerospace, and to raise follow-on funding and engage with the wider UK aerospace sector. Wil’s background is originally in the tech industry as a founder of Chew, a live streaming platform for DJ’s, as well as an angle investor and startup advisor for the startup accelerator Ignite. In this episode, Wil and I speak about:
- his career background and route into the aerospace industry
- the goal and operational principle of the ATI Boeing Accelerator
- some of the aerospace startups in the first cohort of the accelerator
- and Wil’s passion for entrepreneurship and STEM engagement
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Paul Williams is the Executive Director of the British startup Black Arrow Space Technologies. Black Arrow is developing a sea-borne launch capability based on their current expertise in developing composite propellant tanks for satellites. The launching of rockets from ships has a previous history in America, and as an island nation, the concept is clearly suited for a UK launch provider. Paul and I talk about the heritage of the Black Arrow name, the advantages of a sea-borne launch approach, and the importance of audacious technical challenges in galvanising and inspiring the next generation of engineering talent. In fact, Black Arrow is currently supporting and working with a number of ambassadors from the Women in Science and Engineering campaign. One of these ambassadors is Liv Scott-Golding, a 3rd year Physics undergraduate student at the University of Bristol, who is also joining us on this episode. Liv has been involved with Black Arrow from the start, and with contagious enthusiasm, tells us about her passion for the space industry and her interactions with Black Arrow as a WISE ambassador. If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Dr Steve Bullock is an engineering researcher in air-to-air refuelling and cooperative control of UAVs, as well as the Programme Director of the Aerospace Engineering programme at the University of Bristol. As the programme director of a leading European aerospace engineering programme, Steve has a unique vantage point on how the higher education landscape is changing, and specifically, how technology trends such as aviation sustainability and digitisation are changing the requirements for an engineering university education in the 21st century. As a TeachFirst ambassador and presenter of the Cosmic Shed podcast, Steve has a clear passion for education in general and is actively exploring different ways of disseminating technical information to a broad audience. In this episode of the podcast Steve and I talk about,
- his path into aerospace engineering and how he found his passion for teaching
- his PhD work on air-to-air refuelling and cooperative control
- what he considers to be some of the key challenges in engineering university education
- how the Aerospace Engineering department in Bristol is planning for the future
- and much, much more.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Tom Szirtes is the founder and director of Mbryonic, a London-based digital design studio. Mbryonic specialises in creating virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality experiences that help organisations communicate, educate and entertain more effectively. Apart from the traditional applications in gaming and education, VR is now increasingly important for industrial design and engineering in general. For example, Mbryonic recently partnered with All Nippon Airways to provide customers an immersive virtual tour of All Nippon's new business class in the Boeing 777 cabin. Mbryonic has also partnered with Acumen to create ‘The Adient Ascent VR’; a modular aircraft seating system that allows airlines to configure their cabins through a touch screen interface and then experience what it’s actually like to be in the cabin through a VR headset. Apart from discussing these two projects, Tom and I talk about:
- the fundamentals of and differences between virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality
- some of the advantages of VR that will transform the aerospace business landscape
- and how engineers can benefit from using the technology
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
Today I am talking to Gareth Hetheridge, the Interim Head of IT at Rolls Royce, and Luca Leone, a Team Defence Information Task Force Consultant about the UK defence industry. Team Defence Information (TD-Info) is a collaborative association that informs defence information policy and pilots new ways of working to transform the defence ecosystem in the UK. TD-Info pools the collective insights, knowledge and innovations of its members, such as Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, and others, to help the Ministry of Defence deliver its objectives for equipment and information. In this episode we discuss:
- the importance of TD-Info for the UK defence sector
- Rolls Royce’s vision regarding the increasing digitisation of the aerospace sector
- and hot topics such as Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality.
We also discuss a key industry event that TD-Info and Rolls Royce are co-organising, the 1st Annual Information Vanguard conference, an event for Young Industry Professionals that will be held on the 18th October 2019 at Rolls Royce in Filton, UK. The conference is open to all, but has been especially designed with newer-entry professionals in the defence industry in mind. There are some exciting speakers confirmed including Team Tempest and Reaction Engines, and live exhibitions from the likes of Rolls Royce and Airbus. You can sign-up to attend here.
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by my patrons on Patreon. Patreon is a way for me to receive regular donations from listeners whenever I release a new episode, and with the help of these generous donors I have been able to pay for much of the expenses, hosting and travels costs that accrue in the production of this podcast. If you would like to support the podcast as a patron, then head over to my Patreon page. There are multiple levels of support, but anything from $1 an episode is highly appreciated. Thank you for your support!
Sam Bousfield is the founder and CEO of Samson Sky, a company that is developing the first truly useful flying car. Sam is an architect by training, but a passion for aviation led him to work on a supersonic aircraft with Boeing. Out of this experience came the idea of building a flying car called the Switchblade. Harking from an architectural background, Sam approached the problem of designing a flying car slightly differently. Rather than asking the question of how you could make a car fly, Sam and his team focused on the architectural question of how a vehicle that can both fly and drive should be designed. Answering this question led the Samson team to some unique design choices, such as a three-wheel layout and wings that stow and swing out from underneath the vehicle. One of the other challenges in designing a flying car is striking the right compromise between on-road and off-road performance. For example, a car should preferably create downforce, while a plane should create lift. To achieve this Samson Sky has made some very clever design choices in terms of the layout and shaping of the Switchblade, as well as the positioning of the wings and centre of gravity, and the use of lightweight composite materials. In our conversation, Sam and I talk about:
- why it has taken so long for a functional flying car to be built
- the main design challenges that need to be overcome
- the changes that need to be made to the vehicle when switching between flying and driving
- the way that Sam envisions the Switchblade to be used in practice
- and much, much more.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by my patrons on Patreon. Patreon is a way for me to receive regular donations from listeners whenever I release a new episode, and with the help of these generous donors I have been able to pay for much of the expenses, hosting and travels costs that accrue in the production of this podcast. If you would like to support the podcast as a patron, then head over to my Patreon page. There are multiple levels of support, but anything from $1 an episode is highly appreciated. Thank you for your support!
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you're a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Aleksey Matyushev is the co-founder and CEO of Natilus, a startup headquartered in San Francisco. Natilus has set out to reduce global air freight costs through the use of large autonomous drones, and has moved quickly over the last couple of years to develop a sea-plane prototype to serve as a technology demonstrator. The engineers at Natilus are now moving ahead at full steam to design a land-based freighter drone based on a blended-wing body. As the name suggests, a blended aircraft has no clear demarcation line between wings and fuselage. Advantages of this approach are efficient lift generation aided by the wide airfoil-shaped body, allowing the entire aircraft to generate lift. This means that a blended wing body has better lift-to-drag ratios than a conventional aircraft, resulting in improved fuel efficiency. One particular challenge, however, is that a blended wing body does not feature a vertical and horizontal tail, and this makes controlling the aircraft particularly challenging. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Aleksey and I talk about:
- his educational journey to becoming an expert aerodynamicist
- the technical details of the freighter drone Natilus is designing
- Natilus’s business model
- and near-term developments that are in the pipeline.
Last but not least, Natilus is currently hiring for a number of roles. So if you're interested in working for an innovative, fast-moving company, then head over to their website.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by my patrons on Patreon. Patreon is a way for me to receive regular donations from listeners whenever I release a new episode, and with the help of these generous donors I have been able to pay for much of the expenses, hosting and travels costs that accrue in the production of this podcast. If you would like to support the podcast as a patron, then head over to my Patreon page. There are multiple levels of support, but anything from $1 an episode is highly appreciated. Thank you for your support!
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you're a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
In this episode I am speaking to Bertrand Flipo from The Welding Institute in Cambridge, UK. TWI Global has a long history of innovation in welding research, having been established as the British Welding Research Association in 1946. TWI is a world leader in research on friction welding and has been at the forefront of many modern friction welding processes. Briefly put, friction welding is a joining technique that does not melt the parts to be joined. Instead, two components are rubbed together to create heat through friction, and high pressure is then applied to squeeze the two pieces together. During this process the material plastically deforms and the high pressure causes the components to be fused together. Advantages of the process are fast joining times, typically on the order of a few seconds; relatively small heat-affected zones; and because friction welding techniques are melt-free, the material's microstructure can be maintained. I personally learned a lot during the recording of this episode, and Bertrand and his colleagues were very gracious to introduce me to the ins and outs of friction welding. So in this episode you will learn about:
- the differences between different friction welding techniques
- the main advantages of friction welding and the challenges to keep in mind
- some of the aerospace applications where friction welding is a game-changer
- and much, much more
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support the podcast directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by my patrons on Patreon. Patreon is a way for me to receive regular donations from listeners whenever I release a new episode, and with the help of these generous donors I have been able to pay for much of the expenses, hosting and travels costs that accrue in the production of this podcast. If you would like to support the podcast as a patron, then head over to my Patreon page. There are multiple levels of support, but anything from $1 an episode is highly appreciated. Thank you for your support!
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you're a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
On this episode I am speaking to Luca Leone who is the Head of Programme of AERALIS, a British startup designing a new class of military trainer and aerobatic jet aircraft. AERALIS have set out to re-invigorate the UK aircraft manufacturing sector with a military trainer that provides an exceptional pilot training experience. AERALIS' design is purposely modular meaning that a basic and an advanced version of the training aircraft are based on one common platform. This reduces costs in engine and airframe maintenance through training and spares commonality and also facilitates a shorter training period for pilots due to similarities between aircraft types. What’s more, AERALIS are developing a fully tailorable flying training system based on configurable cockpits and advanced simulators. In this way, AERALIS aim to not just be an aircraft manufacturer but a company that designs the total flying training experience. In this episode, Luca and I talk about:
- the features of the basic and advanced trainer aircraft
- the characteristics of the modular design
- the AERALIS training ecosystem
- and much, much more
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by my patrons on Patreon. Patreon is a way for me to receive regular donations from listeners whenever I release a new episode, and with the help of these generous donors I have been able to pay for much of the expenses, hosting and travels costs that accrue in the production of this podcast. If you would like to support the podcast as a patron, then head over to my Patreon page. There are multiple levels of support, but anything from $1 an episode is highly appreciated. Thank you for your support!
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you're a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Michael Darcy is the Chief Commercial Officer of the British eVTOL company Vertical Aerospace. Vertical Aerospace has set out to change the way we fly short-haul distances and to reduce the time required for end-to-end journeys. Their vision is to develop an intercity air taxi service that gives customers the freedom to fly from local neighbourhood directly to the final destination. To achieve this, Vertical has assembled a world-class team with veteran engineers from Airbus, Boeing, Rolls Royce and leading Formula 1 teams to design a fully certified eVTOL aircraft starting from first principles. Since their founding in 2016, Vertical Aerospace has already built the UK's first full-scale eVTOL (electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing) aircraft, and is iterating quickly to build the next generation of larger aircraft. One aspect that really stands out in this conversation is that Vertical Aerospace focuses strongly on quickly iterating through the design, manufacture and test cycle to improve their design in the most efficient way. In this episode, Michael and I discuss:
- Vertical's particular approach to designing eVTOL aircraft
- how Vertical Aerospace see the electric aviation sector developing
- and which hurdles need to be overcome by the industry to build certifiable aircraft
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift's innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you're seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multi-scale modelling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modelling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. SwiftComp quickly calculates the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis. It also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, considering more design options, and arriving at the best solution more quickly. A no-cost Academic Partner Program is now available for eligible universities. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you're a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Veronica Foreman is a payload engineer at the small-satellite launch provider Virgin Orbit. Before starting her career at Virgin Orbit, Veronica earned several academic accolades including an Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award at Georgia Tech, and a Best Masters Thesis award at MIT. What I find especially impressive about her Masters work on small-satellite constellations is that Veronica considered both the design of constellations, as well as the economic and policy challenges to small-satellite mission success. As Virgin Orbit's mission is to be the premier dedicated launch service for small satellites, Veronica has seemingly found the perfect place for her expertise and passion. One of the key features of Virgin Orbit's launch design is its air-launching system that drops the rocket (LauncherOne) from the wing of a Boeing 747 (Cosmic Girl). As Veronica explains in this episode, this capability provides Virgin Orbit unique advantages in terms of providing a dedicated launch service for small satellites. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering podcast, Veronica and I discuss:
- Virgin Orbit's vision
- the unique advantages and challenges of an air-launched rocket system
- some of Virgin Orbit's key engineering technologies
- and the growing importance of satellite constellations.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift's innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you're seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multi-scale modelling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modelling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. SwiftComp quickly calculates the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis. It also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, considering more design options, and arriving at the best solution more quickly. A no-cost Academic Partner Program is now available for eligible universities. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you're a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Samy Libsig is one of the founders of the sport aircraft startup eXalt Aircraft Inc. eXalt currently comprises a team of three engineers that are bringing a unique combination of fresh design thinking and engineering experience to the world of sport airplanes. The vision of eXalt is to turn the sky into a playground with an aircraft that puts the pilot's flying experience in the foreground; this means an aircraft which is fun to fly, economical, maintenance friendly, and environmentally sustainable. Looking at the sport aircraft market, it is easy to notice that aircraft designs haven't evolved appreciably over the last couple of decades. This is probably for a good reason given that the physics of flying are obviously unchanged, and the design principles that worked in the past, are still valid today. But what is particularly fascinating is the manner in which eXalt Aircraft are using proven aerospace technologies and recombining them in novel ways to design an entirely modern aircraft. The result is an airplane that does not feature all of the most recent bells and whistles—just for the sake of using cutting-edge technology—but instead features a pragmatic design where each component has been carefully chosen to serve the company's vision of maximising the pilot experience. As you will hear in this episode, one of the best examples of this is eXalt's choice of a reinforced space frame design over an arguably lighter monocoque design. In this episode of the podcast, Samy and I talk about:
- the origins of eXalt
- their particular design philosophy
- some of the key design choices they have made
- and the near future of the company
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift’s innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you’re seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multi-scale modelling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modelling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. SwiftComp quickly calculates the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis. It also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, considering more design options, and arriving at the best solution more quickly. A no-cost Academic Partner Program is now available for eligible universities. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Mark Crouchen is the managing director of Rockwood Composites, a company in the UK that specialises in manufacturing complex composite components using compression and bladder moulding. These manufacturing processes use fibre mats of carbon fibre, glass fibre, Kevlar, or any other material, which are pre-impregnated with a resin matrix and then placed in a mould, where they are cured at elevated temperature with the addition of external or internal pressure. The team at Rockwood has been supplying the aerospace, defense, medical and nuclear industries for over 25 years with customers ranging from Leonardo Helicopters and the McLaren Formula 1 team to Safran and Facebook’s Aquila internet drone. In 2018, Rockwood won the Innovation in Manufacture award at the Composite UK industry event for their innovative use of advanced composite materials on the Tokomak ST40 nuclear fusion reactor. Composite materials have many benefits in terms of their excellent strength and stiffness at low weight. However, there is a common misconception that metal or ceramic components can easily be replaced one-to-one with composite components. The performance of any composite component is closely linked to the quality of the manufacturing process, and designing and manufacturing quality components is an area where Rockwood Composites particularly excel. In this episode of the podcast, Mark and I talk about:
- his background in engineering
- the types of structures that Rockwood Composites manufacture
- why composites manufacturing is a challenge
- and the special solution Rockwood found for the Tokomak ST40 fusion reactor
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift’s innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you’re seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multi-scale modelling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modelling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. SwiftComp quickly calculates the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis. It also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, considering more design options, and arriving at the best solution more quickly. A no-cost Academic Partner Program is now available for eligible universities. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Paul Withey is the Professor of Casting at the School of Metallurgy and Materials of the University of Birmingham in the UK. Before joining the University of Birmingham in 2018, Paul worked at Rolls Royce for 21 years developing new materials and manufacturing processes for gas turbine components. As an Engineering Associate Fellow, Paul was a member of a select group of the top 100 specialist engineers across all engineering disciplines within Rolls Royce, and in 2015, Paul and his team were awarded the highest technical award within Rolls-Royce; the Sir Henry Royce Award. Paul’s particular expertise lies in investment casting of aerospace metals, especially of high-temperature superalloys used in the hot turbine stages of modern jet engines. Throughout his career at Rolls-Royce, Paul has developed and optimised manufacturing processes for single-crystal turbine blades with a total of 14 patents to his name. Despite phenomenal advances in materials technology, a number of questions with regard to how the turbine blade shape, materials and process parameters interact remain unanswered, and these questions form the basis of Paul’s ongoing research. In this episode, Paul and I discuss:
- the unique differences between research in academia and industry
- what single-crystal superalloys are and how they are manufactured
- why single-crystal superalloys are a critical technology for modern jet engines
- and the research questions that Paul is currently trying to answer
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift’s innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you’re seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multi-scale modelling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modelling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. SwiftComp quickly calculates the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis. It also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, considering more design options, and arriving at the best solution more quickly. A no-cost Academic Partner Program is now available for eligible universities. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Oliver Family is the Overall Aircraft Design Leader of the Airbus E-Fan X demonstrator. The E-Fan X is a hybrid-electric technology demonstrator being developed by Airbus, Rolls-Royce and Siemens based on a British Aerospace 146 regional airliner. The driver behind the E-Fan X demonstrator is that current aircraft designs have converged to a near-optimum, and with existing technologies, it is difficult to meet the stringent sustainability goals in terms of CO2/NOX emissions and reductions in noise. New technologies, such as electrification, are therefore required to achieve these goals.
As we have seen on other episodes of the podcast, electrification of aircraft is currently a hot topic with new start-up companies promising to disrupt and revolutionise the regional aircraft market. In this environment, one may assume that incumbents like Airbus are too slow to react to a changing technology landscape. As you will hear in this episode, nothing could be further from the truth. The E-Fan X project is structured as a separate entity within Airbus with the explicit mission of challenging Airbus’ legacy business. As you will hear, the consequences of integrating an electric propulsion system on a regional aircraft run much deeper than mere calculations about battery power density and battery longevity. In fact, it's the secondary effects that we rarely think, hear and read about, such as thermal management of batteries; the interaction between pilots and new control systems; and the challenges of new certification protocols, that are especially challenging. So in this episode, Oliver and I discuss:
- what exactly the E-Fan X demonstrator aims to achieve
- the main technical and economic challenges of electric aircraft
- and how electrification widens the design envelope for engineers
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process visit SAMPE's website, or consider attending one of SAMPE’s conferences, such as CAMX, the largest and most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event for products, solutions, networking, and advanced industry thinking.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Today I am speaking to Manuel Schleiffelder, an aerospace engineer based in Vienna, Austria. Manuel has a background in designing and building experimental rockets with the student space team of the Technical University in Vienna, known as the Hound Project, and I spoke to him after he returned from a trip to the Black Rock Desert where the Vienna space team tested their newest two-stage experimental rocket. Manuel has a very broad background in space engineering having worked on projects varying from spacecraft design of lunar landers and systems engineering of rocket propulsion systems, to his newest research project in materials science.
In a classic rocket engine, the exhaust gases have a speed limit of exactly Mach 1—the speed of sound—at the narrowest portion of the nozzle; the so-called choking condition. Since the speed of sound increases with temperature, hotter combustion means the exhaust gases can be expelled from the rocket at greater velocity resulting in more thrust. While the speed of sound in air at room temperature is typically around 1200 km/hr (745 mph), the speed of sound in the hot exhaust gases can be more than 5 times this value. Even though we want our rocket engine to run as hot as possible, the ultimate temperature is limited by the ability of materials to withstand these extreme temperatures. For this reason, most rocket engines use some form of cooling to keep the material temperature within reasonable bounds. Manuel is currently developing metal matrix composite materials—carbon fibres embedded within a metal matrix—that are strong enough to withstand the extreme temperatures without the additional mass and complexity of a cooling system. In this episode, Manuel and I talk about
- his background in aerospace engineering
- the rockets that the Vienna student space team are building
- and the advantages and challenges of developing metal matrix composites for rocket engines.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process visit SAMPE's website, or consider attending one of SAMPE’s conferences, such as CAMX, the largest and most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event for products, solutions, networking, and advanced industry thinking.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
On this episode I am speaking to Wenbin Yu, who is a professor at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Purdue University. Wenbin has achieved many accolades in both the academic world and in the private sector, and is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. His specialty lies in multi-scale modelling of materials and structures, a topic that we delve into throughout this episode. Material scientists are increasingly inventing materials that are designed from the ground up, meaning they take some fundamental building block and then attempt to arrange this building block in an architected manner over multiple length scales.
The challenge with these multi-scale architected materials is that the global macro-scale behaviour is influenced by what happens at the micro-scale. And equally, macro-scale deformations can cause damage at the micro-scale. This means that modern computational models that are used to design aircraft need to account for what happens at the different length-scales. Traditionally, this is done by constructing different models for each of the length scales. The problem with these approaches is that they are computationally inefficient and it's not always obvious where each of the length-scales begins and ends. To overcome this, Prof. Yu has developed the structure genome, which allows engineers to compute mathematically where each length scale begins, and to then aggregate information of the smaller length scales into models at the greater length scales. In this episode, Prof. Yu and I talk about
- the difference between a material and a structure
- why multi-scale modelling is crucial for modern materials and structures
- the structure genome
- and how it is being applied to aircraft structures.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process visit SAMPE's website, or consider attending one of SAMPE’s conferences, such as CAMX, the largest and most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event for products, solutions, networking, and advanced industry thinking.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
On this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast I am speaking to Andrew Dunn who is an engineer at the satellite company Alba Orbital in Glasgow, Scotland. Alba Orbital is in the business of building PocketQubes, which are miniaturised satellites mainly used for space science, Earth imaging and space exploration. As the name suggests, PocketQubes are pocket-sized, usually around 5 cm (2 in) cubed and weighing no more than 180 grams. What is more, PocketQubes are typically assembled entirely from commercial off-the-shelf components, driven mostly by the miniaturisation of smartphone electronics, and this makes PocketQubes an ideal low-cost testbed for university labs and smaller startup companies. Traditional satellites of the last decades often took so long to develop that by the time they were launched into space, the technology was already out of date. Furthermore, their large size increased launch costs and most components were one-off designs that made them too expensive but for the largest companies. Alba Orbital is currently developing the Unicorn-2 PocketQube platform, which is a modular design that can host different payloads, such as optical equipment, deployable antennas or a radio module, but is built on a foundation of integrated electronics that can serve any need. In this episode, Andrew and I talk about:
- the unique features of PocketQubes
- their components and how they are manufactured,
- and Alba Orbital’s future plans for the Unicorn-2 platform
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift’s innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you’re seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multiscale modeling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modeling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. Not only does SwiftComp quickly calculate the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis, it also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, designing earlier in the process, and getting to market more quickly. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
On this episode I am speaking to Max Haot, who is the founder of Launcher, a rocket startup based out of Brooklyn, NY. Launcher was founded in early 2017 and is on a ten-year journey to deliver small satellites to orbit. More specifically, Launcher plans to deliver payloads of up to 300 kg into low-earth orbit cheaper than anyone else in the growing small launcher market; a market specialising on small satellites that will deliver GPS, internet services and earth imaging in the near future.
The most difficult part of launching satellites into orbit is building a robust and reliable rocket engine. On top of that, the physics of the rocket equation dictate very stringent constraints on the mass of the rocket and payload. To launch a satellite into low-earth orbit, a typical liquid-oxygen/kerosene rocket is around 95% propellant on the launchpad. So any fuel savings from a more efficient rocket engine can go towards increasing the payload. Launcher has spent the last year working on their proof-of-concept engine, the E-1, and are now in the process of spending the next three years developing the 40x larger E-2 engine. Key to Launcher’s rocket engine is 3D printing and a staged combustion cycle. 3D printing allows for a reduction in parts, faster development times, and easier manufacturing of complex geometries such as integrated cooling channels, which all help to reduce costs. In a staged combustion cycle, a favourite of Soviet rocket engineers, propellant flows through two combustion chambers, a preburner and a main combustion chamber. The pressure produced by igniting a small amount of propellant in the preburner can be used to power the turbo pumps that force the remaining propellant into the main combustion chamber. The addition of the preburner leads to better fuel efficiency, but comes at the cost of greater engineering complexity.
One of the things I love about Launcher is that they face this daunting engineering challenge with the utmost humility, documenting many of their failures and successes online for everyone to see. In this way, anyone can get a glimpse of what it means to build a rocket company from scratch. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast you will learn:
- how Max got into the space industry
- the engineering details behind many aspects of the E-1 engine
- the advantages of 3D printing and stage combustion
- and Launcher’s current schedule for developing the full-size E-2 engine
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift’s innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you’re seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multiscale modeling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modeling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. Not only does SwiftComp quickly calculate the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis, it also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, designing earlier in the process, and getting to market more quickly. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
On this episode I am speaking to Nick Sills who is the founder of Contra Electric Propulsion Ltd. Nick’s background is in developing underwater propulsion systems for the offshore oil and gas industry. He has designed products ranging from a hydraulically powered excavator for pipeline route trenching, to the world’s biggest deep water excavator. He received a Queen's Award for Technological Achievement for the "Jet Prop" tool, a 5 m diameter propeller that is powered by ejecting high pressure seawater from its propeller blades.
Nick founded his most recent company, Contra Electric Propulsion, to develop a contra-rotating propeller system for the light aircraft market. Contra-rotating propeller systems typically use two propellers mounted in series that spin in opposite directions. The fact that props are spinning in both directions alleviates many of the attitude and control problems when flying aircraft. Contra-rotation has rarely found its way onto modern, gas-powered aircraft because the variable-pitch requirement for efficient operation has made the system overly expensive, complex and maintenance intensive. By changing the power source from fossil fuels to electrons, however, many components of the modern aircraft can be designed differently. With new electric motors it is now possible to build a much simpler, fixed-pitch, contra-rotating propulsion system for light aircraft. As an aerobatic pilot, Nick immediately realised the massive advantages of instantaneous torque delivery and reversible thrust that electric motors can provide. That's why he believes that the next big advance in light aircraft propulsion will be a battery-powered, twin motor, contra-rotating system with fixed-pitch propellers. Since this has now become technically feasible, he is privately building one to prove it.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift’s innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you’re seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multiscale modeling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modeling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. Not only does SwiftComp quickly calculate the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis, it also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, designing earlier in the process, and getting to market more quickly. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
On this episode I am speaking to Thomas Pfammatter, who is the co-founder of the Swiss electric aviation startup Dufour Aerospace. Dufour is currently designing an electric aircraft with vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities for the urban and rural transport market. The promise of their current aircraft, the aEro 2, is that with VTOL capabilities it can take-off and land pretty much anywhere, which can considerably reduce travel times, especially to places that are difficult to reach by car or train. There is a long-standing compromise in aviation between taking-off vertically, and being able to travel fast horizontally. Dufour Aerospace believes that with electric propulsion it is possible to combine these two worlds. To achieve this, Dufour are using a tilt-wing design fitted with two propellers. The wing and attached propellers can pivot around a hinge between the horizontal and vertical planes, and thereby provide exceptional lift, stability and control characteristics even in slow flight. Dufour have proven their electrical aviation ambitions with the aEro1 aerobatic aircraft and are currently in the process of developing the tilt-wing aEro 2 airplane. In this episode you will learn about many of the details behind Dufour’s technology such as:
- the tilt-wing concept and the tail fan used for pitch control
- the aerodynamic importance of the vortex ring state
- the future of regional travel and how Dufour hopes to influence this space
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode is brought to you by AnalySwift. Do you work in the design and analysis of aerospace structures and materials? If so, AnalySwift’s innovative engineering software SwiftComp may be the solution you’re seeking. Used either independently for virtual testing of aerospace composites or as a plugin to power conventional FEA codes, SwiftComp delivers the accuracy of 3D FEA in seconds instead of hours. A general-purpose multiscale modeling program, SwiftComp provides an efficient and accurate tool for modeling aerospace structures and materials featuring anisotropy and heterogeneity. Not only does SwiftComp quickly calculate the complete set of effective properties needed for use in macroscopic structural analysis, it also accurately predicts local stresses and strains in the microstructure for predicting strengths. Find out how others in composites are saving time while improving accuracy, designing earlier in the process, and getting to market more quickly. For a free trial, visit analyswift.com. SwiftComp: Right results. Right away.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Robin Hague is the Lead Engineer at the rocket startup Skyrora based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The goal of Skyrora is to provide a dedicated launch vehicle for small satellites. It has never been cheaper to build small satellites that provide imaging and communication services, and this sector of the space economy is expected to grow rapidly over the coming years. The UK is a world leader in the small satellite business—with Glasgow in Scotland building more satellites than any other city in Europe—but there is currently a shortfall of dedicated launchers for these satellite companies. Skyrora hopes to serve this market by launching rockets from Norther Scotland, which has great access to polar and sun-synchronous orbits. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering podcast Robin and I talk about:
- the history of British rocketry (the Black Arrow)
- the benefits of using hydrogen peroxide as a propellant
- the role of 3D printing in modern rocket engines
- and the future of Skyrora.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process visit SAMPE's website, or consider attending one of SAMPE’s conferences, such as CAMX, the largest and most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event for products, solutions, networking, and advanced industry thinking.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
This episode features an in-depth look at the Perlan Project. The mission of the Perlan Project is to fly an engineless aircraft to the edge of space, in this case, by taking advantage of an aerodynamic phenomenon known as wave lift. Not only is soaring to 90,000 feet an audacious goal, but on top of that, the Perlan Project is a worldwide collaborative project run entirely by aviation enthusiasts, scientists, engineers and adventurous pilots. Noone has ever soared to the edge of space in a glider and so the Perlan engineers are venturing into unchartered aviation territory on their own. On this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast I speak to Project Manager Morgan Sandercock and Flight Test Engineer Alan Lawless about:
- the genesis and history of the Perlan Project
- how one goes about designing, manufacturing and testing a glider that is to fly to the edge of space
- past success stories
- and the team's future plans for breaking aviation records.
In case you personally want to support the Perlan Project as a donor, you can do so on the Perlan Project donor page.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process visit SAMPE's website, or consider attending one of SAMPE’s conferences, such as CAMX, the largest and most comprehensive composites and advanced materials event for products, solutions, networking, and advanced industry thinking.
This episode is also sponsored by StressEbook.com, which is an online hub for you if you are interested in aerospace stress engineering. StressEbook.com provides world-class engineering services and online courses on the stress analysis of aircraft structures, as well as a free ebook and blog. No matter if you’re a junior or senior structural analyst, stressEbook.com provides you with the skills and know-how to become a champion in your workplace.
Priyanka Dhopade received her PhD from the University of New South Wales in Canberra, Australia and was the recipient of the Zonta Amelia Earhart Fellowship award, awarded annually to the 35 most outstanding female aerospace PhD students worldwide. Since 2013 she has been researching the thermodynamics of jet engines in the Osney thermofluids institute at Oxford University. Priyanka is an expert in computational fluid dynamics modelling of heat transfer, aerodynamics and aero-elasticity in jet engines. She is currently leading the modelling campaigns for various projects in collaboration with industry partners relating to turbine and compressor tip clearance control, turbine internal cooling and active flow control. In this episode, Priyanka and I talk about:
- the challenges of improving the efficiency of current gas turbines
- the intricacies of fluid dynamics modelling
- and a topic particularly close to her heart, the diversity challenge in STEM fields.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog.
If you value the podcast and want to support it then please share it with your friends and family, or support it directly on Patreon, where patrons of this show receive exclusive behind-the-scenes content and special episodes. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode is brought to you by KDC Resource—the experts in engineering recruitment for the aerospace and defence sector. For more than 15 years, KDC has been matching the very best engineers with the biggest names in the industry; from Airbus Group and GKN Aerospace, to Cobham and BAE Systems. KDC’s deep talent pool of aerospace engineers means they are perfectly poised to meet your particular needs with the ideal candidate. In a time of unprecedented engineering skills shortage, KDC Resource will give you an edge over your competitors in the recruitment market.
Dr Mark Cutler has a PhD in Robotics and Autonomous Systems from MIT, and has researched multiple aspects of UAV technology—from designing and building his own novel quadrotor for aerobatic flight to developing machine learning algorithms for autonomous systems. He is currently working for the California-based startup Kitty Hawk backed by Google founder Larry Page. At Kitty Hawk, Mark is applying his expertise in rotorcraft to create the next generation of vehicles for everyday flight. Kitty Hawk are currently designing, testing and building all-electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles for work and play. Their first product, the Cora, is an air taxi that could one day bring us an Uber-like service for the sky, and Kitty Hawk is currently in the first stages of testing the Cora in New Zealand. In this episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast, Mark and I talk about:
- his diverse background in UAV's
- the explosion of hobbyist rotorcraft
- the promises of machine learning for autonomous flight
- and the future of personalised flying
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog.
If you value the podcast and want to support it then please leave a review on Apple Podcasts; share it with your friends and family on social media; or support us directly on Patreon, where patrons of this show receive exclusive behind-the-scenes content and special episodes. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode is brought to you by KDC Resource—the experts in engineering recruitment for the aerospace and defence sector. For more than 15 years, KDC has been matching the very best engineers with the biggest names in the industry; from Airbus Group and GKN Aerospace, to Cobham and BAE Systems. KDC’s deep talent pool of aerospace engineers means they are perfectly poised to meet your particular needs with the ideal candidate. In a time of unprecedented engineering skills shortage, KDC Resource will give you an edge over your competitors in the recruitment market.
Neil Cloughley is the founder and CEO of Faradair, the UK's leading hybrid aviation programme. Neil has a broad background in the aviation industry ranging from aircraft remarketing and aircraft leasing to starting his own aircraft consultancy business, which found him working with the world's major airlines, OEMS and trailblazing companies like Virgin Galactic. Neil's father developed one of the most advanced unmanned aerial vehicles of the early 1990s, and had a flying prototype before the General Atomics MQ-1 Predator entered service in 1995. Unfortunately, as a result of being slightly ahead of its time, and due to a lack of funds and unfortunate timing, ASVEC UK had to close its doors. Neil is now stepping into his father's footsteps and building the bio-electric hybrid aircraft (BEHA) using many of the lessons he learned from his father. The BEHA is a six-passenger aircraft with a hybrid gas and electric propulsion system, and is to be used for regional travel of around 200 miles. The BEHA has an unconventional design with a triple-staggered wing, an all-composite airframe and a ducted propeller. These design decisions reflect the three key specifications that need to be met to make regional inter-city flight a reality: minimising noise, emissions and operational costs. In this conversation, Neil and I talk about
- the engineering behind BEHA
- the challenging economics of new aviation businesses
- his long-term vision for a regional Uber-like taxi service in the sky
- and much, much more
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. If you want to support the show then please leave a review; share it on social media with your friends and family; or support us directly on Patreon, where patrons of this show receive exclusive behind-the-scenes content and special episodes. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process, consider attending the SAMPE 2018 Technical Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California.
In this episode I am talking to Lachlan Matchett, who is the VP of Propulsion at Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab is a startup rocket company with the mission of removing barriers to commercial space by frequent launches to low-earth orbit. The current conundrum of many space technology companies that want to launch small satellites into space, is that there is no dedicated launch service tailored to their needs. This is where Rocket Lab enters the picture. To provide small payloads with a flexible and dedicated launch vehicle, Rocket Lab has developed the Electron rocket. The Electron is a two-stage rocket that can be tailored to unique orbital requirements and provides frequent flight opportunities at personalised schedules.
In terms of the engineering, there are many interesting features to the Electron rocket, but one of the key innovations is the Rutherford engine that Lachlan Matchett and his team have developed over the last five years. Rutherford is the first oxygen/kerosene-powered engine to use 3D printing for all primary components. In fact, the Rutherford engine can be printed in an astounding 24 hrs, and this is one of the driving factors behind Rocket Lab's cost efficiency and high target launch frequency. So in this episode, Lachlan and I talk about:
- Rocket Lab's business model
- their recent launch success in Jan 2018
- some of the engineering highlights of the Rutherford engine
- and Rocket Lab's plans for the future
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook page is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process, consider attending the SAMPE 2018 Technical Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California.
Today's episode features Dr Valeska Ting who is a Reader in Smart Nanomaterials at the University of Bristol and is researching the use of nanoporous materials for hydrogen storage. Using hydrogen as a fuel source has many benefits. Due to its excellent energy density, hydrogen has long been hailed as an alternative to fossil fuels, but it's also an excellent means of storing renewable energy from solar or wind sources. One of the challenges of storing hydrogen is its low density, meaning that large volumes are required to store efficient amounts of hydrogen to be able to use it as a fuel. This is precisely where Valeska’s research enters the picture. The nanoporous materials that Valeska is working on can increase the density of hydrogen by a factor of a 1000, and therefore provide a key stepping stone towards more efficient hydrogen-powered vehicles. In this episode, Valeska and I talk about multiple aspects of this technology including:
- what nanoporous materials are and how they work
- how they can be used to create multifunctional materials
- what scientific challenges she is addressing to scale-up and improve their performance, and
- how they could be applied to design lighter hydrogen tanks for rockets and aircraft
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook site is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process, consider attending the SAMPE 2018 Technical Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California.
On this episode of the podcast I speak to Mike Lawton, who is the founder and CEO of Oxford Space Systems (OSS). OSS is an award-winning space technology company that is developing a new generation of deployable space structures that are lighter, simpler and cheaper than current products on the market. These deployable structures deploy antennas and solar panels on satellites orbiting earth, and are tricky to design because they need to package to a fraction of their deployed size, and need to be as lightweight as possible. OSS’ first product, the AstroTube boom, was launched into space and deployed on a cubesat in September 2016. This achievement set a new industry record in terms of development time, going from company formation to orbit in under 30 months. I met Mike at the OSS design office to talk about:
- venture capital funding of "New Space" companies
- how the design philosophy of "New Space" companies differs from established firms
- how origami, the Japanese art of folding, is being used to design more efficient deployable structures
- the flexible composites technology that OSS are developing
- and his vision for the future of space commercialisation
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook site is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process, consider attending the SAMPE 2018 Technical Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California.
Today I am talking to John Britton. John was the chief engineer of Concorde on the British side of the enterprise from 1994 until Concorde’s demise in 2003. In this conversation, John and I talk about:
- how he ended up as the Chief Engineer of Concorde
- what engineering feats made Concorde special
- why Concorde is no longer flying today
- and what he thinks new supersonic companies need to focus on.
This interview was recorded at Aerospace Bristol, which is a new aerospace museum located at Filton Airfield in the South West of the United Kingdom. From the beginnings of powered flight, Filton Airfield was the birthplace of many a flying machine – from aeroplanes and helicopters to missiles and satellites. Aerospace Bristol represents the new heart to the area’s aerospace heritage.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook site is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process, consider attending the SAMPE 2018 Technical Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California.
On this episode of the podcast I speak to Kim-Tobias Kohn who is a lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at the University of the West of England. Beside his main vocation, Kim is also an avid pilot and runs an electric skateboard startup company. Kim has garnered attention in the media and from aerospace societies in the UK for his unique university project of building an electric glider with his undergraduate students. For obvious reasons, building an electric passenger aicraft that can replace current fuel-powered airliners is significantly more challenging than replacing gasoline cars with electric vehicles. However, there is a growing grass-roots initiative developing in the UK that is attempting to solve some of the regulatory and technical challenges to realise this vision of electric aviation. So in this episode Kim and I talk about:
- the unique regulatory framework for experimental aircraft in the UK known as the E-conditions
- the major technical hurdles that need to be overcome to make electric aviation a reality
- how the UAV/drone sector is opening doors for larger-scale electric aviation
- his university project of building an electric glider
- his dreams for a student-led design, build and fly competition for electric aircraft
- and much, much more
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook site is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process, consider attending the SAMPE 2018 Technical Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California.
This episode features Ian Lane, Senior Expert in Composite Analysis for Airbus UK. Ian has more than 40 years of experience in the aerospace industry and his career has taken him from British Hovercraft to British Aerospace, Westland Helicopters and finally to his current role at Airbus. On top of this broad aerospace background, Ian's specialty are modern composite airframes and he was the lead stress engineer on the Airbus A400M and Airbus A350. Ian is also a Visiting Professor in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol, and a great example of an industry leader who knows how to inspire the next generation of young engineers. Indeed, Ian is actively involved with the Airbus Fly Your Ideas campaign, and a regular attendee at many international research conferences.
In this episode Ian and I discuss:
- his career progression for apprentice to Senior Expert at Airbus
- the incredible safety record of the aerospace industry
- why the demise of Concorde wasn't a step backwards
- how to Airbus fosters innovation and out-of-the-box thinking
- why inclusion and diversity in engineering is so important
- and much, much more
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook site is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
This episode of the Aerospace Engineering Podcast is sponsored by SAMPE North America. SAMPE is a global professional society that has been providing educational opportunities on advanced materials for more than 70 years. SAMPE’s network of engineers is a key facilitator for the advancement of aerospace engineering by enabling information exchange and synergies between aerospace companies. To find out how SAMPE can help you learn more about advanced materials and process, consider attending the SAMPE 2018 Technical Conference and Expo in Long Beach, California.
This episode features Prof. Paul Weaver, who holds a Bernal Chair in Composite Structures at the University of Limerick in Ireland, and is the Professor in Lightweight Structures at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. Lightweight design plays a crucial role in the aerospace industry, and Paul has worked on some fascinating concepts for more efficient aircraft structures. Paul's research has influenced analysis procedures and product design at NASA, Airbus, GKN Aerospace and Augusta Westland Helicopters, and in this episode we cover some of his past accomplishments and his vision for the future.
Central to this vision is artificial metamorphosis, which is a term that Paul uses to describe structures that reconfigure, adapt and optimise on the fly to changes in the operating environment. Although Paul thinks that this vision of engineering structures is still 50 years into the future, he is well known for his work on a related technology: shape-morphing. The simplest example of a morphing structure is a leading edge slat which is used on all commercial aircraft today to prevent stall at take off and landing. Paul on the other hand envisions morphing structures that are more integral, that is without joints and that do not rely on heavy actuators to function. Apart from morphing structures Paul and I discuss his teenage dreams of becoming a material scientist, his work with Mike Ashby at Cambridge University on material and shape factors, which are now being used the world-over to design efficient structures, and much, much more.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on the aerospace engineering blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook site is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
Today's conversation features Dr Chauncey Wu who is a research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Chauncey has worked at NASA for more than 30 years, predominantly in the field of structural mechanics, and has been responsible for designing and testing a number of space structures that have been launched into space. Some examples of his work include structural analyses on the LITE telescope that was launched into space in 1994, as well as optimisation of rocket propellant tank structures, and conceptual design studies of lunar lander vehicles and habitat structures for the colonisation of the Moon. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Chauncey’s path to NASA as an undergraduate student, the history of NASA and the cultural shift compared to its predecessor the NACA. We answer the question of why rocket science is so hard, and finally we talk about Chauncey’s recent research on a new type of lightweight composite material: tow-steered composites, which could be a game-changer for rocket booster designs.
If you want to learn more about the topics discussed in this episode, then you can find show notes with links to more in-depth material on my blog. The Aerospace Engineering Blog Facebook site is the best place to get in touch with me if you have suggestions for the podcast or want to leave comments about this episode. Thanks a lot for listening!
Welcome to the Aerospace Engineering Podcast. This podcast features conversations with aviation pioneers in academia and industry about their careers in aerospace and looks into the future by discussing promising new technology.